Low steam ahead

• Energy audit identifies prime opportunity to save energy on inefficient evaporation treatment
• Using mechanical vapour recompression (MVR) to separate water from condensed liquids is more efficient

DuPont Group’s FinnFeeds produces betaine from sugar beet molasses and other elements for use in animal feed, nutrition, cosmetics, and the chemical industry. Considerable volumes of water and steam are needed in different processes.

Thanks to the review carried out by Adven, a solution was found where the volume of steam used by the plant could be significantly reduced through MVR evaporation - a more energy-efficient way of separating water from condensed liquids. 

Key benefits

The evaporation method developed by Adven has been in use at the plant since the start of 2018 and the results are encouraging. Total energy consumption has fallen at the plant by around 30 % and carbon dioxide emissions are expected to fall at an annual rate of 16 000 tonnes. This volume corresponds to more than one hundred million car kilometres.

The previously used evaporation solution used eight units of energy as steam. In MVR evaporation, only one unit of energy is used as electricity to replace steam.