Babcock Wanson boiler control cuts costs for yeast plant 11 August 2011

Yeast production firm Lallemand GB is reporting the successful conclusion of its project to install two new Babcock Wanson BWD fire tube boilers with integral economiser and BW72H control system at its Felixstowe plant.

The BWD60 boilers replaced three-pass fire tube boilers that had been installed in 1967 at the UK's largest fresh yeast production facility, and had come to the end of their working lives.

Lallemand already uses Babcock Wanson boilers across other sites and Evert Wijnberg, project manager for the company, says Babcock Wanson service was good throughout the whole process.

"What is also worthwhile mentioning is that Babcock is prepared to evaluate their performance with the customer and wants to improve by doing so," he adds.

He points to the choice of boiler type and flexibility of operation required at this plant. "In selecting the size it helped a lot that we have a good understanding of our demand pattern. On the other hand we have had a lot of 'fuzzy logic' as we expect quite some expansion on our site." T

Hence the BWD60s, which have a slightly higher capacity than the boilers they replace. And there is Babcock Wanson's BW72H self checking control system, which Wijnberg says has enabled the plant to both manage its complex steam demand pattern and reduce costs.

"Unfortunately, we have considerable load swings, which are the consequence of the way we sterilize equipment. This is a situation that we can manage best when we deploy intelligent algorithms. The control system of the boilers provides the platform for doing this," states Wijnberg.

"The more successful we are at managing the balance between the two boilers and the steam demand pattern, the more we can reduce the energy bill and make the best return in our investments," he adds.

And he says that the control system has also allowed for reduced operator interaction, as it continuously monitors the environment – thus reducing costs further while improving efficiency.

Brian Tinham

Related Companies
Babcock Wanson UK Ltd

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