This fact sheet describes OIT BestPractices Steam program's systems approach to help companies operate and maintain their industrial steam plants and thermal manufacturing processes more efficiently.

Additional steam traps were installed on the drum oven at a petroleum jelly production facility at an ExxonMobil plant in Nigeria. The installation improved heat transfer and saved energy.

In July 2001, the Augusta Newsprint Company partnered with Invensys' Pacific Simulation group to implement an advanced quality control (AQC) solution for the thermomechanical pulping (TMP) process at Augusta Newsprint's Augusta, Georgia, site. The goal of the project is to decrease energy and raw material costs while maintaining final pulp quality. The project involves coordinating AQC in 3 areas of the paper mill to reduce the amount of energy required for manufacturing. In addition, a time-of-day production (TODP) feature will use current power market pricing data to adjust production rates in the pulping operation to minimize the average cost of purchased energy. The AQC implementation is currently in progress.

Akzo Nobel's Surface Chemistry plant in Morris, Illinois, implemented an energy efficiency plan, which included a plant-wide energy efficiency assessment. The assessment revealed opportunities to save an estimated$1.2 million per year in operating and energy costs, reduce environmental impacts, and improve production capacity.

In 2001, American Water Heater Company implemented a system-level improvement project on the compressed air system that serves its manufacturing plant in Johnson City, Tennessee. The plant now operates with less compressor capacity, which has reduced its energy consumption and maintenance needs. The project's total cost was $228,000. The annual compressed air energy savings (2,345,000 kWh) and maintenance savings total $160,000, yielding a simple payback of 17 months. Furthermore, the system now supports the plant's production processes more effectively, which has improved product quality and increased production.

Plant-wide energy assessments at the Anchor Glass Warner Robins and Jacksonville plants revealed opportunities that could result in significant annual energy savings.

Plant-wide energy survey at the Appleton Papers, Inc. West Carrollton paper mill resulted in 21 recommendations for projects to reduce energy consumption and waste production and improve process efficiency.

The Bayer Corporation undertook a plant-wide energy efficiency assessment of its New Martinsville, West Virginia, plant in 2001. The objectives were to identify energy saving projects in the utilities area. The projects, when complete, will save the company the loss of an estimated 236,000 MMBtu ($1.16 million) annually in energy from burning and leaking fossil fuels. Certain other projects will save the company 6,300,000 kWh ($219,000) of electrical energy each year. All of the projects could be duplicated in other chemical manufacturing facilities and most of the projects could be duplicated in other industries utilizing steam, pumps, and/or compressed air.

The boiler blowdown process involves the periodic or continuous removal of water from a boiler to remove accumulated dissolved solids and/or sludges. During the process, water is discharged from the boiler to avoid the negative impacts of dissolved solids or impurities on boiler efficiency and maintenance. However, boiler blowdown wastes energy because the blown down liquid is at about the same temperature as the steam produced. Much of this heat can be recovered by routing the blown down liquid through a heat exchanger that preheats the boiler's makeup water. A boiler blowdown heat recovery project at Augusta Newsprint Company's Augusta, GA mill will save almost $31,000 annually in fuel costs.

In the 1990s, a subsidiary of the Citation Corporation, Interstate Forging, implemented a compressed air system improvement project at its Milwaukee, Wisconsin, forging plant. This improvement enabled the plant to maintain an adequate and stable pressure level using fewer compressors, which led to improved product quality and lower production downtime. The project also yielded annual energy savings of 820,000 kWh and$45,000. With a total project cost of$67,000, the plant achieved a simple payback of just 1.5 years.

Case study describing a project which configured a printing machine so that it consumes less compressed air and required lower pressure to operate effectively. Project replicated throughout the company, leading to energy cost savings of $200,000 per year, or 2.9 million kilowatt-hours.

This case study highlights International Truck and Engine Corporation's optimization project on the compressed air system that serves its foundry, Indianapolis Casting Corporation. Due to the project's implementation, the system's efficiency was greatly improved, allowing the foundry to operate with less compressor capacity, which resulted in reduced energy consumption, significant maintenance savings, and more reliable production.

The H.B. Reese Company successfully completed an upgrade of this compressed air system at its facility in Hershey, PA. The plant took two compressors offline while increasing throughput and quality.

This case study highlights a compressed air improvement project implemented at the Mobil lubricating-blending plant in Vernon, California. The project reduced the plant's energy production and maintenance costs, and increased reliability due to increased efficiency of the compressed air system.

This case study highlights International Truck and Engine Corporation's optimization project on the compressed air system that serves its foundry, Indianapolis Casting Corporation. Due to the project's implementation, the system's efficiency was greatly improved, allowing the foundry to operate with less compressor capacity, which resulted in reduced energy consumption, significant maintenance savings, and more reliable production.

In 2000, The Visteon automotive glass plant improved its compressed air system at its automotive glass plant in Nashville, Tennessee. This improvement allowed Visteon to save $711,000 annually, reduce annual energy consumption by 7.9 million kilowatt-hours, reduce maintenance, improve system performance, and avoid $800,000 in asbestos abatement costs.

This case study highlights a compressed air system upgrade at BWX Technologies manufacturing plant in Lynchburg, Virginia, which replaced antiquated compressors and dryers and implemented an improved control strategy, resulting in improved energy efficiency and savings in energy and maintenance costs.

Augusta Newsprint Company consolidated two compressed air systems at its facility in Augusta, GA. The results are a more streamlined system, added storage capacity, backflow prevention, and the elimination of unused equipment.

This case study highlights control scheme modifications made to the steam system at ExxonMobil's Mary Ann Gas Plant in Mobile, Alabama, which improved steam flow efficiency and reduced energy costs.

In 2000, the Corning glass plant in Greenville, Ohio, consumed almost 114 million kWh of electricity and nearly 308,000 MMBtu of natural gas in its glassmaking processes for a total cost of approximately $6.4 million. A plant-wide assessment indicated that improvement projects could save nearly $26 million and reduce natural gas use by 122,900 MMBtu per year, reduce electrical use by 72,300,000 kWh per year, and reduce CO2 emissions by 180 million pounds per year.

Forty Dow Chemical Company plants in Texas and Louisiana could save $15 million per year and reduce emissions by reusing wastes as described in this Industrial Technologies Program case study.

This case study describes an optimization project implemented on a fan system at Ash Grove Cement Company, which led to annual energy and maintenance savings of $16,000 and 175,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh). In 1999, Ash Grove Cement Company implemented an optimization project on a fan system in its cement plant in Durkee, Oregon. Because of a severe vibration problem, the fan system would often fail and require frequent repairs to the ductwork and adjoining machinery. The plant replaced the belt drive with an Adjustable Speed Drive (ASD) to improve the control of the fan system and lower its energy consumption. This change eliminated the vibration problem and improved the system's airflow control and energy efficiency. The project led to annual energy and maintenance savings of $16,000 and 175,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh). In addition, the fan system's improved reliability allowed the plant to achieve its desired production level. Because of partial funding from the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (NEEA), the total project cost was approximately $10,000, which gave the Durkee plant a simple payback of 7.5 months.

FMC Chemicals Corporation increased the efficiency of two large coal-fired boilers at its soda ash mine in Green River, Wyoming, by upgrading the burner management system. The project yields annual energy savings of 250,000 MMBtu.

The Ford Cleveland Casting Plant used results from its plant-wide energy efficiency assessment to identify 16 energy- and cost-saving projects. These projects addressed combustion, compressed air, water, steam, motor drive, and lighting systems. When implemented, the projects should save a total of$3.28 million per year. In addition, two long-term projects were identified that together would represent another$9.5 million in cost savings.