Satisfying a thirst for energy savings

The manually-operated pumps at the customer’s site were suffering continual breakdowns, poor performance even when they were actually operating, and causing system imbalances. Worse still, there was no early warning of problems. As the company’s Energy and Sustainability Manager explained, ”The first time we’d know of any problems on site [was when] we’d be getting a phone call from a production team saying that their water pressure was down or the quality was down.”

As a first step towards being proactive rather than reactive, the customer agreed to a Grundfos Energy Check Advanced. This check involves service technicians analysing existing pump performance, and suggesting ways to find energy savings.

For this particular customer, the check was initially carried out as a trial across pump systems in four of their crucial applications: towns water, treated water, primary chilled water and central chilled pumping systems.

Delivering on demand

With the Energy Check Advanced confirming the customer’s worst fears about their pump systems’ efficiency, the next step was for Grundfos to propose a solution.

This took the form of highly efficient, electronically controlled, Grundfos E-pumps.

Featuring variable speed drives which operate on demand, with pressure and temperature control, these pumps run only when the system needs them – so they don’t use energy unnecessarily. In addition, with Grundfos iSolutions digital cloud connectivity, there are more opportunities for energy savings, carbon savings, and improved system performance.

A treat for treated water

Completely convinced by the results of the Energy Check Advanced, the customer went ahead with Grundfos’ recommendations, with some impressive results in emissions and performance.

Now, with the pumps set to operate at their best efficiency point, energy consumption stays at 24kW or less – even during peak periods.

Rolling-out the pump retrofits across more areas within the site, the customer has seen energy-use reductions of 40-60% on all applications. Saving energy not only means reducing emissions but also cutting costs. According to the customer’s Energy and Sustainability Manager, ”I don’t think we’ve had one [Grundfos pump] project where the payback has been more than two years so far.”

A quiet revolution

With half a dozen pump retrofit projects on the site now complete, the carbon emissions reductions are approximately 4% across the factory.

Combined with the significant energy-use reductions and the increased reliability and productivity, the customer is more than satisfied with the results. In fact, they are discussing bringing forward one of next year’s projects into this year, simply because another year of delay will mean another year of potential savings left unrealised.

There are more benefits which can’t be measured simply in kilowatts of energy or tonnes of carbon.

Remote monitoring of the pump systems enables maintenance engineers to be proactive rather than reactive. Combined with the pumps’ higher reliability, that means less downtime and more productivity. The smaller size of the pumps makes them easier to handle if required, and because they are also quieter than the pumps they’ve replaced, there’s no need for ear defenders to be worn in the area where they operate. This makes for safer and more comfortable working conditions.

To find out how Grundfos pumps could reduce your carbon emissions and energy costs, talk to your usual ERIKS contact. What they’ve done for soft drinks they can do for harder challenges too.