Recycling and energy specialist Viridor’s ERF in Beddington treats nearly 350,000 tonnes of non-recyclable waste each year. 95% of waste delivered to the facility will be diverted from landfill and will facilitate the generation of up to 210GWh of electricity, which will power the facility itself and supply over 25MW to the National Grid. This is the equivalent of powering 59,025 homes.

Impressed by the solutions that Green’s had provided for similar sites at Ardley, Cardiff, and Runcorn Viridor asked Green’s to propose their ideas for making their final economiser more efficient while improving its output in line with Viridor’s overall targets. Green’s solution was created using its engineering team’s analysis and modelling tools and the system design significantly reduces fouling which optimises performance leading to greater productivity, reliability, and increased output from the unit.

Green’s engineering team made use of the available space in the unit with by adding extra rows of tubes that would increase the overall performance while not impacting the existing casing that was to be reused. Greens replaced the existing cast-iron finned tubes with Corten finned tubes because the cast-iron finned tube has a carbon steel tube core, which is prone to corrosion with low gas temperatures in and around the dew point. The Corten material also has a heat transfer coefficient similar to carbon steel, so the size of the units would be smaller than cast iron and stainless-steel units operating in this temperature range with the same thermal duty This gives the performance required from handling the particularly corrosive and low temperature flue gas after it leaves the boiler.

Réunion Island is in the Indian Ocean west of Mozambique and is aiming for the majority of its electricity to be of renewable origin by 2024. Renewable energy producer Albioma’s Bois-Rouge plant on Réunion opened in 1992 and now has an installed capacity of 108 MW and is next to the Bois-Rouge sugar refinery. During the sugar harvest, onsite dual-fuel boilers burn bagasse, a by-product of sugar cane processing to produce electricity from this material that would otherwise be wasted. Some of this energy is used by the sugar refinery and the rest is sent to the island’s grid.

Energy Supplier Albioma has upgraded its Bois-Rouge plant from coal to biomass, so that its emission levels in generating power comply with EU targets.

Since 2021 Albioma has been converting its plant so that it is 100% biomass-powered and use of coal is completely discontinued. Priority is given to local wood suppliers and the harvest of bagasse from sugar cane when available, and then imported wood is used to make-up the balance of supply. This means the plant is no longer dependent on Coal from South Africa.

The conversion will increase the proportion of renewable energy on Reunion Island from 35% to 51% and make it possible to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 80% (640,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year) compared to the plant’s current operating levels.

Green’s Power was commissioned to manufacture replacement economiser and additional air preheater units to allow the boilers to operate with the alternative wood supply, to ensure that fouling does not occur within the tube banks, to prevent localised boiling ‘steaming’ occuring in high temperature regions and increase the duty of the economisers to supply more output.

Gautier Demas, Albioma’s Boiler Works and Maintenance Engineer said: “ Bois Rouge revamping project has been a challenging one. We started to work with Heat Exchange Group on this project back in June 2020 to design the most accurate solution as we wanted to improve the efficiency of our thermal cycle. The project development was performed in very good teamwork environment together with Heat Exchange Group design department and other international design teams. Major changes were selected such as plain tube original exchanger changed to finned tube and additional headers were installed in order to recover higher thermal power from the fumes. Many interfaces were at stake in terms of design, many challenges in terms of production, logistics and site installation schedule were met and difficult coordination in an international environment was achieved with Heat Exchange Group site team in safe conditions. Thanks to all Heat Exchange Group team who made a great job all along this journey with us!”

Nigel Stone, Business & Development Director at Heat Exchange Group, Green’s parent company said: It was a great privilege to be part of this international engineering upgrade project, which I am sure will set a precedent for future EU power plant projects. Our engineering team worked daily with other international team members to ensure thermal and mechanical requirements were achieved using the existing space constraints on site and conforming to the latest boiler construction codes.”

Heat Exchange Group also worked on site at Albioma’s Réunion plant to scrap out the old economiser tubes and headers and install the new equipment made in their Yorkshire factory. This required intense activity over three months with teams of engineers working 16 hours per day over two shifts.

Heat Exchange Group’s Services Sales Director Neil Ford said: “This project presented a range of challenges including the intense heat, multiple languages spoken on site and the need to adhere to different working time regulations. However, our team overcame them as well as selecting and managing local scaffolding and cladding companies.”

Nigel concludes: “Our company has an excellent reputation and a lot of experience with large upgrade schemes worldwide. Having access to a wide range of previous reference contracts means we can give customers the confidence to use and work with us on multimillion euro projects like these.”

Heat Exchange Group is proud to announce that we are now the UK’s exclusive approved channel partner for PHE manufacturer API Schmidt-Bretten, which is part of global heat transfer solutions partner API Heat Exchanger.

Like us, Schmidt has more than 100 years’ experience in heat exchange technology and is also dedicated to providing the highest levels of product quality and customer service.

From its factory in Bretten, Germany, Schmidt manufactures a wide range of plate heat exchangers including gasketed, welded shell and welded compact to suit a variety of applications across virtually all industry sectors. Heat Exchange Group now represents the company for all UK sales, service and repairs of its plate heat exchangers.

Igor Magel, Business Development Manager EMEA, at API Schmidt’s Bretten Facility said: “‘Heat Exchange Group is a well established and reputable specialist in manufacturing and servicing heat exchangers throughout the UK. We believe this channel partnership will ensure the UK market benefits from our quality, reliable, efficient plate heat exchangers as well as receiving the excellent service and support that Heat Exchange Group is known for.“

Heat Exchange Group managing director Matthew Crewe said: “We are delighted to have been chosen by such a well-respected international organisation as API Schmidt-Bretten to represent them in the UK. We look forward to a long and successful partnership that will hugely benefit our current and future customers.”

To discuss your requirements please contact

Shaun Duro, PHE Service Manager – shaun.duro@heatexchangegroup.co.uk

or Neil Ford, Groups Sales Director – NeilFord@greenspower.co.uk

We have prepared a detailed overview of our products and services as well as the brands that we can repair, service and manufacture and our values.

Read more about our company and what it does from its various UK locations here.

Arauco is a global manufacturer of forest products with operations around the world. It offers a comprehensive selection of composite panels including MDF, particleboard and HDF, premium plywood, millwork, lumber, and wood pulp.

In Argentina Arauco’s Puerto Piray plant produces MDF and operates a biomass plant which uses eucalyptus and pine as fuel to produce energy and has operated a boiler with an economiser supplied by E. Green & Son Ltd since 1980.

After more than 40 years of round the clock usage, some of the economiser’s tubes had deteriorated so Arauco needed to replace it to ensure efficient operations could be maintained.

Green’s, which is part of Heat Exchange Group, were asked to supply the replacement unit, as a trusted designer and manufacturer of finned tube economisers.

While the heating surfaces remained the same as the original 1980s design, the new unit required updates to the mechanical design to meet current ASME I standards.

From receiving the order, Green’s expert design, engineering and manufacturing teams designed the unit which comprised finned tubes, supports, headers and casing and manufactured it in their Wakefield factory in less than 5 months.

Esteban Guevara, Category Manager MRO at Arauco Argentina said: “Our previous economiser which was made by Green’s over forty years ago provided decades of reliable service and we are confident that the new unit their team made will perform similarly.”

This was the latest in a number of projects that Green’s has worked on for Arauco having previously supplied economisers and flue gas coolers for other plants in Argentina and Chile.

Come and see what happens behind the scenes at one of the longest running manufacturers in the UK.

Heat Exchange Group and Green’s are opening their doors to clients, students and the local community on Thursday 28th September 2023, and you’re invited!

Our two exciting open day events, as detailed below, will run simultaneously at our main manufacturing facility in Wakefield, WF1 5PH, and at our service centre of excellence in Prudhoe, NE42 6PX.

At our client event, customers past, present and future, including other manufacturing businesses in our local area and supply chain, have the opportunity to discuss optimisation of equipment for money saving and carbon reduction, tapping in to a wealth of extensive subject matter expertise.

Our careers event will focus on engaging the local community with careers in the manufacturing sector, whether you’re a school leaver, graduate or simply interested in reskilling, upskilling or changing the direction of your career.

Customer Events in Prudhoe and Wakefield 

10.00am registration and refreshments, followed by ‘Inside the Factory’ tour and presentation ‘Optimising the Performance of your Heat Exchangers’, delivered by speakers with 30+ years industry knowledge.

Register here for Wakefield Factory.

Register here for Prudhoe Service Centre.

Career Events in  Wakefield 

01.00pm registration and refreshments, followed by ‘Inside the Factory’ tour and practical bench demonstration of manufacturing works, e.g. non-destructive testing, welding and fitting. Followed by presentation ‘Interview Tips from Manufacturing HR Professionals’. Register here.

Can’t make it in person? Then why not register for our webinar instead: ‘Reduce Carbon, Save Money- How to Make Heat Exchange Work for your Business’. Register here.

We can’t wait to showcase the diverse range of expectational skills and experience we can offer, and that a career in manufacturing can offer. We are passionate advocates for the continuation and thriving of the manufacturing industry in the UK, and we look forward to meeting you on the 28th September so we can share our vision with you.

Burners Before our work…………….And afterwards

Heat Exchange Group recently completed an extensive project to refurbish 60 burners for one of Greens Combustion’s major UK refinery customers.

The two companies have collaborated on a wide range of repair and refurbishment projects over many years with Heat Exchange Group undertaking mechanical installation and service works on their behalf in the refinery and petrochemical sectors.

This latest project required Heat Exchange Group’s service and repair team to collect the burners from the customer’s site and take them to Heat Exchange Group’s Service Centre in Prudhoe, Northumberland. The burners’ condition was assessed so that it could be determined which components were faulty and would need to be replaced as well as specifying an appropriate cleaning, component adjusting and testing regime to increase their longevity. Refurbishing the burners, rather than supplying new products, resulted in significant cost savings for the customer with no compromise and ensured optimum performance of the refinery process heaters in the company’s hydrocracker plant.

Neil Turle, Aftermarket Manager at Greens Combustion said: “Heat Exchange Group completed this specialist, time critical project within the agreed deadline and budget. Our customer was delighted with the improved performance of their burners and we look forward to continuing this mutually beneficial relationship with Heat Exchange Group for many more years.”

Neil Ford, Heat Exchange Group’s Service Sales Director added: “We offer services that complement those provided by Greens Combustion, which means we can both offer our customers a wider selection of support which is good for the customers and good for us too.”

British Sugar supplies over half of the UK’s demand for sugar and produces up to 1.2million tonnes annually. The company works with over 2,300 beet sugar growers and processes around eight million tonnes of sugar beet.

At its plant in Wissington in Suffolk, four heat exchangers, each around 8m overall length and comprising more than 1000 tubes, use steam to heat the raw juice produced from the sugar beet as part of its processing. The original heat exchangers were designed and manufactured by Hunt Thermal, now part of the Heat Exchange Group, in 1992. This means that Heat Exchange Group holds the original designs and manufacturing specifications so that when they needed replacing it was an obvious choice to commission the UK’s leading world supplier of the widest range of heat exchanger and boiler products and services.

Heat Exchange Group’s specialist engineers visited British Sugar’s Wissington plant to get a detailed understanding of the company’s heat exchange requirements so that the best solution for their new equipment could be provided.

The four TEMA type NEN heat exchangers designed to EN13445 in stainless steel 304L on the tubeside and carbon steel on the shellside were manufactured in the Heat Exchange Group’s Wakefield factory and then transported 200 miles south to British Sugar.

Michael Saunders, Engineering Manager at British Sugar said: “Because Heat Exchange Group hold the historic records for our some of our equipment, the process to specify and manufacture new products was very straightforward. We are glad we chose to partner with them because the quality of their work was excellent, and any challenges faced during design and construction were communicated in a timely and honest manner.”

Greens Power and Heat Exchange Group Services will be on stand R-L291 at RWM within its Energy, Fuels and Decarbonisation Expo (EFD) at the NEC, 13-14^th September.

Visitors to the stand will be able to take advantage of free comprehensive audits of their heat exchange equipment to identify efficiency and cost savings. Free vistor tickets are available from the event website.

Heat Exchange Group’s highly skilled engineering experts will also be on hand to discuss a wide range of heat exchange technologies and solutions.

At Heat Exchange Group we believe it’s vital to support industry schemes that promote collaborative working between partners, suppliers, and customers.

That’s why we belong to specialist organisations whose aims and priorities are similar to ours.

This includes CATCH, an industry led partnership supporting the process, energy, engineering and renewable industries in Lincolnshire, Yorkshire, and Humber. And NOF, which connects businesses in the global energy sector.

Members of our team regularly attend their meetings and events and contribute to discussions around important topical issues that impact our customers and how we can best respond to their needs.

And we have been assessed by CATCH’s auditors to pre-validate our meeting of their exacting standards for our competencies, systems and other criteria which gives our customers additional confidence in the quality of the products and services we provide to them.

Heat Exchange Group’s Managing Director Matthew Crewe said: “Most of our work is in the industrial, processing and renewables sectors, all of which are very dynamic and very different. Participating in initiatives like CATCH and NOF ensures we stay on top of the changes and requirements, which benefits our teams and our customers.”