Energy Cost
Energy Cost of Waterside Fouling In Industrial Equipment
Energy is by far the largest component of the total life cycle cost of most energy-using equipment!
Country | Fouling ($ Million) | 1992 GNP ($ Billion) | Fouling Cost/GNP % |
UK | 2500 | 1000 | 0.25 |
US | 14,175 | 5670 | 0.25 |
New Zealand | 64.5 | 43 | 0.15 |
Germany | 4875 | 1950 | 0.25 |
Japan | 10,000 | 4000 | 0.25 |
Australia | 463 | 309 | 0.15 |
Total Industrialized World | 45,029 | 22,510 | 0.20 |
The evidence shows that fouling on the waterside of your equipment will increase your energy cost tremendously. Current methods of maintenance/cleaning would not be able to address this problem as equipment is not cleaned to bare metal and fouling is spread over a large surface area.
A good proactive/predictive maintenance program, with regards to waterside fouling, reduces unplanned shutdowns, astronomical energy and operational costs, lower maintenance budgets and maintaining optimum operating efficiency in equipment.
The effectiveness of heat exchangers is reduced with the increase in thermal resistance; even a minute layer of fouling reduces thermal conductivity.
Plainly stated, the growing cost of maintenance is a serious business problem. According to DuPont, “maintenance is the largest single controllable expenditure in a plant: in many companies it often exceeds annual net profit.”
One major U.S. automotive manufacturer has a maintenance staff of between 15,000 and 18,000, all plants combined. They say, “85% to 90% is crisis work” (breakdown).
Due to the:
1. Introduction of new water continuously,
2. Existing fouling in the piping system,
Fouling cannot be avoided in everyday situations, it can only be minimized.
Two basic and effective ways to reduce energy costs that apply to all energy production, distribution and end-use categories are:
1. To reduce the load or need for energy
2. Increase the operating efficiency of energy-using equipment
| Maintenance Strategy | Technique Needed | Human Body Parallel |
| Proactive Maintenance | Monitoring and correction of failing root causes, e.g. periodic removal of water based scale with BIO | Cholesterol or blood pressure monitoring with diet control |
| Predictive Maintenance | Monitoring of vibration, heat, alignment wear, debris. | Detection of heart disease using EKG or ultrasonics |
| Preventive Maintenance | Periodic component replacement | By-pass or transplant surgery |
| Breakdown Maintenance | Large maintenance budget | Heart attack or stroke |