This Industrial Technologies Program case study describes an energy assessment team's recommendations for saving $5 million in energy, water, and other costs at an oil refinery in Houston, Texas.

In 2001, Lehigh Southwest Cement Company improved the compressed air system at its cement plant in Tehachapi, California. Consequently, the system was able to operate more efficiently with less compressor capacity and at a lower system pressure. The project yielded total annual savings of 895,000 kWh and $199,000. The initial project cost was $417,000, but Southern California Edison provided a $90,000 incentive payment to reduce the cost to $327,000. Simple payback was about 20 months.

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.

Neville Chemical conducted a plant-wide energy efficiency assessment of its Anaheim, California, plant in the spring of 2002. The assessment justified five projects that would significantly reduce electricity and fuel costs. Four of the five projects, when complete will save 436,200 kilowatt-hours, or$31,840 of electrical energy each year. The remaining project will save 7,473 million British thermal units or$43,600 in fossil fuel each year. One year later, the same assessment team applied its knowledge of Neville's processes in a plant-wide assessment at Neville's Pittsburgh plant, and identified 15 projects with more than$715,000 in projected annual savings.

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 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 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 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.

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.

This OIT BestPractices case study describes the methods and results of a plant-wide energy assessment at Metlab's aircraft component manufacturing plant in Wyndmoor, PA. Recommendations derived from the assessment, if implemented, can save an estimated $528,400 annually, reduce natural gas use by 50,070 MMbtu per year, and reduce electrical use by 329,400 kWh per year.

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.

3M conducted an in-house motor system study in 29 buildings at the 3M Center. The company evaluated approximately 1,000 electric motors and upgraded systems, resulting in reduced electricity use and cost savings of $77,554 per year.

Summary of AMCAST Industrial Corporation's plant-wide assessment to identify energy and cost saving opportunities at the corporation's facility in Wapakoneta, Ohio.

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 the upgraded compressed air system at a Michelin tire manufacturing plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina. The controls upgrade project enabled multiple compressor operation without blow-off, and significantly reduced energy costs.

In 2001, the Visteon automotive glass plant in Nashville, Tennessee renovated its millwater pumping system. This improvement saved the plant $280,000 annually in energy and operating costs, reduced annual energy consumption by 3.2 million kilowatt-hours, reduced water consumption, improved system performance, and reduced use of water treatment chemicals.

Augusta Newsprint Company performed a plant-wide energy assessment that implemented four projects involving pumping systems presented in this study, which are projected to reduce energy consumption by over 5,200 megawatt hours.

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.

Review of pumping system at paper mill led to installation of mechanical Adjustable Speed Drives on two pumps, which resulted in annual energy savings of $32,000 and 700,000 kilowatt hours.

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.