The Cape Town branch held its latest Technology Evening on Thursday 26 July at the Eskom marketing centre in Edgemead. Evan Dent, strategic business manager at Endress+Hauser, gave a very interesting presentation on ‘Energy Monitoring and Targeting’ with the theme: discover the potential cost savings in your plant. Evan started by introducing the subject of energy monitoring and targeting. The important targets being water, air, gas, electricity and steam – termed WAGES. He also described the industrial production process model defined to have the inputs labour, raw materials and WAGES, and the outputs emissions, effluents and products. For plants to be efficient and stay competitive these inputs have to be optimised. Evan highlighted that compressed air and steam generation have been identified as energy intensive processes. Compressed air accounts for about 10% of industrial electricity consumption, equating to 75 nuclear power plants, while steam accounts for 40% of fossil fuel used in industry. Clearly these figures suggest that when looking to reduce energy consumption in an industrial plant, compressed air and steam generation systems are the first to look at.
The presentation also touched on processes and best practice when one is looking to implement an energy monitoring and targeting system. The best place to start is at the data collection points ie, flow, temperature, etc. One must ensure that these are properly installed, accurate and in good condition. Without this in place, the energy management cycle will not be possible. The energy cycle is defined as:
Data Collection→Energy Analysis→Energy Reporting→Optimisation→Data Collection.
The four strategies for saving energy were also covered. These are:
* Eliminate (wastage, leakages).
* Combine (eg, recovered heat to other processes).
* Change equipment (replace boilers, compressors when necessary).
* Improve (compressor, pump, drives and filters).
Tip from Evan: “Have an integrated approach to energy management and targeting. This means start by looking at the big energy users in a plant, then build from there.”
This was a very interesting topic and relevant to the challenges of industry today where electricity is a big component of company input costs. Implementing systems that can have a payback period of less than one year can have a major contribution to profits and efficiency. The Cape Town branch would like to thank Endress+Hausser for its continued support and the informative presentation.
Branch activities
Koeberg site visit
On 24 July, the branch visited Koeberg nuclear power station. It was an exciting and informative visit that started at the Koeberg visitors’ centre where members enjoyed a video about the power station, its history, and how it works. The Koeberg visitors’ centre is full of ‘toys’ and plant models which simulate different elements of electricity generation, and how nuclear works. It was fun for members to explore these.
Koeberg, the only nuclear power plant in Africa, was built in 1984 as a base load station with an installed capacity of 1 910 MW and a net power output of 1830 MW. During the session, Koeberg engineers explained how the plant’s control and safety systems work. The primary control system has not changed since the plant was built, but there is currently a project on the secondary system to extend the life of the power station.
Louis De Villiers, section head C&I training, gave members a tour of the Koeberg training centre. Most were shocked at how advanced and well equipped it is, with facilities for various levels of apprenticeships. There is also an accredited trade test facility. The training centre has facilities for mechanical, electrical, electronic and instrumentation trades. There are practical stations for flow, level and temperature control, where students can wire, program and test various systems. It was great to see that Eskom invests so much in development and training.
The members most enjoyed the visit and would like to thank Eskom staff for organising such a wonderful day. The next planned site visit will be on 10 October to the South African Naval base in Simonstown.
Excellence in automation project award
Members and interested parties are reminded about the branch’s ‘Excellence in automation project’ award. All nomination forms and supporting documentation need to be submitted before 1 October. Candidates can be nominated by the membership or can be proposed by any participating organisation within the Western Cape area. Nominations will be reviewed by a committee consisting of C&I industry leaders. All nominees must be SAIMC members in good standing with 2012 SAIMC officers not eligible during their term of office. Nomination forms and further information can be obtained from Selvan Murugan: [email protected]
NB: All C&I projects will be considered, there are no limitations with regards to complexity, application or size.
Next meeting
The next Technology Evening is scheduled for Thursday 27 September at the Eskom marketing centre, Edgemead: 18h00 for 18h30. Further details will be communicated via e-mail, facebook, twitter and LinkedIn. Members are encouraged to join the branch on these platforms to ensure that they receive all branch communications, just search for ‘SAIMC Cape Town’.
| Tel: | +27 11 312 2445 |
| Email: | [email protected] |
| www: | www.saimc.co.za |
| Articles: | More information and articles about SAIMC |
© Technews Publishing (Pty) Ltd | All Rights Reserved
printer friendly version