THE ANGELINI GROUP MAKES GEM ITS STEAMTRAP OF CHOICE

1st August 2011
Posted By : ES Admin
THE ANGELINI GROUP MAKES GEM ITS STEAMTRAP OF CHOICE
The international pharmaceutical and health-care group, Angelini, has made Thermal Energy International Inc’s GEM venturi orifice steam trap its steam trap of choice following three years extensive testing.
Now Angelini’s pharmaceutical plant, located in Ancona in central Italy, has instructed its staff and maintenance contractors to replace its mechanical traps with the GEM venturi orifice design as the mechanical traps fail.

Following a presentation by Thermal Energy International in 2007, a partial survey was carried out on some of the steam equipment at the 180,000 square metre site which found that around 10% of the mechanical traps had either failed open, shut or partially open. Following these findings, Mr Alessandro Lazzari, Energy Manager at Angelini, Ancona decided to test a GEM steam trap on a metered trial.

After carrying out two bucket tests on GEM, Mr Rocchetti, Senior Engineer at Angelini, identified the area where the test could be carried out and the steam consumption monitored. In 2008 the steam consumption of the mechanical traps was recorded and in 2009 eight mechanical traps, used on heat exchangers, air conditioning units, humidification systems and drip legs, were exchanged for GEM.

In 2010, Angelini verified that six months after installing the GEM steam traps, the company was making steam savings of 8% with low-pressure steam at 3-bar pressure, which will provide it with a payback to the company in just 12-months. Following these findings, Angelini installed 20 GEM venturi orifice steam traps in the oldest part of the production site with very positive results.

Since then a total of 30 GEM traps have been installed on drip legs, kettle reboilers, heat exchangers, heating batteries and humidification systems with a further 20 traps being ordered for installation this year. Such as been the success of the GEM trap installations that Mr. Rocchetti and his colleague Mr Guerra gave a presentation to Maintenance Managers on the GEM technology at the pharmaceutical seminar, ‘Manutenzione Pharma’ in Milan.

Instead of utilising a valve mechanism to close off steam for maximum energy and water conservation, the highly efficient GEM steam traps use the patented venturi orifice design to effectively drain condensate from the steam system. As the GEM steam traps have no moving parts to wedge open or fail, it provides the ultimate in reliability necessitating only minimal maintenance and requiring no spares, testing or monitoring equipment.

Commenting of the GEM venturi orifice steam trap, Mr Alessandro Lazzari said: “We were conscious that mechanical steam traps create endless problems in industrial plants as a result of their poor reliability and significant maintenance requirements. With GEM we have identified a solution that encompasses energy savings and minimum maintenance”.

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, eliminating the need for repair or replacement. The GEM steam traps can provide a fast payback from reduced energy costs and increased equipment reliability. In addition they can improve product processing by enhancing process control of the cleaning system, and also reducing equipment repairs, downtime and replacement costs.

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