Increased Efficiency at the Maggi Plant: Reducing Heat Loss Through Precise Measurements
Katronic Shows How the Maggi Plant in Singen Is Reducing Costs and Increasing Efficiency
Making Invisible Energy Losses Visible
The food company Nestlé operates a Maggi plant in Singen that is over 125 years old. It is one of Nestlé’s largest production sites in Germany: Each year, nearly 40 million bottles of Maggi seasoning and over 30 million cans of ravioli leave the historic production facilities. To make production CO₂-neutral in the long term, a precise analysis of heat demand is a key step—especially with regard to future electrification using heat pumps.
The infrastructure there comprises 40 buildings with a wide variety of media: from steam to hot and cold water to condensate. For a realistic assessment, a total of 16 measurement points had to be taken into account—a challenge given the multitude of physical states and lines in the system.
We at Katronic were happy to take on this challenge. Given their ability to measure heat flow, the KATflow 150—which is actually intended for permanent installation—and the portable KATflow 230 were the ideal measurement devices for this project. One measurement point was also covered by a KATflow 200 unit, as temperature measurement was not required at that location.
Water flow measurements were performed at twelve points in the system, primarily for hot water. In addition, steam measurements were to be taken at five points. To this end, a test measurement was first conducted to determine feasibility. This yielded isolated measurement values; however, due to condensate formation on the inside of the pipes and irregular flow velocities, the measurement conditions were generally insufficient to produce clear results. For this reason, water flow measurements of the condensate were instead conducted at four locations in the plant.
Among other things, the measurements revealed excessive heat losses in a line supplying hot water to the plant. These losses were eliminated through a targeted rerouting of the line—with measurable success: The plant now saves approximately 10,000 euros annually in energy costs.
The investment in the measurement technology will thus pay for itself within a short period of time and not only delivers financial benefits but also contributes to reducing the site’s CO₂ emissions.
