| Source
newsletter spring 2003 |
|
 |
Site Visit—Cooling Down with Water
With
summer on the way it won’t be long before we are cooling
off on a hot day by jumping into a lake or taking a dip in
a swimming pool. As more people use the pool to beat the heat,
using water to keep people cool becomes more economical.
Water is also a great way to keep things
cool in your operation. And just like the swimming pool, the
more times the same water is used and reused to keep things
cool, the more economical it will be.
Cooling water increases
Alpha Ceramics, Minneapolis, produces specialized ceramics
for sonar and medical diagnostic ultrasound applications.
To make the product, ceramic materials are
mixed then cycled through high temperature and pressure in
a kiln. Water is used to keep critical parts of the kiln cool
during its high-temperature operation. Cooling the company’s
six kilns separately used about nine million gallons of water
per year, making it one of the facility’s main uses of
water.
Alpha Ceramics was facing a SAC fee of $8,000
because of increased water use. The facility’s other
water costs included water purchase and sewer fees of over
$5,400 per month.
The company planned to install six more
kilns to help meet production demand. But, it needed to cut
water use before installing more kilns.
MnTAP engineers, Randy Cook and Karl
DeWahl visited Alpha Ceramics to help. “They gave
us some good suggestions about where to reduce water use.
Their ideas helped expand our thinking and gave us a new perspective,”
said owner Jim Sloane.
Same results, less
water
The company tested reuse of the cooling water. Cooling water
passed from the first kiln to the second then a third before
becoming too warm.
After seeing the results, the remaining
three kilns were plumbed together in a series. Reusing cooling
water will reduce water use to one-third of its original demand.
Cost and savings
The changes were handled inhouse at marginal expense in labor
and materials. Once in place, the plant reduced wastewater
from 29,000 to 11,000 gpd. This helped avoid the SAC fee.
Yearly water use at Alpha Ceramics was reduced by 6.57 million
gallons. The company saves $40,200 annually in water use and
sewer fees.
“We have probably gone below our permit
restriction and when the new six machines are added it won’t
increase our water use [beyond the permit],” said Sloane.
Get customized suggestions for your operation.
Request a site visit from a MnTAP engineer or scientist. Call
612.624.1300 or 800.247.0015 from greater Minnesota.
|
