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Benefits
"Buying
boilers used to be like buying a pair of shoes,
whether you buy size 5 or 8, the price is still
the same. So, we just went for the largest size,
after all, the price is cheap."
-
Tritex managing director Richard Y. K. Chin |
For
more than 20 years, the management of Tritex Containers
Sdn Bhd thought that it was okay to have big boilers
for its production process, simply because big and cheap
meant they were getting value for money. Little did
they realise that oversized boilers were causing inefficient
use of energy, which eventually meant the company was
losing money.
Tritex,
which manufactures corrugated paper to produce packaging
boxes, opened its doors to the MIEEIP team in October
2001 to conduct energy audits, because the pulp &
paper sector is one of the most intensive consumers
of energy. Initial findings by the audit team showed
that the company had the potential for energy savings
as high as RM174,000 a year. The MIEEIP's engagement
of Tritex is the first systematic attempt at improving
energy efficiency.
Savings
from energy efficient measures
The MIEEIP team discovered that most of the energy losses
occurred because of uninsulated pipes in the boiler
and leakages in the compressed air system and main distribution
loops. The factory's waste treatment plant (WTP) was
also located quite far from the boiler at about 140m,
which resulted in heat loss at the piping.
The
measures that were recommended, involving no-cost and
low-cost investment included:
Fine-tuning boiler operations
Repairing leaks in distribution pipes and consumption
points
Rectifying leakages in compressed air system
Shutting-off compressor and dryer during non-production
hours
Using smaller compressor during low production period
Switching off all nonessential idling equipment
Improvement
measures involving the efficiency of the boilers are
replicable throughout the industry and can be implemented
at minimum cost. For instance, the factory has decided
to relocate the WTP closer to the boiler.
With
an initial investment of only RM44,500, Tritex put
in place a more efficient system that resulted in
an annual energy savings of RM89,464. Table 1 shows
the estimated annual savings from the measures implemented
to date.
Table
1: Estimated annual savings for no-cost and low-cost
energy efficiency measures
(Source:
MIEEIP Energy Audit Team Follow-Up, 2002)
*Waste Treatment Plant
According
to Chin, the factory expects to implement the measures,
including the more complex ones within the next three
to five years. The high cost measures may be in place
in the next two years considering the overall financial
slowdown, especially in the manufacturing sector. The
company, said Chin, is basically saving now for other
projects later, or to offset any rise in costs in future,
such as for raw material.
(Source:
MIEEIP Energy Audit Team Follow-Up, 2002)
*Waste Treatment Plant
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