Energy Conservation Opportunities in Hydrocarbon Resin Manufacturing Facilities

Abstract

"The results of a plant-wide assessment of the manufacturing facilities of Neville Chemical Company, a manufacturer of hydrocarbon resins will be presented in this paper. The project was co-funded by US Department of Energy under its Plant-Wide Opportunity Assessment Program.

Resin manufacturing is a highly energy intensive process. The process needs extensive heating accomplished through steam boilers and thermal oil heaters, and cooling which is accomplished through refrigeration as well as process cooling water systems.

Detailed energy assessment of Neville Chemical plants has shown significant energy conservation opportunities. For the less capital-intensive measures, energy cost savings of 20% to 30% with paybacks of less than two years were identified. The identified measures can be easily replicated in similar facilities.

In this paper, details of the processes in hydrocarbon resin production from an energy consumption viewpoint will be discussed, current prevalent practices in the industry will be elaborated, and potential measures for energy use and cost savings will be outlined."