Loders Croklaan achieves energy savings with GEM.

Loders Crocklaan a key global producer in the supply of oils, fats and nutritional ingredients is saving 10 percent in steam consumption and achieving 15 percent in increased production following the installation of GEM steam traps across its plant in Wormerveer, Holland.

A total of 450 Gardner Energy Management's Venturi Orifice steam traps have been installed throughout the plant in a cross section of applications including heat exchangers, trace heating lines, steamers, evaporators and autoclaves, with condensate capacities of 5kg up to 9tonnes per hour per trap.

Prior to purchasing GEM steam traps, Leen Wijngaarden, Senior Engineer at Loders Croklaan carried out a trial of the GEM Venturi Orifice steam trap, which confirmed that it was 50 percent more efficient than new thermostatic traps used on site.

Since then, Loders Croldaan has replaced 98 percent of its steam traps with GEM Venturi Orifice traps, which have also substantially reduced the backpressure in the condensate system.

"Since the completion of this project we have noted a number of improvements in our system which have not only matched the benefits offered by Gardner Energy Management but have increased performance in many other ways", said Leen Wijngaarden.

"In addition to achieving more than 10 percent saving in steam consumption we are making substantial savings on make-up water. We have also achieved a 10-20 percent faster warm up on our batch processes, a decrease in water hammer and production on our distillers has increased by 10-15 percent."

Significantly, Loders Croklaan has been able to cancel the installation of a new process computer designed to increase the output of its distillers as the GEM steam traps have created a more stable process.

"Payback on this project is much less than the one year anticipated", concluded Wijngaarden. "GEM steam traps have been so successful that we equipped our new Rotterdam plant with them prior to the start of production and have also recommended they be installed in our plants in the US and Malaysia.

Available in a wide range of, the hard-wearing GEM steam traps are manufactured from corrosion resistant stainless steel and are guaranteed for 10 years, obviating the need for repair or replacement. The GEM steam traps provide a fast payback - on some processes within a matter of days - from reduced energy costs and increased equipment reliability due to a reduction in damaging condensate in steam systems. In addition it improves product processing by enhancing the quality of steam and also reducing equipment repairs, downtime and replacement costs.

Contact Gardner Energy Management on tel 0117 917 7010 or visit www.gemtrap.com