Aumento de la eficiencia energética de la caldera Powermaster 200 BHP para disminuir el consumo de gas natural en la planta Casa Luker ubicada en Bogotá

Abstract

Casa Luker S.A.'s plant is located in the city of Bogotá and is mainly engaged in the production of chocolate. Water is used to carry out the processes required for this product; part of it is sent to the PowerMaster 200 BHP boiler to generate steam, which is transported through a piping system to the different heating systems and to the equipment that uses direct steam; this process is carried out without the product coming into direct contact with the steam. During boiler operation, natural gas is also consumed, which leads to atmospheric emissions.

Technical visits were made to the Casa Luker S.A. plant where the processes that use steam were identified and the corresponding material and energy balances were carried out, and the causes for the increase in natural gas consumption were identified. On the other hand, measurements were made taking into account the physicochemical parameters of temperature, pH, alkalinity, conductivity and hardness of the feed water; in order to evaluate the operation of the Powermaster 200 BHP boiler. Finally, based on the information collected, two systems were proposed to increase energy efficiency and reduce natural gas consumption.

The purpose of this project is to evaluate the current energy efficiency of the Powermaster 200 BHP boiler in order to establish alternatives to increase energy efficiency and reduce natural gas consumption.

The results obtained show that the current energy efficiency of the 200 BHP boiler increases from 61.85% to 64.42% with the implementation of the economizer; on the other hand, there is an investment of 40'325,667 $COP to install the economizer and thermal insulation; this value is recovered two months after the implementation of the systems, since for this period there will be a gain of 68'382,062 $COP.