Emerson Smart Energy promises cost savings on renewables 09 January 2012

Emerson Process Management has kicked off what it's describing as a global programme to combine its industrial energy expertise with energy management technologies to enable plant managers to improve their use of renewable fuels, cut costs and reduce emissions.

Dubbed the Smart Energy Initiative, it is aimed at an estimated eur 1.45 billion market arising now as industrial energy users, from refineries to general manufacturers, face increasing pressure to adopt lower-cost fuels.

Steve Sonnenberg, president of Emerson Process Management, makes the point that energy comprises at least 30% of most facilities' operating costs – and hence the heat is on to make better use of waste fuels, biomass and other renewable sources.

Emerson's new Industrial Energy Group, he says, will focus on modernising and improving the performance of powerhouses, onsite utilities that provide steam and electricity etc, while also improving how manufacturing processes consume energy.

"With our Smart Energy initiative, Emerson is introducing a fundamentally new integrated technology platform that can change energy economics globally," states Sonnenberg.

At the heart of Emerson's platform is its True Energy technology, a patent-pending innovation for calculating the calorific values of fuel sources, he explains, which makes reliable energy production predictable and repeatable.

"Our True Energy Combustion Control platform reinvents the current model of combustion management, which has been around since the 1920s and is still in practice today," comments Chip Rennie, director of Industrial Energy for Emerson.

"This brings about nothing short of a reinvention of combustion models, which will make the prevalent use of low-cost fuels, like biomass, achievable and sustainable," he adds.

According to Sonnenberg, what's on offer is Emerson's proprietary software, combined with its plant control systems, for the first time enabling powerhouses to interchangeably use the most available and affordable renewable or waste fuels.

Those might include wood waste, food by-products, animal waste and manufacturing by-products, such as petroleum coke or off-gases.

And he adds that Smart Energy also delivers "21st century combustion solutions" for greater efficiency and reliability when using waste and other renewable fuels that burn and deliver energy at variable and sometimes unpredictable rates.

"We have seen tremendous growth for certain projects, such as biomass-to-energy conversion, where we have many customers running on renewable fuels 95% of the time," states Sonnenberg. "Given our track record ... we anticipate 25% to 35% growth in industrial energy projects over the next five years."

He points to recent applications that range from increasing steam production from scrap wood at a commercial power facility, improving the stability of a university's utility boilers, and increasing efficiency and stability of by-product gas burning at a steel mill.

"Emerson's work at our Port Talbot (UK) steel mill is helping us make better use of indigenous fuels, such as blast furnace gas and coke oven gas," confirms Andrew Rees, manager of a boiler upgrade project for Tata Steel.

"The improved controls are part of a comprehensive energy management project that's expected to reduce powerhouse energy consumption by 3—5% and help Tata Steel achieve its vision of becoming energy self-sufficient," he adds.

Emerson new team is being headed up by Rennie, who has 25-plus years of experience in powerhouse operations. Emerson technologies being fielded include its SmartProcess boiler and energy management software suites, which were conceived to overhaul dated equipment and methodologies used by the majority of industrial power plant, as well as provide a new approach to greenfield sites.

Its SmartProcess Boiler technology, for example, provides for real-time combustion controls that address the inconsistent nature of renewable and waste fuel sources, automating plant management during sudden changes in calorific value or fuel availability.

"Improving energy efficiency at a site by just 1—2% can translate into hundreds of thousands of euros in savings – and substituting a waste fuel for a purchased fuel can save millions of euros annually," insists Rennie. "Opportunities like these are now too big to ignore."

Brian Tinham

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