2007-07-18 - The giant Turkish textile manufacturer, Korteks Mensucat, has increased energy efficiency by 36 percent in two knitting factories thanks to ABB variable speed drives.
By
Editorial Services
Korteks Mensucat is Turkey's biggest polyester textile manufacturer, and one of the biggest fabric makers in Europe and the Middle East.
The company produces 580 tons of polyester yarn every day, which its factories annually turn into millions of square meters of home textiles such as curtains, lace and embroidered fabrics.
In the Bursa and Çorlu knitting factories, Korteks paired ABB ACS800 and ACS550 drives with 382 electric motors in air-handling units, cooling tower fans and pump stations that have helped reduce the amount of electricity consumed in both plants by 36 percent.
As drive units were commissioned during 2006, the company logged savings of more than 11 million kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity. With the project now complete, energy savings are expected to reach 14 million kWh in 2007.*
Sixty percent of industrial electricity is consumed by motors, especially pump and fan motors. Installing variable speed drives to regulate the electricity used by these motors can bring energy savings of up to 50 percent.
With its factories working full time, Korteks needs plenty of power. The company says its 13,200-KVA (kilovolt ampere) uninterruptible power supply (UPS) backup power system is the largest in Europe and the Middle East.
Korteks achieved a full return on its ABB drives investment in just over one year.
*A kilowatt-hour of energy will operate a 40-watt lightbulb for a full day, a personal computer for 2-1/2 hours, a clothes dryer for 15 minutes, and a portable stereo for as long as a week.
(Source: the Association of Energy Engineers)
For more about ABB's energy-efficient technologies, read the ABB Review on energy efficiency.