Petrochemical Manufacturer Shaves Water Use by 100M Gallons per Year

One of the largest manufacturers in Scotland has reduced the water used in its cooling systems by 100 million gallons per year. INEOS, a petrochemical manufacturer in Grangemouth, Scotland, reduced water usage and associated costs at its KG ethylene plant by increasing the water cycles of their cooling water from four cycles to eight.

The KG plant manager knew that effective cooling water system operation is critical to reducing water usage and operating costs at petrochemical plants, but calcium phosphate and calcium carbonate scaling limited the KG plant water cooling system to four cycles.

The KG plant addressed the situation with corrosion treatment chemistry and cooling water technology. The plant also implemented an asset performance management (APM) system, which allows for continuous monitoring of key water parameters between service visits and ensures that any issue that could increase the scaling due to increased cycles were addressed quickly and efficiently. The ability to apply such data analytics to online information from the plant’s cooling system allows the plant to continuously optimize its chemical treatment solution.

With these changes, the plant was able to increase the water cycles in the cooling tower system to eight cycles, conserving 100 million gallons of water per year.

The plant used GE Water & Process Technologies’ GenGard, TrueSense and InSight technologies, upgrades that led to critical reductions in water usage and operating costs, says Kenny Stevenson, KG plant manager.

GE Water & Process Technologies says that by “leveraging big data across the industrial internet,” companies can drive efficiency and reduce costs.

Global demand for water is estimated to exceed available resources by 40% by 2030 if industry doesn’t address the issue in significant ways. Companies are aware of this, and many have actively increased water conservation efforts over the past decade. Yet since 2011, corporate water use has declined by only 10% – and that’s not nearly enough to close the gap, says Emilio R. Tenuta, VP of corporate sustainability for Ecolab.

Still, companies are showing improvements in addressing water risks in their business strategies, particularly in terms of setting water targets, water accounting, and risk assessment, according to a recent report from Ceres.