Smurfit Kappa saves £60,000 on energy with ABB drives 10 November 2014

Food packaging manufacturer Smurfit Kappa reckons it will cut £60,000 from its energy bill following the installation of ABB variable speed drives (VSDs) on its shredder fans.

At its plant in Bristol, Smurfit Kappa produces cardboard materials such as packaging, trays and bottle carriers, to transport and display supermarket products like beer bottles and tubs of butter.

During production, te plant machinery creates thin strips of waste cardboard that are shredded into smaller particles by fans and then blown into a baler for packing and disposal.

"We proposed using VSDs to run the motor-driven fans more slowly and thus cut down on energy use," comments Alan Jones of APDS, who was contacted by Smurfit Kappa Yate to asses plant energy saving possibilities.

The company has been aware of VSDs' energy saving potential but was concerned that the fans could not be run slower as they chop the waste while they blow it.

"We were sceptical at first so it was agreed that APDS would do for a trial using the ABB drives," explains Julian Jones, engineering manager for Smurfit Kappa.

APDS measured power consumption of the 45kW shredder fans and calculated that they cost more than £47,000 per annum to run. Following commissioning of an ABB ACS550 drive on one of the fans, the firm showed that, if all three were fitted with VSDs, the plant could save £22,000 on these fans alone.

"We began with running the motor at 50 Hz and reduced it to 35 Hz before anyone noticed -- achieving an energy saving of some 50%", comments Jones.

And he adds: "The company was concerned about clogging, so we demonstrated how the motor could be driven at full speed for two minutes on start up to clear debris. It could then be ramped down to 35 Hz for normal energy saving operation."

The drive was wall mounted next to the fans in an IP54 enclosure to resist the ingress of dust.

Following the initial demonstration, the two remaining shredder fans on the machine were also fitted with ABB VSDs.

A further four fans are now being fitted and the company intends to install drives on other fans used on its machines.

Altogether, the company is set to save over £60,000 in annual energy costs, equating to 776,000 kWhr of energy and 408 tonnes of CO2 emissions.

Brian Tinham

Related Companies
ABB Ltd

This material is protected by MA Business copyright
See Terms and Conditions.
One-off usage is permitted but bulk copying is not.
For multiple copies contact the sales team.