Energy in industry

ISO 50001 achieving sustainable energy reductions in industry

European energy demand is predicted to grow at 1.2% per year to 2020. This neednt be the case if companies invested in energy saving measures. How can ISO 500001 and an energy management systems approach make a difference in the future? Kit Oung takes a look and offers some examples.

n 2006, the European Commission estimated that Europe wasted around 20% of its energy. Following this, it implemented higher energy efficiency standards than many other regions of the world. European companies now recognise the energy savings that higher efficiency delivers, yet they are achieving only a fraction of the sizable commercial opportunities promised by innovation on this front. The reasons are many and varied, but one common thread running through the slow uptake, especially in small- to mediumsized businesses, is lack of information on how to do this cost effectively and how to do it with little or no disruption to daily business. ISO 50001 (the standard for energy management systems) could change all this and enable higher energy savings, competitive advantage and an improve-

ment on the bottom line for those organisations who adopt it. To explain further, some firms implement energy efficiency initiatives on an ad hoc basis, others rely on one or two employees orchestrating and facilitating energy savings in the company without embedding energy efficient behaviours. Others chose to add technology without consideration of the overall impact on daily operations and personnel. These ad hoc unstructured efforts do not constitute an energy management system. They often have a roller coaster effect, where costs are deemed to be high, some waste cutting efforts are made, costs go down, and then they rise again because there is no system in place and no monitoring of data. Unstructured measures are barriers to energy management. Management focus

is on production, not on energy efficiency. There is a lack of corporate understanding of both the financial and qualitative benefits, and a disconnection between capital and operating budgets with final costs seen as more important than recurring costs. Technical knowledge resides within individuals rather than in the organisation, which leads to a sustainability risk. There is a lack of training on energy systems and poor monitoring of systems for overall operational efficiency.

ISO 50001
ISO 50001 is an internationally recognised and integrated set of processes and tools to develop a holistic energy reduction strategy through the implementation of an energy management system. With ISO 50001 comes the dawn of a structured

Energy management in chilled water usage

A leading global pharmaceutical and healthcare company engaged Projective to look at ways to improve energy efficiency. The company has 11 manufacturing sites around the UK. In terms of energy use, the first site surveyed is the third largest of the companys UK manufacturing facilities. It incorporates specialist production units dedicated to fermentation, extraction, chemical synthesis, granulation, blending, tabletting, film-coating, powder-filling and packaging. The site uses chilled water for a number of processes and for air handling units, and the challenge was to iprove efficiency and leverage cost savings. identified, which although individually small, cumulatively made real improvements in system efficiency. The excess chilled water on site was predominantly due to water bypassing

through three-way control valves. As the system had already been converted to a variable flow system, these valves were no longer required.

Do
Projective recommended replacement of the valves. Regarding the low pressure distribution, the existing fixed speed booster pump set was changed to variable speed control-based on the differential pressure of the end line chilled water users. By combining the reduction in flow with the improved control of the chillers, it has been possible to turn off one chiller.

Check
Ongoing system monitoring has shown that the measures taken have not only reduced pumping costs, but have also improved overall efficiency of the chiller system and resulted in electrical savings of over 100,000 per annum.

Plan
Chilled water on-site is fed by a common central chilled water system comprising four chillers with a capacity in total 12 MWth. An assessment of the system showed a large amount of unnecessary chilled water flow around the site which caused the chillers to run inefficiently. On the low-pressure side, over 50 items of chilled water flow savings were

Act
Improved energy efficiency enabled one of the chillers to be turned off

Because a system of ongoing monitoring is now in place, any drops in efficiency can be readily identified and adjusted to ensure continuous energy management.

16

Energy World

January 2012

Water company calculates potential cost savings of 20,000

Projective surveyed a water treatment site comprising of three on-site boreholes (numbers one, two and three) and two boreholes located remotely (numbers four and five). Water quality on-site is poor, although cost of abstraction is significantly cheaper due to shallow pumped water levels and proximity to the combined discharge location. The two remote boreholes are first and second duty at all times to maintain an acceptable final blended water quality. Demand is such that these two boreholes predominantly operate together at all times. The cost of abstraction is high at number four due to deeper pumped water levels and at number five due to the pump being throttled to maintain the abstraction licence. achieve long-term gain. This resulted in: G the installation of a VSD on the pump at borehole number five to allow the removal of the throttle completely; G the installation of a VSD on the pump at borehole number four to allow flow control of both remote boreholes; and G the setting of the flow split required between on-site and remote boreholes needed to achieve a suitable final water quality and prioritise the cheaper sources.

Do
VSD was proposed on the pump at borehole number five to remove the throttle completely, expected to save a minimum of 6,000 per annum. A step test was recommended for borehole number four to define the pumped water levels against flow rate. Drawdown is expected to reduce significantly at reduced flows and so VSD was desirable, controlling to the level in the reservoir.

On-site borehole with shallow pumped water levels

Plan
Projective sent in a team of process and industrial energy consultants to study the problem. They identified several energy saving opportunities to reduce the cost of total abstraction and maintain water quality. Following discussions with operations and the groundwater team, the required percentage split between on-site and remote boreholes was defined. This investigation also allowed the pump at borehole number five to be un-throttled slightly to achieve a higher flow rate. This alone saved 6,500 per annum. A variable speed drive (VSD) flow control system was investigated, which would require some capital investment to

Check
Following VSD installation on both remote boreholes, a minimum speed for each can then be defined to allow an acceptable final water quality to be achieved with an on-site borehole operating. An on-site borehole would therefore operate whenever demand is present together with the two remote

boreholes, initially at minimum speed. As the level in the reservoir begins to drop, the pumping speed of the remote boreholes will increase. This allows the cheaper sources of water to be equal first priority, meaning the cost of abstraction will be greatly reduced. Total savings from these simple energy efficient opportunities is calculated at 20,000. Continued energy efficiency is part of the energy management plan going forward, and to this end, new operating procedures will be introduced to monitor and analyse water quality from all boreholes.

Act
If water quality fluctuates, the new VSD pumps afford the opportunity of acting quickly to adjust flow.

approach to energy management. Although ISO 50001 is newly launched, its adoption is likely to grow exponentially in similar fashion to that of ISO 9001 and ISO 14001. Significant energy efficiency in industry is achieved through changes in how energy is managed in an industrial facility, rather than through installation of new technologies. Surprisingly, research shows that up to 25% of relatively little or no cost and without significant changes in lifestyle and business practices. Actively managing energy requires an organisational change in culture. Top management needs to be engaged in the management of energy on an ongoing basis. At its core, energy management requires a group of people to change their behaviour and sustain the change. By adopting ISO 50001, senior management commit to the programme, initial savings are sustained, housekeeping is implemented first for quick wins, and long-term savings are put in place with regular monitoring processes. The standard allows the organisation to translate the strategy into daily operational actions,

then monitor and improve on the organisations effectiveness. Energy management systems are designed to improve the bottom line. They are based on measurement and provide continuity, and savings during the first two years are often 1020%.

PlanDoCheckAct
ISO 50001 uses the PlanDoCheckAct approach to encourage energy savings in both the short and the long term. Of course the goal of reduced energy costs is already a reality for many UK companies. Energy management is recognised as important not just for compliance purposes or for reasons of corporate social responsibility, but also because it delivers real savings. Industrial process and energy consultants at energy saving service provider Projective have been working in the field for seven years and Projective counts amongst its clients some blue chip industrial organisations. The two case studies in boxes illustrate how energy management principles, incorporating the PlanDo CheckAct principles contained in ISO

50001, resulted in tangible benefits and reduced costs for a large pharmaceutical company and for one of the UKs water companies. ISO 50001 encourages commitment across the organisation, introduces and sustains a systematic approach to efficiency and requires management commitment of resources. All indications are that ISO 50001 will have an even greater impact on trade than ISO 9001. Companies will demand participation by their suppliers. Early adopters of the standard will find themselves with a competitive advantage. G Kit Oung is Senior Energy Consultant at Projective and leads workshops on Implementing ISO50001. For further information on how to prepare for ISO 50001 or to reserve a workshop place contact kit.oung@projectiveltd.co.uk Projective is an independent project engineering consultancy offering energy management services to industrial and commercial customers. www.projectiveltd.co.uk

Energy World

January 2012

17