Sustainably Save Energy and Costs in Steam Boilers (Case Study)

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Sustainably Save Energy and Costs in Steam Boilers (Case Study)

Steam and hot water systems are major energy cost centers in the company. Improved procedures without high capital expenditure offer the operator the possibility to save costs for energy, fuel and water. This will make the operation more ecological and reduce CO2 emissions.

 

Existing as well as new boiler systems can implement these efficient cost-saving measures by installing the monitoring and control module FWO-Control of the OFS GmbH.

 

For example, in industrial companies with larger amounts of condensate effective cost effects can be seen even with a few adjustments to the processes.

 

The print service provider Prinovis GmbH & Co. KG set itself the goal of reducing its steam and chemical use at the Dresden plant. There are three large-scale water boilers, each with 5 MW, and two gas engines, each with 5 MW, and a downstream waste heat boiler. Then the FWO-Control was subsequently installed on the feedwater boiler. This only monitors the feed water boiler and the inhibitors and controls the vapor valve. With its operational management and the additional installation of a control valve at the steam outlet of the degasser dome, was converted to a needs-based, energy-efficient driving.

 

To avoid undesirable reactions in the boiler, conditioning agents are added only when necessary. The automatic, continuous measurement and monitoring of the feed water ensures the appropriate dosage of the conditioning agent. The boiler waters are continuously analyzed and optimized. Thus, pH, residual oxygen content and conductance are constantly checked. Thus, fresh water was introduced into the feedwater boiler, which reduces the conductance and increases the oxygen content. By simultaneous alkalization, the pH increases sharply and decreases over time due to mixing throughout the container. Similarly, the conductance increases again and the oxygen content also decreases.

 

The addition of the chemicals to the feedwater boiler, which has been adapted as a result of the measurements, leads to a reduction in the use of up to 60%. The consequence is that a higher thickening is achieved in the steam boiler. This results in a reduction in the rates of desalination of up to 40%.

The constant control is also very dynamic response to load fluctuations. Controlled activation of the vapor valve reduces vapor losses by up to 80%. Because the demand-based degassing of the feedwater, the degassing is now only activated when actually additional water or condensate is conveyed through the Entgaserdom in the feed water vessel.

 

The proof of these measurement results can be seen by the continuous recording of the data in the electronic logbook. At a glance, the measured values ​​and process data are clearly visualized on the display as well. If service requests are recognized and the need for optimization is fast, the automatic function control immediately triggers an alarm. Optionally, networking with higher-level control centers and remote maintenance is also possible. This ensures constant operational and process reliability.

 

At Prenovis, after the plant has been in operation for more than a year, a positive conclusion can be drawn. The steam consumption for the degassing could be reduced by more than 50% and the use of chemicals also by 50%. This means that the system has already paid for itself in less than a year.

Overall, it can be concluded for the FWO-Control that the resource and energy savings lead to higher process reliability, better energy efficiency and lower operating costs.

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