The Situation
The customer, a processor of cured meats, was looking to reduce the consumption of electricity and water involved in the wash-down process at their factory, and reduce the damaging impact that the current 37-bar water pressure was having on machinery. Another aim was to reduce maintenance costs and timescales, with spare parts currently being sourced from the USA.
The Solution
A member of the HAYLEY DEXIS local branch attended the site with an expert from the specialist pumps department, to determine the applications’ exact requirements. A test rig was set-up to understand the correct duty and pressure needed to effectively travel through lances and their attached nozzles, without causing damage. Two CAT Pumps with 11kW motors were supplied and installed. The pumps were far more energy efficient, able to perform on demand, and able to run at a significantly lower pressure of 10-bar. Nozzle sizes were also optimised, to reduce the volume of water consumed during washdown.
"COMPLETE PAYBACK ON THE PROJECT WAS ACHIEVED WITHIN 8 MONTHS."
The Result
The reduced energy consumption of the new pumps has enabled the customer to save around £14,000 per year on electricity costs. The water consumption of the units has also been halved, presenting an astronomical annual cost-saving of £124,000. Complete payback was achieved within 8 months. These cost-savings do not include those hidden costs related to the damage previously being inflicted on machinery, caused in main by the high water pressure. They also do not include the costs of lost production, spares costs, and engineer labour that were previously being experienced.