Customer
Improving plant performance and productivity at a coffee manufacturer in Vietnam
Problems Faced
A coffee manufacturer in Vietnam was facing performance issues with the Air Radiator in the Creamer Section. The plant was unable to run all the 10 nozzles and maintain the right temperature. There was also a water hammer.
Case Details and Solutions
Forbes Marshall Vietnam team, surveyed the section to diagnose the problem. The Radiator had a total of 10 nozzles, 9 coils on the left and 9 coils on the right side. The ideal temperature for the process was 185 to 190 deg C.
Group trapping on the left and right side coils were leading to water hammer. There was no flowmeter to monitor the flow of the steam and the flash steam recovery was not utilised correctly.
Forbes Marshall recommendations were implemented as a result of which the customer achieved a constant temperature with zero water hammer.
Firstly, a steam flowmeter was installed to monitor the exact steam consumption. Group trapping on coils on each side were converted to individual trapping.This improved heating capacity by 10%.
Flash steam recovered was reutilised in the pre dryer coil.
Results Achieved / Benefits:
- 100% uptime of nozzles.
- Constant temperature maintained with zero water hammer.
- Steam consumption reduced to 16% as against 10% committed reduction to the customer.