1. Case Study T extile company Cleaner Production Assessment Tomas PivorasKaunas University of Technology Kaunas, Lithuania

2. Information about Vernitas

Products:

• Bulk, polyacryl nitrile (PAN) yarns;

Production capacity:

• 6.000 tons of yarn sper year;

Market:

• export to EU approximately 70%.

3. Production processes

Yarn Preparation,sub-processes:

• Stretch-breaking

• Rebreaking

• Intersecting

• Finishing

Spinning

Twisting

Bulking

Dyeing

4. Auxiliary processes

Ventilation

Boiler house heating and steam production

Water preparation

Compressed air production

5. Methodology

A top-down investigation

The company was analyzed on three levels:

• Level 1: Main data for black box - entire company;

• Level 2: Main process data (building a layer cake);

• Level 3: Detailed data and measurements for one or two specific processes.

In the initial phase focus on level 1 and 2.

Later level 3 data were collected/measured for the 2-3 focus areas.

6. Energy balance 7. H eat consumption 8. Energy savings ( electricity savings ) 2.7 98 000 36 600 671,300 Total 2.4 68 000 29 000 551,300 Installation of variable speed drives on fans 3.8 30 000 7 800* 120,000 Optimisation of humidification system years EUR EUR/ year kWh/year Units Pay back Investment Savings Elec. savings Electricity savings 9. Energy savings ( heat recovery) 2.8 70 000 25 000 753,300 Total 1.5 14 500 9 500* 290,000 Recycling of steam condensate in dyeing dept. 2.0 15 000 7 500 303,300 Heat recovery on air compressors 5.2 40 600 7 800* 160,000 Modernisation of heating substation years EUR EUR/ year kWh/year Units Pay back Investment Savings Heat savings Heat recovery 10. Optimisation of the humidification system - replacement of the spraying nozzles

Savings by reduction of consumption of both water and compressed air.

11. Installation of variable frequency drives on fans

S ignificantlyincreasedenergy efficiency of the fans at part load (50-90%), which was approx. 75% of the operation time.

12. Heat recovery in the compressed air system 13. Recycling of steam condensate in dyeing dept. 14. MainCleaner Productionprojects

1) Treatment of waste water from dyeing department

2) Possibility of recycling the waste water from dyeing department

3) Reduction and substitution of chemicals used in dyeing processes

4) Recycling of cooling water from spinning machines

15. Minimisation/optimisation of chemicals used

1. investigatethe use of the chemicals

2. investigatethe possibilities to omitthe use of the chemicals

3. investigatethe possibilities to reducethe use of chemicals (this step should not be considered if the chemicals are evaluated to be hazardous, unless substitution is not possible)

4. investigatethe possibilities to substitutethe chemicals with alternatives that have less negative impacts on the environment.

Vernitas:

160 different chemicals

Total quantity of 26,419 kg .

16. Zinc emission to effluent

Stoptreating the effluent for removalof zinc (Zn)

Findthe source of the zinc (Zn) emission in the effluent.

• It is much cheaper and more environmental friendly to change the source

17. Dyes containing heavy metals 18. Continual improvements:

Elimination/reducing of:

dyestuffcontainingheavy metals

azo-dyestuff , which splits off carcinogenic amines.

toxic chemicals(T or T xmarked according to EU regulations)

hazardous surfactant s giving rise to environmental concerns do to their poor biodegradability, their toxicity and potential to act as endocrine disrupters.

hazardous complexingagent

19. Wastewater from dyeing department 20. Wastewater treatment plant 21. Membrane filtration

• • Investment:

• • EUR.250 000.

• • Pay back:

• • 17.5 years

22. Reuse of cooling water fromspinning machines

Total use of water is about:

• 24,000 m 3 / year

Total installation cost is:

• 818 EUR.

Simple payback period is:

• 1.67 year.

• ( not including usage of electricity by water pump and water pumping from well )