Payback Period 5 1/2 Months for Heavy Equipment Manufacturing Plant in Midwest
System: Heat exchanger installed downstream of descaling process
Solids: Large metal scale
Liquid: Water
Problem/Challenge: Scale fouling heat exchanger
Solution: LAKOS PRX System including Separator lined with Abrasion Resistant Steel
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| Flume Water Filtration using LAKOS on a Potato Washing System |
Problem: A multinational heavy equipment manufacturer in the Midwest was having a difficult time filtering large metal scale from a stamping line in their facility.
Scale from the quench and descaling process was clogging the plate and frame heat exchanger used to maintain a working temperature in the quench water. They tried a series of bag housing filters, but this did not work due to the abrasiveness of the scale and the volume of solids.
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| Quench Water Filtration with a LAKOS Filtration System |
The manufacturer pulled out the bag filter housings but was not able to find an effective alternate filtration method, mostly due to the limited space.
The manufacturer continued to produce products using no filtration prior to the heat exchangers, which quickly became clogged and had to be thoroughly serviced every five weeks. The cost for each of the maintenance cleanings was approximately $8,000, and led to an annual cost of more than $83,000. This did not include the lost production time incurred to shut down the line while the service was performed.
In March of 2007, the manufacturer first learned about LAKOS and contacted the company about a possible solution to the problem.
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| Typical LAKOS PRX installation set ups |
Solution: LAKOS filtration specialists and their local representative (Mullarkey Associates Inc.) visited the site and examined the entire system. The space requirements, the 325 GPM flow rate, the abrasiveness of the solids, and the amount of load, all suggested that a LAKOS PRX System would be the best solution.
A PRX 0285 Separator lined with Abrasion Resistant Steel was selected. This system includes a heavy duty collections hopper. The unit cost was $32,000 and it was installed for about $6,400 in November 2007.
The improvement was drastic and immediate, and after two years online, the heat exchangers still required no cleaning! The payback period for the entire investment was less than 6 months, which does NOT include the savings due to zero downtime during that period due to no cleaning.
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