Energy savings for cooling copper smelters
Rönnskär copper smelter signed a three-year Service Agreement with Alfa Laval resulting in saved plate heat exchanger energy costs, reduced water consumption and increased uptime.
DATE 2023-11-28
To conserve natural resources and save money, Rönnskär was looking for smart ways to reduce water consumption, realize energy savings from reduced pumping costs, and meet tougher environmental regulations.
Alfa Laval Performance Agreement was the key
Through the Performance Agreement, Rönnskär relies on Alfa Laval to provide maximum uptime and minimum water and energy consumption by taking advantage of these Performance Agreement services:
- Performance Audit – By measuring heat transfer, Alfa Laval can predict exactly when maintenance is required to optimize performance
- Indicators signals when to schedule cleaning
- Cleaning-in Place based on the result from Alfa Laval Performance Audit
- Reconditioning and Repair – Gasket replacement when required, restoring optimal sealing
- Condition Audit – Alfa Laval provides audits and consulting services for optimized heat exchanger performance
Since we pump a lot of water into our facilities, fine-tuning our PHE operations with routine cleaning is bound to have a positive impact on profitability" ANDERS WIKSTRÖM, PRODUCTION ENGINEER, BOLIDEN
The customer
The Boliden-owned Rönnskär smelter at Skelleftehamn on the Baltic Sea is one of the world’s most efficient copper producers. Here, hundreds of Alfa Laval and other manufacturer’s plate heat exchangers are at work to cool various copper and zinc smelting processes. Most heat exchangers are equipped with titanium plates to prevent corrosion since seawater is used.
Benefits
- Reduced water consumption
- Lower energy costs
- Improved environmental performance
- Higher productivity due to more uptime, less downtime
- Longer plate heat exchanger lifetime