ENERGY ASSESSMENT OF BETA GLASS PLANT

Abstract

This paper describes the plant-wide energy assessment carried out at Beta-Glass factory. After the initial tour of the plant. relevant data were collected for the period of June 2005 to May 2006. Using these data, the performance parameters of the plant were calculated. The work showed that the specific energy consumption of the plant was 10.09GJ per ton of glass. Compared with world industry average of 4.8GJ per ton of glass (Phubalan, 2007), the plant specific energy consumption is high, meaning there is still much room for improvement. Result from the study showed that of the total energy (475988 GJ) consumed in the plant over the one year period, natural gas accounted for 94.7%, diesel 3.8% and electricity 1.5%. This shows that the glass company depend heavily on natural gas. In the audit work, it was also established that about 52.55% of the total energy input into the plant and about 84.52% of the total energy input into the manufacturing process, is consumed in the furnace. Thus, the furnace is the most energy intensive unit in the plant and also holds the greatest energy saving potential in the plant.