Energy Utilization and Saving Opportunities in Process Industries: Case Study of Textile Manufacturing Industry in Kenya

Abstract

The industrial sector is seriously threatened by high energy costs brought on by inefficient energy use. Energy, together with labor and raw materials, make up the majority of production costs in the textile industry. As a result, the only real way for the textile industry to turn a profit and maintain its competitiveness is to reduce its energy costs through energy conservation measures and energy management strategies. The main objective of the study was to investigate energy utilization in textile manufacturing plant and identify energy saving and conservation measures that help reduce energy costs. In the current work, energy investigation was carried out to determine performance of high energy consuming utility systems and equipment such as compressed air systems, boilers, motors, lighting systems and steam distribution systems. Boiler flue gas analysis test, air compressor air leak test, heat loss analysis for steam distribution system, motor load assessment and load variation trends in air compressor were done. Energy utilization analysis showed that high electricity consumption occurs in spinning (48%), followed by weaving (26%) and wet processing (22%). Statistical analysis of energy consumption in spinning, weaving and wet processing showed linear relationship between production and energy consumption with correlation coefficients (R2) of 0.782, 0.708 and 0.637 respectively which reveals that there continues to be a large potential of energy efficiency across all the major textile manufacturing processes in the plant. The study found potential savings in electric energy to be approximately 367,784 kWh/year, wood fuel savings 1,219 tones/year and furnace oil savings to be 22,275 L/year. The results displayed 31.6% overall energy cost saving potential with an average simple payback period of 0.5 years on the investigated high energy consuming utility systems and equipment. In conclusion, significant energy savings in the sector might be attained by implementing free or inexpensive investments including sealing air and steam leaks, insulating bare pipes, and properly drying wood fuel.