IFC ADVISORY SERVICES IN EUROPE AND CENTRAL ASIA ECA RESOURCE EFFICIENCY PROGRAM 89176 EFFICIENT TECHNICAL SOLUTIONS IN SUGAR PRODUCTION SAVES RESOURCES The section below examines the key technical solutions implemented by T-Sugar. Energy efficiency improve- ments like these are relevant for most sugar plants in Ukraine: CLIENT CASE STUDY Location: Zbarazh sugar plant, with a processing capacity of 3,000 tons of sugar beets per day. 1 Results: Improvements in beet pulp pressing Problem: Significant amounts of hot water are lost via beet pulp • Water consumption de- SWEET TASTE OF A RESOURCE EFFICIENCY SUCCESS creased by 30% at the pulp diffusion stage. Also, large amounts of energy are (190,000 m3/year) Sugar processor’s bottom line boosted by better energy efficiency required to heat fresh water before the extraction stage. Then • Gas consumption receded by additional energy is needed for the beet pulp dewatering. T-Sugar Holding is an industry-leading sugar processor in Ukraine. 16% Solution: Installing a new press for beet pulp reduces energy con- (1,324,640 m3/year) Its six processing plants, located in the western part of the country, sumption at the diffusion and at the beet pulp drying processes. • CO2 emissions were likewise used 1.4 million tons of sugar beets to produce 161,000 tons of sugar in 2012 reduced by 2,500 tons/year Raw juice Processing sugar from beets consumes large quantities of natural gas and water. Raw sugar juice is Pulp catcher Tank of Return of sugary water FACT to extracted from the beets with hot water, and then evaporated and purified. sugary purification water nian sugar market. Resource efficiency has become an important competitive advantage in the Ukrainian Pulp Press Pulp Pulp PROBLEM HIGH GAS COSTS BITE INTO PROFITS g an , d rivin to Energy inputs, namely gas consumption, are a major part of production costs. Since nce 2004, p ct u f up o n effe rease o ricing Gas prices have changed dramatically, rising as much as eight times. Long-term pricing us i inc Diff ciency 25% is also unpredictable. This exposes sugar processors to greater risks. Additionally, high effi resource intensity elevates environmental risks through increased carbon emissions ns and ground water pollution. Pulp (DM 25-30%) Steam OUTDATED TECHNOLOGY 2 T-Sugar traditionally relied on the 1980s technology developed when energy costs s Results: were subsidized by the state. Resource efficiency offered few, if any, competitive Improvements in sugar separation • Sugar production increased by advantages. and purification 0.08% relative to beet weight In today’s market, however, the older technology carries operational costs that can n Problem: Sugar losses with filter cake waste. Additional water (145 tons of sugar/year) be addressed through strategic improvements. is required for filters cleaning. This generates sugar juice dilution • Water consumption reduced and additional energy loss at the evaporation stage. ese efforts. Other sugar processing plants in Ukraine can potentially benefit by replicating these by 2% (10,500 m3/year) Solution: Adding new, high-efficiency press filters to decrease • Gas consumption reduced by Being committed to excellence across the farm- Then an extensive study paved the way for the amount of moisture that needs to be evaporated from the 12% (993,480 m3/year) SOLUTION ing value chain, T-Sugar established a strategic the company to develop and launch its resource beet juice and to improve sugar yield. • CO2 emissions reduced by partnership with IFC to identify resource efficien- efficiency program. 1,900 tons/year cy gaps in its sugar production division, and to The work was undertaken in two stages. The first Liming 1st Saturation design solutions to address them. was to compare the company’s operations with Heat The company chose two processing plants for global best practices; the second was to identify Heat exchanger exchanger in-depth resource efficiency assessments. The specific measures to drive improved operational Filtered juice Filter press plants, located in Khorostkiv and Zbarazh, were efficiency. Raw juice to 2nd from saturation representative of the total of six in operation. diffusion How did the company manage to save $3 mln annually? Filter cake conveyor In partnership with www.ifc.org 2014 TWO STAGE APPROACH BRINGS FOCUS AND IMMEDIATE SAVINGS SUMMARIZING THE RECOMMENED MEASURES Zbarazh sugar plant: Khorostkiv sugar plant: Stage 1 Benchmarking study • Installing a new press for beet pulp reduces the energy re- • Installing new vacuum pans, sugar In the first stage, the team measured the resources consumed at the two selected sites and compared the results quired for the diffusion process and beet pulp drying. Com- centrifuges and overhauling the drying with European sugar processors’ best practice standards. The focal points were: bined with recycling press pulp water, this reduces water and department will reduce gas consump- • to determine operational areas with the greatest potential for improvement; gas consumption by up to 30% and 16%, respectively. tion by an additional 20%. • to analyze how other organizations achieve high performance levels; • Adding new, high-efficiency press filters to decrease the • Overhauling the waste water treat- • to design a replicable program using this information to improve performance while limiting the environmental amount of moisture that needs to be evaporated from the beet ment plant to shrink waste water impact. juice, reducing natural gas consumption by a further 12%. treatment costs by up to 20%. • Replacing sugar separation centrifuges enhances plant produc- Potential cost savings at the European gas consumption levels: tivity by eliminating uneven loading capacity and improving the sugar crystallization process, leading to a 3% drop in gas Khorostkiv plant Zbarazh plant consumption. Savings per ton of sugar produced $63 $68 Annual savings based on the 2012 production volume $2.2 million $1.35 million MONEY FOR THE TAKING Potential savings totaled $3.55 million annually, or approximately 10% of the annual revenue Resource efficiency improvements resulted in reduction of gas and water consumption. • Zbarazh plant: resource efficiency improved by 31%, saving $1.3 million annually; • Khorostkiv plant: resource efficiency improved by 21%, saving $1.25 million annually. With the program fully implemented, further improvements and cost savings are possible. Stage 2 Identifying efficiency improvements and replicable technical options Having measured the potential benefits of these improvements, the team analyzed the efficiency of the present PROOF OF THE CONCEPT THROUGH SUCCESSFUL REPLICATION technical processes at the Khorostkiv and Zbarazh sugar plants, identifying bottlenecks and inefficient production Given the success of the analysis, T-Sugar scaled up the program to include two other plants. In total, the team identified units. The basic process flow of sugar production (shown below) identifies the key findings of this audit. 12 projects for process and equipment upgrades, projecting potential annual savings of $3 million – along with much better environmental performance of the client. Specific energy consumption (kWh/ton) Making these improvements at all four plants would cost a total of $12.5 million; but after only four years, resource efficien- Results cy savings would overtake these costs. Khorostkiv 3,845.5 These two studies showed that gas Data for consumption per ton of sugar produced sugar plant 2010 REAL RESULTS, REAL SAVINGS Zbarazh in Ukraine was twice that of European 3,967 sugar plant IFC’s investment department has supported T-Sugar through the Cleaner Production Lending Facility, an IFC producers. financial instrument that finances resource efficiency projects. Utilizing this initiative, the company received a 21% The benchmarking analysis provided 3,053 $5 million cleaner production loan, which covered 40% of $12.5 million in the costs cited above. concrete evidence that T-Sugar could Implemented projects 31% Once fully implemented, these projects are expected to deliver annual savings of: realize significant cost savings through 2,737 • 340,000 m3 of water; more efficient resources consumption, Europen benchmarks, 48% • 6,5 million m3 of gas; as shown in the diagram on the right. 1,987 average level 50% • 12,300 tons of greenhouse gas – the equivalent of taking 2,460 cars off the road. “With competent advice and financial support from IFC, we got a new experience and unlocked a number of opportunities for further efficiency improvements. As we learned, implementation of such projects is a key Pulp press, enabler for our future market success.” Process upgrade and Shugary recycling press Volodymyr Nevistiuk, General Director, T-Sugar Holding efficiency increase water pulp water Steam Beet slice Evaporating crystalizers Pulp Filte er press Steam Thick juice ser Sugar beet iffu Thin juice D Green syrup Green syrup Molasses Filter Sugar centrifuges Pulp to dryer Raw juice Liming 1st Saturation 2nd Saturation Multiple-effect Beet washer evaporator White sugar to dryer Yellow sugar to melting