35th Anniversary
FOOD PROCESSING & PACKAGING FEATURE
CUT LEAKS, CUT COSTS AND CUT EMISSIONS
The food industry heavily relies on the use of refrigerant gases, which, if leak, can have major environmental and financial implications. Shaun Evers, managing director of Stonegate Instruments, explains how new gas detection technologies can cut down on leaks and save on the related costs
E
nergy consumption in the refrigeration sector costs British
industry approximately £300 million each year, with the average site energy bill for a cold store totalling £0.5 million annually. The commercial refrigeration
equipment market is driven by a number of factors, including changing food consumption trends, rising international food trade and the growth of supermarkets and fast food chains. Emerging markets in India and China are driving sales upwards and there are opportunities to be seized. Against this background, one of the industry’s biggest challenges is to develop more energy- efficient commercial refrigeration equipment in a bid to cut emissions of damaging greenhouse gases. Refrigerant gases are essential in cold storage and industrial refrigeration but if a leak occurs, the impact can be extremely damaging. According to the Institute of Refrigeration and the Carbon Trust, a leak of just 1kg of refrigerant gases can cause the same environmental damage as driving a van 10,000 miles.
They report that leaks of up to 30% of the charge during a year are not uncommon in commercial and industrial refrigeration.
Gas leaks occur for a number of reasons. Equipment failure, improper maintenance work, mechanical damage, and accidental release during refrigerant replenishment can all cause a potentially dangerous leak. Reducing leakages not only improves employee safety; it also saves energy. A leaking refrigeration system has to work harder to maintain temperatures and costs more to run. Whilst gas leaks are similarly hazardous both to a company’s bottom line and to the environment, the solution is quite simple - gas detection systems are available to offer peace of mind.
IDENTIFY REFRIGERANT GASES Stonegate’s gas detection system can
identify a range of refrigerant gases, including CFCs, HCFCs and HFCs. Monitoring up to 24 sensors, LED colours indicate the presence and status of each sensor and any sensed gas leak sets an audio and visual alarm to alert staff so
The DL1024 gas detector can be programmed to detect a wide range of both toxic and non-toxic gases
that the problem can be rectified.
With 60% of gas escaping before it is
Shaun Evers says the installation of a
Stonegate gas detection system will help businesses reduce energy costs, cut carbon emissions, and
demonstrate corporate responsibility
noticed by an employee, it can’t be left to the workforce to notice when leaks occur. Technologies are available that can minimise the amount of damage by recognising and stopping the leak at the earliest opportunity. Gas detectors are capable of providing constant coverage of the whole of the cold store. EU F-Gas legislation states that cold stores with a charge of 3-30kg must be tested once a year, cold stores with a charge of 30kg or more must be tested twice a year, and all units with a charge of over 300kg must have a fixed gas detector installed. These gas detectors must have a sensitivity of 5g/year and should be checked after 25 hours of continuous use. They should also be calibrated with a 1,000ppm gas to air mix. Stonegate’s DL1024 gas detector meets
all these requirements. The system can be programmed to detect a wide range of both toxic and non-toxic gases. If one of the 24 VS1024 sensors throughout the cold store detects a leak, the DL1024 will give an audio and visual alarm. The sensor that has identified the leak
OFFLINE CODING OFFERS POTS OF BENEFITS
An RF2 offline sleeve coding system from Rotech has given Pots & Co a flexible coding solution - enabling the high-end artisan dessert producer to take on and fulfil major retail contracts whilst minimising capital outlay. The company has grown exponentially since it was founded in 2010, and as the company has grown its coding requirements have changed. Hand stamping of sleeves was no longer fast enough. In order to devise a solution, Rotech visited Pots & Co’s London factory and carried out trials on its sleeves. This instilled confidence in Pots & Co operations director Fraser Thomson that Rotech could handle its intricately shaped sleeves. He said: “What we liked about Rotech is that they didn’t just give us list of machines and a list of prices. We felt they had more expertise than the other coding companies we saw and that made us confident that they would adjust the coder to suit our sleeves rather than simply selling us a standard machine.” As the dessert production process is completely manual, Pots & Co wanted an offline coder - but it also wanted a fast coder that could keep pace with production of between 10,000 and 12,000 desserts a day. Rotech recommended its RF2 - a standalone friction feed overprinting system that would enable Pots & Co to code sleeves offline and bring them to the production line already printed. In this way, Pots & Co could pre-code the sleeves for an entire day’s production in less than an hour. Rotech specified a system that used TIJ (thermal inkjet) rather than CIJ (continuous inkjet) printing, as it is better suited to the intermittent usage pattern at Pots & Co. The system has now been in use for just over a year and is running off about 60,000 sleeves per week. Thomson believes that without the coder production levels would have struggled to match customer demand. Rotech Machines
T: 01707 393700
www.rotechmachines.com Enter 222
will be highlighted on the main DL1024 monitor so that the leak can be quickly found and immediately repaired. The gas detector also has a battery back up so it will still work in a power cut, a time which could be more risky than normal for gas leaks. It is essential that leaks are identified and repaired before the refrigerant gas is topped up. This is not only to minimise environmental damage or the impact on the health and safety of the workforce, but it is actually illegal not to do so. With the installation of a Stonegate gas detection system a business can reduce energy costs, cut carbon emissions, and demonstrate corporate responsibility. With payback of less than two years, this technology offers a simple solution for food processing companies looking to save energy and cut costs.
Stonegate Instruments Enter 223
www.stonegate-instruments.com / PROCESS&CONTROL PROCESS & CONTROL | JUNE 2015 25
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