Wine Producer

beverage icon
Industry

Beverages

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Location

U.S.

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Solution

GEM Steam Traps

B01 Wine Producer

$
20,000

Energy and maintenance savings

<
2

year payback

100
tonnes

CO₂ emissions reduced per year

GEM™ Trap Retrofit at a Winery

At one time, this customer's facility in California had been using mechanical steam traps that could be categorised into 3 main groups:

  • Drainage and other traps that are operational when the plant is running;
  • Process plant traps that are operational in batches and have a far lower usage; and
  • Traps with seasonal loads such as heating

16% Efficiency with GEM Traps

Thermal Energy International (TEI) engineers were invited to perform a bucket test on a drip leg, collecting the condensate discharged from both the mechanical trap and GEM Trap, and measuring the change in mass and temperature during the test period.

The study showed that the existing mechanical trap was losing steam at 3.5 lb/hour, and that the GEM Trap performed over 16% more efficiently. Upon request, TEI engineers progressed to a trial of 2 process traps and their corresponding drip leg traps. Results demonstrated GEM Traps’ superiority over mechanical traps, prompting a facility-wide survey of all traps. The analysis revealed that 30% of all mechanical traps in the entire plant had failed open because of internal wear and jamming. 

The total annual cost of steam lost through mechanical traps was $14,281, and the annual maintenance costs due to failed traps was $4,800. These figures convinced the facility’s management team to retrofit the entire plant with GEM Traps.

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