Energy efficiency boost from the Far East
Competition from Asia is becoming key to improvements in energy efficiency in manufacturing processes.
Bossa, a textile manufacturer from Adana, Turkey, is rising to the challenge. Employing 2,000 people, Bossa produces on average 32 million metres of fabric each year. It began recording its energy data for each technical unit to identify areas where energy consumption is more intense. It found that two of the major processes in textiles production, weaving and spinning, demand the most energy consumption (75% of the total).
Ozgur Demirel, senior technical supervisor at Bossa, said: “Fierce competition from the Far East is forcing us to save more energy and resources, and now cost-cutting has become an investment priority.
“We have found that 15% of our product costs goes on energy. The remaining 85% is subject to global trading prices on chemicals or on materials like fibres, costs which are hard to compress. Therefore, focusing on the consumption of energy and resources has turned out to be the first step in reducing costs.
“The machines used for weaving and spinning operate unjustifiably slowly. We are therefore considering a measure to increase speed. This would in turn reduce the amount of energy consumed per metre produced without comprising on quality. Furthermore, we will apply a measure to the use of CO2 in the wastewater pool, as a way to mitigate the effects of sulphuric acid on the environment.”
REEMAIN (Resource and Energy Efficient ManufacturINg) is a Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) funded project that combines cutting edge knowledge and experience from production processes and, in this case, supplies solar collectors and furnace recuperators for different manufacturing processes for Bossa in an attempt to decrease energy consumption.
