Increasing energy costs over the last few decades have put more pressure on companies across all industries to find more efficient ways to utilise energy. Reducing energy consumption reduces both input costs and carbon emissions for industrial organisations. The need to increase efficiency contributes to the gradual shift to consider total lifecycle costs, rather than just initial purchase and installation costs. Here, the energy consumption of an asset – whether or not it’s actually in use – represents a significant component.
Unfortunately, purchasers of industrial pumps have been slow to embrace this lifecycle cost approach and, instead, often still base their decisions on antiquated techniques that result in significant wasted energy. ARC Advisory Group research indicates that, by implementing modern intelligent pump systems, industrial plants could realise significant energy savings, while reducing their carbon footprint.
Industrial pumps major contributors to energy use
According to the US Department of Energy, industrial pumps consume between 25 and 50% of the total energy used by electric motors in industrial applications. This represents a huge expense; one that will only increase as energy costs trend upwards. Expenditures on energy are one of the largest cost contributors to most industrial processes and plants.
From a lifecycle cost perspective, the purchase cost of a pump system represents just 10% of the entire cost. According to the US Department of Energy, after the initial purchase of the pump, the remaining cost breakdown is 7% for installation, 5% environmental costs, 3% for costs associated with the pump when not in use, 10% operating costs, 25% maintenance, and 40% for energy. These data clearly reflect the huge costs-saving potential from implementing energy-saving intelligent pumps in place of conventional pumps.
Intelligent pumps designed to improve efficiency
Today’s pump suppliers offer an array of features designed to improve energy efficiency. These include the addition of a variable frequency drive (VFD) that enables pump speeds to match the actual flow demanded at a specific time. This means a pump can be ramped up at times of high demand and pulled back when lower flow rates are needed. This saves energy and keeps pumps from working harder than they need to, extending pump life.
Many pumps now also come with embedded sensors that detect flow rates and can automatically vary the speed of a drive to maintain required flow rates and pressure. This capability further improves the efficiency of a pumping system, decreasing the amount of energy required to meet pumping demands. Based on physics-based affinity laws, reducing pump speed by just 10% (resulting in a minor reduction in flow rates); will reduce energy consumption by approximately 25%. Another possible use of this technology is to link two smaller pumps, with one used to meet the demands of the lower flow rates and the second pump kicking in to boost pump capacity as required. This approach is ideal for a plant that only occasionally requires above-average flow rates.
Experts estimate that a system that automatically adjusts speed to match the required flow rates can reduce the overall energy consumed by a pump by up to 50%. Referring back to the lifecycle cost breakdown provided earlier in this report, we see that this can reduce total lifecycle costs by up to 20%; or twice the initial cost of the pump.
Pump users slow to adopt intelligent systems
Despite the potential cost and energy savings, many industrial end users have been slow to adopt the new technologies. Most users still use the antiquated approach of selecting a pump that can meet the highest rate that will be demanded, resulting in a huge amount of unnecessary wasted energy over the lifetime of the pump.
ARC believes this resistance to implementing intelligent pumps is based partly on cultural resistance and partly on the slightly higher initial cost. However, in most applications, the slightly higher upfront costs of intelligent pumps are more than offset by the overall savings in lifetime costs.
Aside from the energy-saving benefits, intelligent pumping systems also provide the ability for users to monitor the health of the pump. Embedded sensors can measure leakage, vibrations, overheating, clogs, etc. and alert users to an issue long before the pump actually breaks to support predictive maintenance strategies and reduce unplanned downtime.
Certainly, the specific energy savings realised from adopting an intelligent pump system can vary greatly depending on the application and facility. In existing facilities, an energy audit of the current pumping systems can provide a helpful data point for evaluating the total lifecycle cost savings that upgrading to intelligent pump systems could produce. Assuming that these cost savings outweigh the cost of implementing the new system, it should be relatively simple to build a business case for the upgrade.
For more information contact Paul Miller, ARC Advisory Group, +1 781 471 1126, [email protected], www.arcweb.com
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