Provision of a 406 kW Combined heat and power solution at a Soap Manufacturing plant (South Africa)
A well-known South African detergent manufacturer with international standards of excellence. With a tower capacity of 8 000 tons per month, and state-of-the-art packaging facilities, this industry leader in environmentally sustainable operations and continuously strives to improve the highest level of environmental values. To this end, the company contracted Solar Africa Energy to install and operate a Solar PV system.
OBJECTIVE:
The objective of the solution was to reduce the overall carbon footprint of the client’s plant, while providing them with additional monetary savings on electricity and heat.
SOLUTION & BUSINESS CASE:
The project is specifically tasked to build the proposed equipment (a 406 kW/507 kVA Gas-to-Power unit), to execute its installation and commissioning and to integrate it with the existing solar PV system on the client’s roof. The client has a continuous electrical load of approximately 480 kW and a current thermal requirement of 2.3 t/h of hot water, at temperature varying between 40 and 60 deg Celsius, depending on what product is being made. Condensate from steam is combined with make-up water from the municipality and is kept at 50 deg C inside the boiler room hot well. A secondary hot well of 4000 liters is kept at 40 deg C inside the plant for their processes.
Our control system strategy is planned for a multiple power sources at one time. The controller gives preference to the solar energy in this instance due to the driving factor being energy savings. The Hybrid controller will allow both the CHP unit and the PV system to run. The shortfall power between for the site requirements will come from municipal power which becomes a top-up when the PV and the generator cannot meet the entire site power requirements. Possibility of monitoring the monthly gas consumption versus the allowable gas consumption. This could be used to trigger some automatic changes to the system operation.
The CHP generates 272.9 kW of heat from the water jacket, from which the client will only need 30% through the current facilities, while the remaining 70% of the water jacket heat will be supplied to the plant’s future expansion. An ultrasonic sensor and a temperature sensor will be installed at the hot well to detect and monitor the water level and provide make-up water from the CHP and ensure that the water inside the boiler room’s well remains at 80 C.
For additional savings, 273.2 kW of heat from our exhaust gas will be introduced to the client’s spray dryer. A temperature sensor controlled by our hybrid controller will allow their SCADA system to detect whether exhaust gas is too hot for the product being dried, and a stream of fresh air will be introduced to cool the exhaust before it reaches the product inside the spray dryer.
The Hybrid controller will ensure the smooth harmonious syncing of the individual hybrid components. The controls will regulate the engine running parameters to ensure that KT Wash receives the desired hot air required for their processes.
FUTURE VALUE TO CLIENT:
Future value to client includes Electricity savings, heat savings, gas usage savings, overall carbon footprint reduction. In one word the client will benefit from the implementation of a sustainable strategic energy management plan.
