A leading global virgin and recycled polyester supplier was experiencing problems with the quality of their boiler water. Their existing chemical supplier was unable to control the water and chemical residuals to the recommended guidelines. As a result, the boiler water would turn red, which is a sign of corrosion and scaling problems.
Thermax’s distributor offered our Boiler Chemical Programme to the customer. Within three days of starting the programme and close monitoring, the boiler water was cleared, indicating that there was no new corrosion and the water quality met the recommended guidelines.
The customer was satisfied with the product performance and service standards of Thermax. As a result, Thermax has now been contracted to provide the customer with cooling water treatment chemicals.
TOESL supplies Steam to a Textile Major (Maharashtra)
Thermax Onsite Energy Solutions Limited (TOESL)
provides outsourced utility delivery services based on the Build- Own-Operate (BOO) business model, enabling customers to optimise costs, reduce CO2 footprint and remain focused on their core business.
The customer is the leading player in the textile industry and one of the marquee customers of TOESL. It uses state-of-the art technology to manufacture wide range of high quality nylon processed yarns.
COMBIPAC Biomass Boiler Model: CPRG160 with Reciprocating Grate using Lambion, GmbH Technology
Boiler Capacity: 16 TPH
Site Location: Pune, Maharashtra
Fuel: Biomass Briquettes
Estimated CO2 Reduction: 15,600 TPA
Project Overview
The customer’s manufacturing unit was operating with 5 boilers for generating process steam, out of which 4 were oil-fired (subsequently two were retrofitted to run on biomass) and 1 was biomass-fired. Due to process expansion and hence an increase in the steam demand, the following was observed:
- Existing retrofitted boilers, being manual fired and inefficient, were unable to deliver economically.
- The retrofitted boilers were unable to consistently meet the environmental standards in spite of Bag Filters being installed.
- The retrofitted boilers had also run their lifetime and were unsafe to operate, thus requiring high maintenance costs.
- More furnace oil was required to meet the enhanced demand which further added to the cost of production.
Boiler at a Glance
| Model | Capacity | Type |
|---|---|---|
| CPRG160/17.5 | 16 TPH (F&A 1000 C)each | Horizontal Multi-tubular Shell Type Smoke Tube with Water Wall Furnace |
| Design Pressure | Operating Pressure | |
| 17.5 kg/cm2 | 15 kg/cm2 |
Thermax Onsite’s Offering
TOESL has installed a biomass briquette-fired boiler of 16 TPH @ 17.5 kg/cm2 (g) to be operated and managed through a long- term comprehensive OPEX contract under Build-Own- Operate (BOO) business model, replacing the previous boilers and ensuring energy (steam) delivered at an optimum price leveraging high-end automated biomass boiler installation. Electrostatic Precipitator was included in the scheme to meet the stringent environmental standards.
Benefits to Client
- Optimum cost-effective steam price
- Guaranteed boiler uptime & efficiency throughout the product lifecycle
- No investment for boiler plant and machinery by customer
- Comprehensive O&M
- Significant decrease in SPM in emissions-upto 50 mg/Nm3
- Dedicated biomass fuel supply chain ensuring consistent quality at right price
- The customer focuses on its core business while TOESL takes charge of steam supply
Energy-efficient Cooling at Hudson Yards with Multienergy Chiller-heaters
Overlooking the Hudson river in New York is Hudson Yards, the largest private real-estate complex in the United States. The complex comprises of public park, residential apartments, hotel, office buildings and a cultural venue. Hudson Yards is also home to a seven-storey mall with over 100 shops and 20 restaurants. With massive complexes and modern buildings powered by energy-efficient utilities, Hudson Yards stands as a model of sustainability in New York City.
Effective realisation of the aimed model
Reducing the consumption of non-renewable resources and minimising waste generation remained the prime objective of the builders while raising the structures of Hudson Yards. As a part of the aimed model, Hudson Yards employs a first-of-its-kind microgrid comprising of two eco-friendly cogeneration plants. Four large Jenbacher engines in the plants generate electricity required for the buildings. With the cogeneration plants in place, waste heat recovery presented a tremendous opportunity for attaining energy sustainability in the buildings. Hence, the builders and agencies of Hudson Yards collaborated with Thermax to capitalise the excess heat emanated from the engines and use it to cool the buildings.
Cooling the yards with four absorption chiller-heaters
Thermax has a successful history of integrating its cooling and heating solutions in cogeneration plants and recovering heat from the internal utilities. Looking inward at the available processes in a facility, Thermax recovers waste heat and utilises it to meet the facility’s cooling and heating demands, thus resulting in cost advantages and energy benefits. Thermax’s success in recovering heat from cogeneration plants coupled with our quick and exceptional service support paved way for the partnership with Hudson Yards.
After a detailed understanding of the processes involved and in alignment with the sustainability goals, Thermax has installed four multienergy chiller-heaters each of 660 tons of refrigeration at Hudson Yards. Waste heat from the four Jenbacher engines each of 2.4 MW, drives the chiller-heaters. Chilled water from the chiller-heaters offer comfort cooling to the buildings in Hudson Yards. With the installation of the chiller-heaters, Thermax has not only reduced the buildings’ energy consumption over a long term, but also made comfort cooling at Hudson Yards more reliant.
Rapidly increasing population and urbanisation raise a growing concern about energy consumption in buildings. In order to eliminate the adverse impacts of urbanisation on the environment, it is necessary to design and develop utilities that align with the sustainability goals of builders and developers.
Enhancing Environmental Sustainability at Gardens by the Bay
An integral part of Singapore’s ‘City in a Garden’ vision, Gardens by the Bay, spans a total of 101 hectares of prime lane at the heart of the city – Marina Bay. A national garden and premier attraction for local and international visitors, Gardens by the Bay is a showpiece of horticulture and garden artistry that presents the plant kingdom in a whole new way, entertaining while educating visitors with plants seldom seen in this part of the world, ranging from species in cool, temperate climates to tropical forests and habitats.
Its smart architectural design and in-house operational utilities aid the garden in achieving efficient and optimal use of energy resources. Two giant domes in the garden act as conservatories of rare plants from all over the world. In order to replicate the regional climates within the domes, Gardens by the Bay employs a suite of cutting-edge cooling technologies. Thermax’s hot water driven chillers are a part of the suite which cools the domes and the exhibits in the greenest way possible.
Cooling solution for the demanding mission
The design of the conservatories itself was intended to be an energy-efficient showcase of sustainable building technologies. Hence, there was a requirement for a highly reliable cooling solution that would align with the garden’s underlying concept – Sustainability. Gardens by the Bay collaborated with the ACMV contractor – M/s Taikisha (Singapore) Pte Ltd. to execute the project. As per the proposal by Taikisha (Singapore) Pte Ltd., Thermax became a key supplier of vapour absorption chillers for the garden.
Delivering the most reliable solution
Based on our previous successes in offering customized solutions, Thermax designed the chillers for Gardens by the Bay fitting the availability of heat source, technical demands, and selective cooling requirements.
Integrating cooling solution with the CHP (Combined Heat and Power) system – for greater sustainability
Thermax has commissioned two low temperature hot water driven chillers, each of 510 TR, at the garden. Hot water from the garden’s turbine exhaust drives the vapour absorption chillers. In order to reduce the volume of air to be cooled, Gardens by the Bay applies thermal stratification strategy by which only the lower levels of the domes require to be cooled. Hence, the chilled water from the chillers is channelled to the pipes laid beneath the garden’s floors.
Our smart solution meeting the toughest cooling demands
Our chillers, in conjunction with the CHP system, serve as green solution cutting down on the CO2 emissions of Gardens by the Bay. Owing to the use of waste heat from the turbine as onsite source for the chillers, the garden enjoys energy-efficient cooling for its domes.
Sustainable development has been Thermax’s vision even before the term became a trend. Through this ambitious project, we have reinforced that any challenging requirement can be met by sustainable means with the right knowledge and expertise. Thermax’s hot water driven vapour absorption chillers continue to successfully cool the domes while sharing the garden’s goal of ‘Sustainability’.
Keeping the Catch Fresh at One of the Leading Seafood Exporters
Thermax’s energy-efficient cooling solution is a part of the refrigeration plant in one of India’s leading seafood exporters, keeping the processed catch fresh for export. The uninterrupted productivity and exemplary performance of the solution have resulted in customer delight and strengthened our partnership with the company.
The company is well-known in the seafood processing industry for its premium quality of production and storage processes. The global popularity of the company is attributed to its world-class infrastructure, industry best practices and stringent safety standards.
On the look for energy conserving solution
The seafood exporter was setting up a new fish processing plant at Mangalore, India exclusively to process groundfish (Surimi). The plant was also to serve as an allied cold storage facility. While seeking an efficient cooling solution for the refrigeration facility, the company was determined to deploy one that will also systematically conserve power, space and water.
Thermax’s proven track record in cooling refrigeration units
As the new plant was a greenfield premium project, the customer was looking to partner with an experienced market leader for commissioning the cooling solution. Thermax’s successful history of cooling storage units combined with our impressive after-sales service instigated the seafood exporter to collaborate with us. After studying the requirements of the storage facility, our experts suggested evaporative condenser as the one-point solution for the company’s cooling demands.
Capturing freshness effectively
In the seafood industry, effective storage of the processed catch and preventing it from perishing is the most crucial process. The processed fish is subjected to various degrees of chilling in a variety of utilities such as blast freezer (-40 °c), blast chiller (-10°c), pre-cooler, chill room, freezer room, plate freezer and brine chiller. Refrigeration plants encapsulate the cooling utilities and cater to their cooling requirements. Such refrigeration systems are designed for continuous operation to ensure a maximum shelf life of the processed fish. Considering its high reliability, Thermax’s evaporative condenser was the right choice for capturing the freshness of the fish.
Meeting the crucial requirements
Assessing the criticality and scope of the application, certain aspects of the installation had to best suit the customer requirements. They were the following:
- Highest-quality material of construction
- Short manufacturing lead time
- Strong and established after-sales service
- Steady machine performance despite varied climatic conditions
In line with the requirements, Thermax’s evaporative condensers were customised to fit the refrigeration unit’s cooling demands perfectly.
Systematic planning by Thermax’s team
Four evaporative condensers of 1,500 KW each were supplied in a single shot to the customer’s refrigeration plant, which posed a big challenge in view of their enormity. Designing the condensers for counter flow and constructing them with stainless steel was an added complexity. The challenges were overcome by Thermax team’s meticulous planning and thoughtful designing, resulting in an excellent and timely installation at the site.
The condensers have been running successfully without any disruption since the commissioning and have contributed to huge energy savings at the plant. Thermax’s fast execution and reliable service have prolonged our relationship with the seafood exporter leading to a total of 10 Thermax evaporative condensers commissioned in the company’s plants so far.
“The evaporative condensers were commissioned and handed over in July 2017 and July 2018, and since then they are under successful operation and working satisfactorily,” said the customer.
Green Steam Supply for a Textile Industry
The customer is one of the Indian manufacturing units of a multinational company, which is the world’s leading industrial thread manufacturer. The company is also a major player in America’s textiles crafts market and is headquartered in the UK.
Energy is one of the main cost factors in the textile industry. In an increasingly competitive global environment, industrialists seek to reduce production costs without affecting their production.
Thermax Onsite Energy Solutions Limited (TOESL), a subsidiary of Thermax Limited, provides outsourced utility delivery services based on the Build-Own-Operate (BOO) business model, enabling customers to optimise costs, reduce the CO2 footprint and remain focused on their core business.
In 2012, TOESL approached the client’s management with a steam supply proposition based on biomass as a fuel. On conducting a feasibility study of the plant, the team discovered that annual consumption of furnace oil by the plant was around 24,000 tons, which contributed greatly to the overall energy cost. Skyrocketing fuel prices affected the operating cost, and furnace oil, being a fossil fuel, resulted in high carbon emissions.
In a move to generate cost savings and align itself with its principles of sustainability, safety, performance and technology, the customer chose TOESL offering of a biomass-fired boiler and entered into a long term BOO based steam supply contract.
PROJECT OVERVIEW
The customer uses steam for indirect heating in the processes of dyeing and finishing and also uses it directly in the bleaching process. Previously, the plant was operating four furnace oil fired boilers, having cumulative capacity of 36 tons per hour to supply steam for their processes.
TOESL VALUE PROPOSITION
- BIOMASS FUEL MAPPING
- Fuel survey was undertaken for the particular site location to identify the availability of biomass fuels within a 300 km radius of the site, in the provinces of Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
- Fuels identified: Waste wood chips (primary fuel), paddy husk, cashew nut shells, palm kernel shells
- Vendor development to establish fuel supply chain network from source to site
- Evaluation of biomass price and available quantity over the course of the year
- PROJECT ASSESSMENT AND OUTLINE
- Analysis of load patterns of the process plant
- Analysis of steam consumption by the processes –minimum, average and peak
- Established the minimum steam off-take
- Evaluated space available on-site
- TECHNOLOGY SELECTION AND ENGINEERING
- Leveraged state-of-the-art, multi-fuel technology by Thermax and provided optimised, highly efficient and sustainable offerings to the customer
- Detailed engineering was undertaken to deliver customised high-end solutions
- INSTALLATION AND COMMISSIONING
- Installed and commissioned the biomass-fired boiler along with boiler accessories, fuel and ash handling systems and air pollution control equipment.
- OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE
- Comprehensive O&M along with fuel, ash, chemicals, consumables and spares management provided by TOESL
- Deployed experienced and trained manpower
- Routine regulatory compliance
- Maximise uptime and operating efficiency
- Online and remote performance monitoring
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
- Biomass fired boiler having reciprocating grate (Lambion, GmbH Technology)
- Boiler type: Horizontal multi-tubular shell type smoke tube with water wall furnace boiler
- Boiler model: CPRG150 (2 numbers)
- Boiler capacity: 15 (x2) TPH
- Boiler design pressure: 14 kg/cm2 (g)
- Boiler Fuel: Waste wood chips
TOESL STEAM SUPPLY AGREEMENT
- Civil foundations and structure for the utility plant provided by customer
- Complete capital expenditure of the equipment undertaken by TOESL
- Agreement period of ten years
- Interest free security deposit paid by customer at the time of signing the agreement, which shall be refunded at the end of the agreement period
- Fuel is charged on a pass-through basis
- Utility is charged as per off take
- Utility costing is done based on minimum off take decided between customer and TOESL
- Reduced utility price on consumption exceeding minimum off take
- Guaranteed delivery of uptime
BENEFITS TO CUSTOMER
- Cost reduction due to effective utility price
- Significant carbon savings
- Guaranteed boiler uptime and efficiency throughout the product lifecycle
- No investment in utility plant and machinery by customer
- Significant reduction in suspended particulate matter in emissions
- Dedicated biomass fuel supply chain ensuring consistent quality at the right price
On account of operating the biomass-fired boilers, the customer has contributed to CO2 reduction of over 21,000 tons annually.
CONTACT
+91-98233-55547 | enquiry@thermaxglobal.com | www.thermaxglobal.com
Online commissioning of a boiler in Egypt
The Covid-19 pandemic has taught us how to embrace technology and continuously find creative ways to maintain business continuity. Digital technology has been the buzz word for a long time in the business; even then, we had to improvise it in the face of the pandemic and adapt to changing dynamics. The scenario has propelled organisations to unlearn and learn ways that can redefine their processes, digitalise most of their functions and acquaint themselves with new ways of working to stay relevant in the ecosystem.
Thermax is progressively using smart technologies, robust IT infrastructure and gadgets to enhance customer experience innovatively. It is augmenting its digital capabilities and adapting to the new business culture to not only improve efficiency, cost and time for customers but for employees as well.
Recently, Thermax’s TBWES (Thermax Babcock and Wilcox Energy Solutions) team commissioned a large auxiliary boiler online for a customer located in Egypt with the team working remotely from India.
Project Highlights:
- Commissioned auxiliary boiler capacity of 1 x 50 TPH natural gas, acetone and water gas fired boiler
- The commissioning of the project was done within the stipulated time
- The team was available 24×7 to handle customer queries through Microsoft Teams and solved their problems on time
- Customer is satisfied with remote commissioning as the team could meet contractual obligations
Challenges: The commissioning group often face challenges for providing support to customers due to tight schedule, lesser manpower and sometimes visa issues (in case of customers based out of India).
In the last few months, COVID -19 outbreak has brought all activities to an abrupt halt at most of the sites. With strict travel restrictions in place, it was impossible to monitor the commissioning work at customer locations physically. As an alternative to onsite support, TBWES team explored the possibility of online commissioning through various platforms, including TeamViewer, Microsoft Teams, Grafana Portal, among others.
Approach: Online operations and commissioning was conceptualised and implemented successfully in the current situation at the customer site, keeping all safety factors pertaining to people and machinery intact to avoid any kind of accident.
Details such as commissioning process, SOPs, O&M manuals and job specific protocols along with checklists were provided to the customer before commissioning. Additionally, live view of DCS (Data Collection System) for monitoring, observations and recommendations were carried out online as well.
So far in the project, the team has completed the refractory dry out, Alkali boil out and steam blowing procedures at the site.
Benefits:
- Through remote commissioning, the customer is simultaneously getting trained on Thermax’s products. This will help to reduce frequent travel to sites for any breakdowns and troubleshooting.
- Increased productivity with multiple site support from head office
- Online commissioning resulted in substantial cost savings
- Unnecessary site visits of commissioning engineers, which happened otherwise in cases of incomplete erection or non-availability of clients’ inputs, are now completely eliminated.
Driving productivity in Mzuri Sweets from a distance
Mzuri Sweets Ltd. is a major player in the confectionery industry in Kenya. The company manufactures high quality gumballs, bubblegum, candy and lollipops, all under the signature brand, Mr. Berry’s. The company’s commitment towards quality has enabled it to thrive in a market, previously dominated by both foreign and local confectionery multinationals.
In light of the pandemic-induced lockdown, Thermax helped Mzuri Sweets prepare for a proper shutdown and safe restart. Thermax’s technical intervention ensured continuous operation and productivity at the plant amidst the crisis.
Thermax’s chillers cooling the plant floors
Mzuri Sweets is known for deploying advanced technologies in its manufacturing plant to achieve the best quality production. In line with its commitment towards quality, the company had sought Thermax’s cooling solutions for comfort cooling its premises. Hence, Thermax had commissioned a double effect steam fired vapour absorption chiller at the manufacturing facility in early 2016. The chiller’s performance has been good ever since the commissioning and the company was immensely satisfied with its operation.
Temporary lockdown in response to government guidelines
As the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the globe, the Kenyan government announced a 20-day lockdown across the country. The sudden announcement presented Mzuri Sweets with a significant operational challenge. The company was looking for ways to properly shut down the manufacturing plant – all the while preparing for a quick rebound after the 20 days of inactivity. The immediate crisis pushed the plant operators to quickly find ways of sustaining their operations while mitigating operational risks.
Service via ROSS: Re-imaging chiller monitoring and control
In order to ensure a smooth startup and avoid any mishaps in the future, the plant operator contacted Thermax for proper shutdown of the chiller. The conventional way of shutting down the chiller would have been to visit the site, monitor the chiller parameters, and implement the shutdown procedures.
With travel restrictions and social distancing measures in place, visiting the plant was out of the question. This is when Thermax’s cloud-based chiller monitoring system – ROSS (Remote Online Service Support) proved useful in controlling the chiller while being far away from the site. The capability to remotely monitor the parameters, status, and usage of the chiller ultimately ensured a smooth shutdown and startup at Mzuri Sweets.
Implementing chiller shutdown procedures
After analysing the operational conditions of the chiller, Thermax’s technical service expert communicated standardised shutdown procedures to the plant operator at Mzuri Sweets.
- Complete dilution of the chiller to bring LiBr to room temperature
- Isolation of steam inlet and outlet valves to ensure maximum productivity once the plant operations are restarted
- Breaking chiller vacuum
- Shutdown of diaphragm valves
ROSS’s assistance in reviving plant operations
After the short-term inactivity, when the plant operations at Mzuri Sweets resumed, our service expert intervened again for a smooth rebound. As the operations began to normalise, Thermax’s assistance towards achieving pre-shutdown productivity at Mzuri Sweets included the following recommendations:
- Maintenance of inlet cooling water temperature to prevent high scaling and generation of non-condensable gases
- Regular scheduling cooling tower service
- Periodical cleaning of water strainers
Shutdown and revival service support benefits
By clearly analysing, communicating, and enforcing the best shutdown and revival practices, Thermax’s service enabled Mzuri Sweets to enjoy the following benefits:
- Access to the same expertise as on-site services
- Decreased amount of downtime
- No loss of production
- Achieve pre-lockdown productivity when the operations resumed
- Operational enhancement by means of dilution and maintenance
- Increased chiller reliability
Combining chiller monitoring technology and service excellence, Thermax has ensured operational continuity at Mzuri Sweets. The thorough analysis and great co-ordination between the teams from Thermax and Mzuri kept the plant up and running, despite the unavailability of a chiller expert on premises. By leveraging ROSS, Thermax assures excellent service support for continued productivity in industries even in situations of utmost uncertainty.
Thermax’s remote monitoring service prevents downtime and maintains productivity at CBL Global Foods
CBL Global Foods Ltd., manufacturer and exporter of coconut-based products, is a group company of the legendary Ceylon Biscuits Limited in Sri Lanka. The company is known well in the country for its ‘Sera’ coconut milk, organic coconut milk, coconut water and juices. Being a primary exporter of coconut products to Europe & Asian countries, CBL Global Foods Limited has in place a sophisticated plant dedicated to steam infusion and downstream homogenisation process.
Thermax’s chillers at CBL Global Foods
With the island nation implementing stringent legislation and standards for the food industry, CBL Global Foods introduced a few changes to its food processing operations. As a part of the revamp, the company replaced its cooling machinery with two of Thermax’s steam fired vapour absorption chillers each of 98 TR capacity. The chillers cater to the process cooling of coconut milk in pasteurisers and comfort cooling at the plant. Regarding the chillers, “We are glad to record that since their erection from 2015 onwards, the chillers are in continuous operation to cater to the plant’s chilling load and we are satisfied with the efficiency and performance of the machines,” says Gihan Samaraweera, Assistant Engineering Manager at CBL Global Foods. The chillers are connected to ROSS (Remote Online Service Support) and are under constant monitoring by Thermax’s service team.
Spotting potential problem in the chiller
On 17th August 2019, ROSS displayed a temperature deviation in the chiller at CBL Global Foods’ plant. The outlet temperature was at 6.8°C against the designated 2°C. The defect, if left unnoticed, would have led to an inevitable loss of productivity since cooling is an important procedure in coconut milk processing. Our technical service team logged into the chiller and analysed its previous data logs. The ROSS reports traced back the issue to irregular purging and blowdown of the machines. Failure to perform blowdown in the chillers often results in slow down of operations. In addition, the inlet cooling water was sent at a temperature higher than the designated 7.1°C.
The issue was communicated to the operator and was addressed on the same day. Towards the evening of 17th August, the chiller’s outlet temperature was brought down to 1.8°C against a setpoint of 2°C. The temperature deviation possessed the potential to result in a 3-day downtime of the plant’s processes. Detection of aberration in the chiller parameters and identification of the root cause well in advance prevented unwanted downtime and huge maintenance costs to the company. Quick intervention by the service team with accurate information at the right time led to an uninterrupted production process at CBL Global Foods. Speaking on ROSS, “We also like to express our appreciation to their Technical Services team for providing digital services via internet with their innovative and advanced technology. In the past one and a half years, their smart services had helped us maintain 100% uptime of the machines. We are excited and pleased to use this facility and would recommend ROSS to other organisations for using Thermax Absorption Chillers,” added Gihan.
CBL Global Foods having experienced the benefits of ROSS several times and have appreciated Thermax’s Technical Service team for their timely support. ProiCare analytics from ROSS sends automated mails of the daily data logs, fortnight reports, and other alerts, which helps the company maintain a 100% uptime of the machines. Addition of ROSS to the commissioned chillers gives Thermax the opportunity to collect data, check status, predict downtime, recommend solutions and do so much more that industries using chillers never imagined of such a solution. Service with ROSS at CBL Foods Group is another epitome of how Thermax takes customer service to incredible heights.
ROSS – Continuous monitoring with an automated solution
At Thermax, addressing every conceivable factor of customer experience is crucial. Our efforts to offer excellent service coupled with the recent advancements in remote automated solutions gave way to ROSS. It is a system of cloud-based industrial maintenance, which connects installations across the globe to Thermax’s servers. ROSS enables managing and monitoring the chillers with alarms, trend graphs, and reports efficiently. With ROSS, the exact status of the chiller can be monitored anytime, thus offering customer service and chiller maintenance remotely. Machines across the globe can be promptly serviced by engineers remotely at the slightest indication of deviation in its parameters. The system, apart from speeding up the troubleshooting process, completely avoids the chiller’s downtime and call for maintenance.
Thermax’s ROSS simplifies machine monitoring and corrective maintenance at Adam Afrique
Adam Afrique
Adam Afrique is a well-known producer of soaps in the west African country, Ivory Coast. Situated in the industrial zone of the capital city, Abidjan, it is a Limited Liability Company established in 1987. The company uses locally available natural resources to manufacture soaps of exceptional quality. With a rich range of products covering all household needs, the company’s clientele list extends overseas beyond the domestic market.
The latest industrial development and the availability of locally sourced palm oil and coconut oil in the Abidjan region have made it an attractive spot for soap manufacturers. Several soap manufacturers thrive in the area catering to the country’s domestic and export needs. Since the intensity of the competition is high, keeping up the productivity of the soap-manufacturing unit every day is vital for Adam Afrique.
Thermax’s chiller at Adam Afrique
Aligning with the company’s interests to increase production, Adam Afrique collaborated with Thermax to meet the cooling requirements of the saponification process in its plant. On 13th November 2018, Thermax commissioned a double-effect steam fired vapour absorption chiller of 360 TR capacity at their plant. The chiller runs on steam exhaust of a plant process and caters to the cooling section of the saponification process. The chiller has been performing well by delivering chilled water at 10°C since its commissioning. To ensure uninterrupted operation and predictive maintenance, the chiller is connected to Thermax’s cloud-based remote monitoring technology, ROSS (Remote Online Service Support).
Machine monitoring without site visit in real time
On 7th April 2020, an operational issue was observed in the chiller at the plant of Adam Afrique. Our technical service team intervened and logged into the chiller. After a study of the chiller’s latest data logs, a photograph of the recorded parameters on the machine’s Human-Machine Interface (HMI) was requested. Through ROSS, our service engineer was able to monitor the performance of the machine even when it was running. Anticipating a vacuum break in the chiller, our service team instructed the plant operator to perform a vacuum test.
Nitrogen gas at 0.2 bar was charged into the chiller and the test was conducted. The initial pressure at 25mm Hg dropped to 90mm Hg within 12 hours, confirming a leakage in the chiller. The post-detection maintenance measures were communicated remotely to the plant operator. The leak was attended temporarily by fixing with metallic potty and then LiBr was charged into the chiller. After closely monitoring the chiller for 24 hours, the chiller’s operations were declared normal. The timely response and proactive maintenance service by our service team ensured a continued operation at the soap manufacturer’s plant.
Issue analysis and preventive maintenance to reduce downtime
Further analysis to identify the root cause of the issue found that the line of the cooling water inlet and outlet were below the required size at the plant. It was also found that the cooling water temperature in the chiller went as high as 35°C as opposed to the designated 32°C. The root causes were communicated to the customer and the corrective measures to fix them were suggested as well.
ROSS’s excellence building deeper customer relationships
The chiller issue that sprang up unexpectedly in a very crucial moment put the company’s productivity at stake, especially as the production process at their plant is kept up on toes by the competitiveness in the market. ROSS helped the company keep up its pace by providing accurate operational data and remote maintenance.
Highly satisfied with the chiller’s performance, ROSS’s reliability, and the exceptional service experience, Adam Afrique has decided to adopt Thermax’s chillers again in view of their plant expansion.
Mr. A. Mahmoud, Deputy Technical Director at Adam Afrique says, “On behalf of Adam Afrique team, our thanks to Thermax team, for the professionalism displayed throughout this project right from project initiation, delivery commitment, installation support to start up.”
ROSS – Continuous monitoring with an automated solution
At Thermax, addressing every conceivable factor of customer experience is crucial. Our efforts to offer excellent service coupled with the recent advancements in remote automated solutions gave way to ROSS. It is a system of cloud-based industrial maintenance which connects installations across the globe to Thermax’s servers. ROSS enables managing and monitoring the chillers with alarms, trend graphs, and reports efficiently. With ROSS, the exact status of the chiller can be monitored anytime, thus offering customer service and chiller maintenance remotely. Machines across the globe can be promptly serviced by engineers remotely at the slightest indication of deviation in its parameters. The system, apart from speeding up the troubleshooting process, completely avoids the chiller’s downtime and call for maintenance.
