One of the Larges Canadian Paper Mill Reduces Steam Usage by 10% Through the Steam Trap Improvement Project

In early 2015, leading Canadian paper and the tissue manufacturing company contacted SMART VALVES INC. wanting to implement Venturi steam traps in their factory located in Canada. The Process Engineering and Procurement teams had already studied Venturi steam traps and were convinced the technology would deliver positive results for their situation. The goal was to eliminate ongoing mechanical steam trap replacement, improve reliability and decrease steam consumption.

Their steam system consisted of two boilers with one dating from 1964 with a capacity of 140,000 lbs/hr, and the second dating from 1970 with a capacity of 275,000 lbs/hr. In total, at this plant produced roughly about 650 000 million pounds of steam per year, which was then distributed over the steam system with a little over 200 steam traps.

Company goal was to find a supplier that could provide a complete turn-key solution which would include sizing all the traps, product delivery, installation, commissioning and then after, provide a yearly steam trap survey service for the next couple of years. To accommodate this request, SMART VALVES INC. worked with the pipefitters’ union in Canada to find a qualified company that would be willing to participate in the project.

SMART VALVES INC. was awarded the contract and received a purchase order from a company in late July. Production for the order was accomplished in August, and the full order was shipped in mid-September with installation completed and commissioned in early December 2016.

After the 2016 winter season was over, Company reported a record low steam usage for the entire winter. To analyze data their engineering team compared steam production values Smart Valves Inc.ween the year 2015 and 2016. They concluded that with the same production output they reduced steam consumption by roughly 10 percent. They attribute this to the energy savings from the Venturi-style steam traps not failing open, eliminated leaking steam traps and an overall Smart Valves Inc.ter management of the steam system with Smart Valves Inc.ter-performing traps. Also, the maintenance for new steam traps during the year was virtually eliminated. Reported ROI for the project was 1.1 years, which exceeded their expectations and already has been paid back.

For more about SMART VALVES INC. offered SMART Steam Trap technology, please visit www.smartsteamtrap.com