Diageo’s 18-acre Runcorn facility is
making significant savings in energy,
replacement costs and maintenance
of its steam traps following the
installation of Thermal Energy
International’s Venturi Orifice GEM
traps. Thermal Energy International
has installed a total of 71 steam traps
through the plant, which has
provided Diageo with a payback in
less than 12-months.

The Diageo Runcorn packaging
plant is home to the only Guinness
bottling and canning site in the UK.

It packages and distributes some
three million hectolitres of beer
every year to outlets in the UK and
to 180 other markets around the
world. As in most brewery processes
in Dublin, steam plays a key role at
every stage of the plant’s operation.

Prior to the installation of the GEM
steam traps, each year a certain
percentage of the plant’s steam traps
failed open thereby wasting
expensive steam, or jamming shut
risking water hammer and system
failure. Instead of using a valve
mechanism to close off steam, the
GEM steam traps use the venturi
orifice design to effectively drain
condensate from the steam system.

As the GEM steam traps have no
moving parts to wedge open or fail,
it provides high reliability.