Case Study
Jardin Corrugated Cases
Corrugated cardboard maker recovers flash steam for £40,000 per year cost saving
A Spirax Sarco flash steam recovery system is saving Cambridgeshire-based Jardin Corrugated Cases nearly £40,000 per year and has reduced the company’s CO2 emissions by 282 tonnes per year. What’s more, the whole project has been financed by an interest-free loan through the Carbon Trust, all organised by Spirax Sarco.
In its ongoing efforts to save energy and become a more environmentally-friendly operation, Jardin Corrugated Cases decided to tackle an issue it had with flash steam escaping from its 11,000 sq metre manufacturing site in Ely. Not only did the escaping plume of steam waste energy, but it potentially created a poor environmental image.
Spirax Sarco was called in to help and designed an advanced flash steam recovery system, which it then supplied, installed, commissioned and project managed.
In addition, Spirax Sarco applied for the Carbon Trust loan on behalf of Jardin Corrugated Cases, with the whole scheme being vetted and approved by the Trust’s consultants. The system saves 2.8 tonnes of CO2 per £1,000 spent, significantly beating the Carbon Trust’s loan criterion of a minimum two tonnes per £1,000 spent.
At the heart of the new installation is a Spirax Sarco FREME (Flash Recovery Energy Management Equipment) system that ensures all the usable heat in the condensate from the steam system can be returned to the boiler.
FREME works by passing returning condensate through a heat exchanger system where it heats the boiler feed water. Crucially, this heating takes place on the high-pressure side of the boiler feed pumps, so the system can safely heat the water to more than 100°C without boiling and causing pump cavitation.
Spirax Sarco also provided automatic boiler blowdown controls with full heat recovery, boiler feedtank insulation and a packaged pump system to ensure all condensate from the main corrugator is returned for recovery.
As well as the savings in energy and carbon dioxide emissions, the system is saving water and water treatment chemical costs for Jardin Corrugated Cases and has eliminated the need for boiler operators to manually blow down the boilers each day.
