In the confectionery industry, which requires large quantities of thermal energy for heating and for the production of hot and refrigerated water and steam to guarantee the correct execution of the various processing phases, trigeneration offers concrete opportunities.
The Perugina plant in San Sisto, in the province of Perugia, has experienced first-hand the advantages of this technology in terms of energy efficiency, environmental sustainability and economic savings with the installation of AB‘s new CCHP plant and the ISOMAG and ISONRG systems for the calculation of thermal energy.
Perugina, the international hub for the production of chocolate
The Perugina chocolate factory in San Sisto (PG), one of the top production sites of the Nestlé Group, is an international hub and pole of excellence that exports its chocolate creations all over the world: from granulated, to Kit Kat, to bars, to the iconic Baci Perugina, which for exactly 100 years have continued to be produced in their hometown.
Various initiatives have been implemented in this plant to reduce the environmental impact and improve energy efficiency: photovoltaics, the reuse of water from the evaporative towers, the optimization of energy for air conditioning of the rooms, which represents the most energy-intensive utility.
To meet the needs for electricity, hot energy (for heating pipes and silos, conditioning process areas, conching) and cold thermal energy (for tempering chocolate, cooling chocolate, conditioning packaging areas), a new trigeneration plant of the AB Group was also installed at the end of 2020, to replace a previous plant that had ceased operations after 15 years.
ISOIL solutions for the new trigeneration plant
The new cogeneration plant consists of two 3.3 MW and 2.7 MW electrical power groups which allows the fuel to be exploited not only for the production of electricity and heat but also, thanks to absorbers, for the production of cooling energy.
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Our ISOMAG and ISONRG systems were installed in this plant: specifically, the MS2500 flanged sensor in combination with the ISOMAG MV800 ultra-compact converter and the MV311 thermal energy calculator (fast in calculation, flexible, accurate in the measurement and easy to use) with the PLH probes for temperature measurement.
The advantages obtained
By exploiting the thermal energy produced by the trigenerator (which reaches 3.5 MW), the steam generators work to a small extent, only to keep the steam pressure in the network constant and this avoids burning up to 400 cubic meters of methane gas every hour .
Thanks to the implementation of these systems, the Perugina plant in San Sisto reduced CO2 emissions by 37% per ton produced in the last 5 years; in addition, energy consumption per ton produced was reduced by 36% and water consumption by 53%.
“Thanks to the efficiency of the plant and to the exploitation of all the energy carriers produced by the CCHP generator, we are able to achieve a total efficiency of up to 67%.” declares Mr. Graverini, in charge of maintenance, industrial services and engineering at the Nestlé facility in San Sisto.
If you wish to accelerate the process of decarbonization and energy efficiency of your facilities, eliminating waste due to suboptimal operation and management; through advanced and reliable technologies and in the face of rising energy prices and high demand for sustainability…please do not hesitate to contact our specialists for advice.