Northumbrian Water halves steam energy with Spirax Sarco 10 January 2013

Northumbrian Water reports that it has halved energy demand for steam raising at its Bran Sands anaerobic digestion plant with the help of Spirax Sarco.

Indeed, according to Frank Errington, works coordinator at Bran Sands, the project has been so successful that the utility is now planning to apply the same approach at its new plant at Howdon.

The project centred on solving an issue with two boilers at Bran Sands where a low-water alarm would come into operation, even though there was plenty of water, he explains. Low-water alarms made the boilers cut out, reducing the time that the boilers were in action.

"The issue slowed the process down... We'd lose energy, as the boilers were on and off constantly and were cooling down during the downtime," states Errington.

Northumbrian Water called in Spirax Sarco engineers, who spotted that the existing level probes and controllers were not suitable for the application.

Replacing the controls with Spirax Sarco LP30 self-monitoring water level probes for each boiler, along with LC3050 level controllers solved the problem. Rewiring and a new control panel completed the new low-water alarm system.

However, Bran Sands was also experiencing a growing issue with false alarms in its high-water control systems, although these didn't cause downtime and energy losses. So Spirax Sarco also replaced the high-water probes.

"Both boilers are now available most of the time and we're experiencing stable operations," comments Errington. "The energy savings equate to about 50% of the energy needed for raising steam."

Brian Tinham

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