Gulf Coast Environmental Systems LLC (GCES) provides Energy Audits to assess the energy consumption and recommend ways to improve energy efficiency. The GCES Industrial Energy Audit Program applies to equipment such as Thermal Oxidizers, Furnaces, Ovens, Heat Exchangers, Boilers, and Building Air Handling Systems.
Components of GCE’s Industrial Energy Audit Program:
| Process Heating | Steam System | Other | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Energy Assessments | |||
| Examine Energy-Intensive Processes | ? | ? | ? |
| Measure Systems Performance | ? | ? | ? |
| Identify Ineffective Energy Use | ? | ? | ? |
| Recommend Ways to Improve Energy Efficiency and Reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions | ? | ? | ? |
| Project Verification | |||
| Verify Projected Energy Savings | ? | ? | ? |
| Tools | |||
| Load Balance | ? | ? | ? |
| Score Card | ? | ? | ? |
| Excess Air | ? | ? | |
| Furnaces & Ovens | ? | ||
| Heat Recovery | ? | ? | |
| Like to Like | ? | ? | ? |
| Thermal Oxidizer | ? | ||
Energy Audit
An examination of energy-intensive processes is the first task to ensure your process equipment is running at optimal conditions and complying with your operating permit. Even well maintained systems require reconditioning or upgrading to maximize operational performance. GCES will gather operational data such as temperatures, flows, and pressures to analyze any equipment trends. Identifying ineffective energy use is important as it may result in improper product curing, reduced VOC abatement equipment destruction efficiency, and reduced profits. The Energy Audit inspections include detailed recommendations and options for future planning.
The GCES team encourages plants to participate in each Energy Audit assessment. This allows feedback to GCES of real-time data in order to monitor the equipment’s continual performance and calculate real-time energy savings and emission reductions.
Simple Fixes:
During an Energy Audit, the GCES specialist performing the audit will identify “low-hanging fruit” opportunities for energy efficiency improvements that a plant can implement in the near-term with little to no cost. These actions tend to be overlooked activities, such as powering down a motor when not in use, putting a door on the furnace, or replacing worn seals or insulation. These simple fixes have minimal implementation costs and immediate paybacks.
Process Changes:
GCES Energy Audits focus on processes and equipment. The assessments are tailored to locate where a plant is having inefficiencies and where energy is being wasted. The recommended changes might include:
- Controls Tune-up such as setting the process and / or equipment to go into a stand-by mode during shift changes and lunch breaks.
- Upgrade Permanent Total Enclosures (PTEs) to minimize dilution air intake
- Recirculate Dryers, Ovens, and Furnaces
- Cascade operation to minimize flow to the Air Pollution Control equipment, such as a Regenerative Thermal Oxidizer (RTO)
- Tune Burner Systems – Air / Fuel Ratio
- Supplemental Fuel Injection (SFI)
- Conversion to a Catalytic Oxidizer [i.e. RTO to Regenerative Catalytic Oxidizer (RCO)]
- Pre-Filtration [i.e. Wet Electrostatic Precipitators (WESPs), Cartridge Filters, Cyclones, Baghouses]
Preventative Maintenance Evaluations (PMEs):
The GCES team also makes recommendations for improving operations and maintenance (O&M) in plants. The PME service recognizes and aims to establish that performing routine maintenance will not only help ensure the long life of a piece of equipment, but will also ensure that the equipment operates efficiently. Potential improvements could include maintaining clean RTO heat recovery ceramic media or replacing an old burner UV scanner before it fails.
Tools Used with the GCES Industrial Energy Audit Program
Load Balance:
This tool quantifies how much natural gas is being consumed at a plant. The tool measures gas consumption per year based on the plant’s billing records. This is essential for every plant assessment since the actual amount of gas usage must be is established to quantify potential gas savings.
Score Card:
This tool ranks energy efficiency opportunities and their feasibility in a plant.
Excess Air:
This tool can be utilized to calculate energy savings for upgrading a burner or repairing leaks for induced draft systems.
Furnaces and Ovens:
This tool models and quantifies gas energy savings associated with improved furnace or oven efficiency.
Heat Recovery:
This tool measures potential energy savings resulting from waste heat recovery. The report covers combustion air preheat, flue gas to air, flue gas to water, and water to water opportunities.
Like to Like:
This tool determines gas savings if a piece of equipment is replaced with a new, more energy-efficient technology.
Thermal Oxidizer:
This report compares scenarios with different thermal oxidizers depending on the equipment’s application and performance requirements. It also helps to calculate savings associated with various thermal oxidizer technologies.