Lowering energy costs

Rising energy costs for oil, natural gas, coal and electricity were a heavy burden on profits last year in energy-intensive industries. It is likely that energy prices will fluctuate in the future, but in the long run they will probably tend to increase.

High energy prices and technical progress means that today it makes sense to invest not only in new boiler systems but also in energy-saving measures for existing plants which would not have been particularly profitable under earlier circumstances:

Considerable heat potential can be utilised for preheating feed water or return flow water with classic heat recovery systems using flue gas heat exchangers or flue gas condensers. Efficiency can be improved by between 5 and 12 percent.

• Fuel and water savings can also be achieved through the retrofitting of a
• blow-down flash tank and cooler, which will often pay for itself after a few months.
• Fuel consumption can be further reduced in full deaeration systems by installing a vapour cooler.
• Condensate return flows in the higher temperature range can be returned directly to the boiler using a high-pressure condensate system, without any further energy and expansion vapour losses. A condensate heat exchanger can be a reasonably priced alternative.
• Retrofitting the automatic Loos Water Analyser LWA not only protects the system against damage caused by insufficient water parameters, but also achieves savings on fuel consumption, chemicals in the water, the use of fresh water and staffing costs.

Many investments generally pay for themselves after just a short time and thus improve the economic efficiency of the boiler on a long-term basis.

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Loos International GmbH is based in Gunzenhausen, Germany. www.loos.de