Service / Power

global leader in animal nutrition

A global leader in animal nutrition in the south of France produces feed for billions of livestock at farms worldwide. The production process produces large amounts of water vapor that is used to generate electricity for the entire plant via turbines. The company uses an Air Cooled Condenser (ACC) to cool down the water to cool the turbine.

The need for a solution 
During a routine cleaning of the finned tube bundles of the ACC, Kelvion discovered that the airflow wasn´t functioning properly. We carried out a full audit which showed that the airflow of the two ACC fans was below 50% of the original specification, resulting in a huge underperformance of the complete installation. With the summer season – and rising temperatures - on the way, the customer faced a major risk of downtime for a critical component.

The implementation 
Kelvion calculated that selecting another fan profile, changing the motors and the gearbox, and redesigning the ejector skid (which was based on old technology), would raise the performance to the required level. The design was done by our specialist consultant who also ensured that the existing walkway could support the new equipment with minor changes. In addition, we provided a fogging system and ladder-mounted cleaning systems to make future maintenance easier.   

The solution in action 
The installation was split into three phases to make the most efficient use of the planned shutdown period. First, the removal and replacement of the old ejector skid, the installation of the two ladder-mounted cleaning systems, and positioning the pumping skid that supplies the water for fogging and cleaning systems. The second phase involved taking down the ACC fans, replacing the old motors and gearbox, and installing the new fans. Phase three was the commissioning of the pumping skid, fogging system and cleaning systems. To complete the job we cleaned the ACC tube bundles with the help of the customer’s maintenance personnel who wanted to learn how to do this themselves in future.  

The result
The new ACC design resulted in a performance gain of 215% and allowed the turbine to produce 6-7 megawatts of electricity steadily. During the hot dry summer months the fogging systems allow for an even higher performance increase.   

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