KLK Kolb is a producer of intermediate surfactants. The company has plans to increase production capacity at the plant by about 20%. Another aim is to also save on energy consumption, for instance by reusing heat flows and converting them to other forms of energy. Vicoma was asked to investigate the possibilities of these requirements.
About the project
An expert from Vicoma worked on site at Kolb for a number of days a week for three months to gather all the information and map out the objectives and constraints. This resulted in a detailed description of four sub-projects needed to achieve the two main goals the company had set.
The first sub-projects involved expanding the production capacity by equipping a building of three or four storeys with reactors and the associated utilities to facilitate production.
The second sub-project zoomed in on energy saving. Kolb’s reaction processes are exothermic. A solution was devised to stop blowing the heat released during production out through cooling towers, but to recover part of it as pre-heating during the process and to convert another part into electricity.
Automation was the theme of the third sub-project. There are options available to automate some of the manual operations at the production site, provided the necessary equipment is acquired to enable this.
Finally, increasing production and saving energy also affect logistics movements within the company. Modifications and expansions related to the packaging department, truck docking and the like were described in detail in the fourth sub-project.
Role of Vicoma
After a detailed study, Vicoma prepared a scope description of the systems and infrastructure that is necessary to increase production capacity and save energy. The most important part of this particular project was to define the business case by preparing a cost estimate of the scope. Based on this, combined with the company’s operating costs and product margins, Kolb was able to determine the payback period. This is necessary as input for deciding whether or not the project can go ahead.
Result
A 20 percent increase in production capacity is certainly attainable, as is a reduction in energy consumption by around 40 percent. Thanks to the detailed cost estimate, Kolb now has a handle on how to further formulate their decision-making to the head office. This completed phase has been an enabler for the company. It can serve as a solid foundation for the project to go ahead, both in a technical and financial sense. In the future, the estimated costs and technical options will be revisited so that all stakeholders are unanimous in their support for the project.
The cooperation between Vicoma and the customer went very smoothly. Having someone from Vicoma on site for a few days a week allowed Vicoma to actively think with the customer, which in turn also made it easier for Kolb to entrust the technical support and engineering to Vicoma.
