Energy Efficiency - Lassondes Beverages Canada
Here is an extract from Bulletin L'Enjeu PEEIC.
Audits pin-point areas for improvement at Lassonde Beverages Canada
“We are on a path of continuous improvement through employee education and training, and the reduction of energy consumption and waste production,” says Daniel Marcoux, Plant Manager at Lassonde Beverages Canada’s plant in Toronto.
Lassonde Beverages Canada, a CIPEC Leader in the Food and Beverage Sector, is a developer and manufacturer of juices and drinks. It employs about 120 people at its Toronto facility, which has an 8400 square metre (m2) production facility and a 6500-m2 warehouse. Lassonde has a number of production lines that operate 24 hours a day, five days a week, including a line for the cold fill polystyrene portion cups, a carbonated product line and two high-density polyethylene (HDPE) cold fills.
The company worked with the Guelph Food Technology Centre to develop key performance indicators and a sustainability plan. It also had a waste and energy audit conducted by Agviro Inc., a gas audit by Enbridge and a compressed air audit by C.E.D. Compressed Air Inc. Twenty-two energy efficiency opportunities and six environmental efficiency opportunities were identified.
In the last two years, the company implemented a number of the audit recommendations, including the installation of a new, dry sterilization process – Sidel’s PredisTM – and a heat recovery project. With the installation of a new refrigeration system, one set of evaporators was mounted on the inside of the warehouse and another on the roof. To keep a constant temperature when it is below 20°C inside the warehouse, the inside evaporators will give off approximately 1 million British thermal units (BTUs) of heat; in contrast, when the temperature is above 20°C, the rooftop evaporator is used.
The plant previously operated two large 300- and 200-horsepower (hp) boilers, which accounted for 90 percent of natural gas consumption at a cost of about $450,000 annually. Using information from the Enbridge audit, steam trap leaks and economizers were repaired, condensate lines were insulated, new controllers were installed, natural gas pressure was lowered and one boiler was shut down. Steam and condensate lines were also insulated, resulting in annual energy savings of almost 300 000 kilowatt hours (kWh) per year.
After the compressed air audit, the company installed four new 7-bar air compressors with internal cooling. Marcoux also notes that most of the 52 identified air leaks have been sealed, and with proper balancing, the company shut down one 75-hp compressor, for an electrical saving of $34,000 annually. The company is investigating the feasibility of replacing piping to better use air and to lower required air pressure.
In addition to system upgrades, Marcoux notes that employee education is vital. The company offers English training to its multicultural workforce to help them understand the resource and energy reduction goals to which Lassonde is committed. As Marcoux explains, Lassonde has a mandate to drive sustainability in the company’s five processing and packaging facilities across Canada through employee education, standardized measurement, benchmarking studies and action.
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