Steam trap case at a large chemicals company

At a chemical company’s plant in Amsterdam, steam is used to generate heat. When they are working properly, automatic valves, called steam traps, filter out condensed steam without letting steam escape. To ensure that steam energy is not wasted, it’s critical to ensure that these steam traps are not faulty.

To solve this problem, the company turned to ERIKS. Working together, experts from ERIKS along with the customer’s own maintenance engineering team completed the first steam trap survey at the plant. Using digital ultrasonic technology, it was identified that about 14 percent of the steam traps had a leakage issue. While this may not sound like much, industry benchmarks indicate that this issue could cost about 40 USD per tonnes of steam if left untreated. If fixed, the company could save about 84,000 USD per year!

In terms of sustainability, resolving this issue could reduce CO2 emissions by more than 300 tonnes per year. What’s more, replacing the faulty steam traps would only cost about 3,000 USD, which is money well spent given all of the benefits.

ERIKS and the maintenance engineering team now have their eyes on several other initiatives that could help save both money and the environment.