Energy efficiency initiatives (UK)

Through the U+ Programme, Univar Europe has set improvement goals for Safety, Environment and Quality.

At the Middlesbrough site the Operations Management team has set itself the challenging objective of reducing both steam and electricity use by 50% by 2012.

Steam and Hot Water
John Skeen, Middlesbrough and Widnes Ops Director, explains the process the site used to start achieving their ambitious 50% goal:

“The first requirement was to gain a thorough understanding of steam use and distribution. This included:

• Installing a Steam meter in Q2 2008,
• Examination of trends in steam use,
• Controlled trials with impact monitored -
• Isolate hot water tank
• Isolate tank farms (individually and collectively)
• With/without live steam use for melting drums
• With/without steam to Hot Room

Once we had carried out these studies we were able to take some meaningful actions, including:

• Changing the Gas Oil boiler so that it is on “COLD” when on standby,
• Removal of redundant steam lines,
• Steam leaks systematically repaired,
• Rationalisation of heated bulk tank stock.”

This is only the start of the site's improvement plans! Below is a list of the actions proposed for making use of steam on the site even more efficient:

• New condensate recovery system will reduce steam use by 20%,
• Insulation of Blender 5,
• Improved insulation of bulk tanks,
• Electrical trace heating to replace steam where cost-effective,
• Clearance of historic waste plus improved internal stock handling will reduce the quantity of live steam used to heat high-melt drums.

Electricity
The Middlesbrough site, which has served Univar for many years, has a main site sub-station. Meters were installed in 2008 which allow electricity use across 5 main site areas to be independently calculated.   Several improvements have been implemented in order to enhance electrical energy efficiency:

• New low-energy light fitting and control system installed in main warehouse,
• New compressor installed – variable speed, and replaces 2 old compressors,
• New air-manifold with consequent significant reduction in leaks,
• Improved management of lighting, for example, lights off when not required in Packed Goods (this required a new control panel and uses PIR motion detectors).

Other actions proposed include low-energy lighting for the Packed Goods area and the Blending area.

Other

• Various transport energy efficiency initiatives, are being coordinated by Jeff Hughes, and involve the Middlesbrough site. This includes specifying trucks with improved fuel efficiency and maximising routing efficiencies.
• Reorganisation of Yard areas will reduce FLT use and hence fuel.
  

Watch this space
So will the Middlesbrough site achieve their ambitious goal of a 50% energy use reduction? We hope to be able to confirm their success sooner than 2012!