
$
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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