Recipe for savings

Dairy Crest has reduced gas consumption at its Kirkby factory by 18%, thanks to a combination of energy saving measures that included steam system improvements recommended by Spirax Sarco.

An improvement came from raising the temperature in the boiler feed tank from between 79 and 82°C, to 96°C. Spirax says that, as a rule of thumb, increasing the temperature of the feed to a boiler by 6°C reduces energy consumption by 1%; this alone yields savings of at least 2%.

Condensate recovery also achieved good results, raising the proportion of hot, treated water recycled back to the boiler from 76% to between 94 and 95%.