Loders Crocklaan achieves energy savings and improved performance with GEM

Established more than 110 years ago, today Loders Crocklaan is owned by the Malaysian based IOI Corporation Berhad and is dedicated to being an outstanding supplier of palm-based products to the worldwide food industry. An international company with its headquarters in Wormerveer in The Netherlands, Loders Croklaan also has manufacturing plants in Malaysia, the USA and Canada and in 2005 opened Europe’s largest palm oil processing plant in Rotterdam.

Prior to purchasing GEM steam traps, Leen Wijngaarden, Senior Engineer at Loders Croklaan carried out a trial of the GEM Venturi Orifice steam trap, which confirmed that it was 50% more efficient than new thermostatic traps used on site. Since then, Loders Croklaan has replaced 98% of its steam traps with GEM Venturi Orifice traps, which have also substantially reduced the backpressure in the condensate system.

“Since the completion of this project we have noted a number of improvements in our system which have not only matched the benefits offered by GEM but have increased performance in many other ways”, says Leen Wijngaarden. “In addition to achieving more than 10% saving in steam consumption we are making substantial savings on make-up water. We have also achieved a 10-20% faster warm up on our batch processes, a decrease in water hammer and production on our distillers has increased by 10 to 15%.“

Significantly, Loders Croklaan has been able to cancel the installation of a new process computer designed to increase the output of its distillers as the GEM steam traps have created a more stable process.

“Payback on this project is much less than the one year anticipated”, concluded Leen Wijngaarden. “GEM steam traps have been so successful that we equipped our new Rotterdam plant with them prior to the start of production and have also recommended they be installed in our plants in the US and Malaysia.

Available in a wide range of sizes for a full cross section of applications, the hardwearing GEM steam traps are manufactured from corrosion resistant stainless steel and are guaranteed for 10 years, obviating the need for repair or replacement. The GEM steam traps provide a fast payback - on some processes within a matter of days - from reduced energy costs and increased equipment reliability due to a reduction in damaging condensate in steam systems. In addition it improves product processing by enhancing the quality of steam and also reducing equipment repairs, downtime and replacement costs.