Sulzer launches energy optimization service for carbon reduction, cost savings
Sulzer has launched its Sulzer Energy Optimization Service, an energy efficiency and carbon reduction service that will create a new best practice standard for the operation of centrifugal pumps across their lifecycle for energy intensive industries such as power generation, oil and gas, chemicals and water desalination.
Launched to address growing demand for industrial energy efficiency, the solution brings together digital analysis, machine learning and ongoing monitoring with Sulzer鈥檚 decades of engineering expertise to drive down carbon emissions, enhance reliability, and reduce energy costs. A 1% increase in global pump efficiency would save around 59TWh of electricity 鈥 equivalent to New Zealand鈥檚 annual power needs; some pumps鈥 efficiency could be increased by as much as 20-30%.
鈥淚nefficient and unreliable pumps cost operators in the industrial sectors millions of dollars in unnecessary downtime, energy costs and carbon emissions every year," said Ravin Pillay-Ramsamy, Services Division President at Sulzer. "Sulzer Energy Optimization Service offers a comprehensive solution that tackles this inefficiency 鈥 from identification through to improvement and monitoring.
鈥淎 pilot customer in Spain will now save 鈧1 million in energy costs and over 2,300 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year as a result of energy optimization improvements identified by the Service. By rerating five pumps, energy efficiency increased from 72% to 83% saving the operator 5,000MWh in electricity every year," Ravin continued.鈥
Consisting of four steps, an initial pump energy audit identifies areas of inefficiency with Sulzer鈥檚 proprietary calculator 鈥 PumpWise 鈥 outlining the potential energy, carbon and monetary savings.
A tailored proposal is generated by Sulzer鈥檚 expert team presenting a range of options to return the pump to run at its best efficiency point through an engineered retrofit, with varying techniques such as hydraulic re-rates, specialized coatings, wear clearances and more. Each option weighs operational costs, investment, downtime, payback and efficiency guarantees. The upgrades are then implemented with support from Sulzer鈥檚 established retrofit team which has delivered more than 4,000 retrofit projects globally since its setup in 2010. The team is supported by a network of more than 120 service locations globally.
Post retrofit, Sulzer offers a performance agreement to maintain optimized reliability and efficiency. This includes access to Blue Box鈩, Sulzer鈥檚 proprietary machine learning technology which turns pump performance data into actionable insights.
Ravin added: 鈥淔or operators who are constantly challenged to do more with less, making energy efficiency improvements is a win-win. With pumps accounting for 20% of the world鈥檚 electricity demand, we want to offer a streamlined, futureproofed way for customers to improve their energy efficiency regardless of their pump OEM.
鈥淭o do so, we鈥檝e combined the competence of our people and longstanding engineering expertise with our proprietary innovations and wrapped them in a collaborative and customer-centric approach. Altogether we believe this solution creates a new best practice standard for pump operation that goes above and beyond in supporting operators to remain future-ready.鈥澛