Food manufacturer reduces costs by recovering compressor heat
An international food manufacturer reached out to help them recover the heat generated during the compression process. Atlas Copco provided a solution and turned the heat into useful energy that can be used in the production process, in this case it can be used in the customers boiler room.
The Challenge
Being an industry leader, the customer has set targets to reduce Carbon emissions in line with their SBTi targets. In their challenge to minimize their carbon footprint by reducing boiler fuel consumption, they reached out to Atlas Copco for assistance.
The Solution
Encouraged by the savings of the first Energy Recovery unit, the customer gradually added more Energy Recovery units to fully realize the site's savings potential. In total, five Energy Recovery units were installed for the five GA160 compressors.
The most recent Energy Recovery unit installed in 2024 included an energy counter, allowing the customer to monitor the energy savings and carbon reductions.
The Outcome
Together with the energy counter, SMARTLINK accurately monitors and tracks the energy and CO2 savings of the most recently installed Energy Recovery unit. (see screenshot)
The data from the initial six months, for one Energy Recovery unit, indicates an energy consumption reduction of 208.000 kWh, which corresponds to a decrease of 42 tons of CO2 emissions and a cost saving of approximately 15.260 USD (= 83.200 BRL). This means the payback period for the energy recovery unit is less than 6 months.
The customer has five Energy Recovery units resulting in a 2.080.000 kWh/year saving of boiler fuel, reducing their CO2 emissions with 420 tons/year and having an estimated cost saving of 152.600 USD (= 832.000) BRL/year.
