Scottish Petrochemical Plant Saves Water with GE Water & Process Technologies Solution

Faced with a water cooling system that was limited to four cycles due to calcium phosphate and calcium carbonate scaling, the KG plant team collaborated with GE Water & Process Technologies to address these issues and thereby increase the cycles of their cooling water.

Specifically, Water & Process Technologies provided the asset with its GenGard* corrosion treatment chemistry, TrueSense* cooling water technology and InSight* asset performance management (APM) system.

By implementing this solution, INEOS would have the ability to potentially increase the water cycles in the cooling tower system to eight cycles, which would conserve approximately 100 million gallons of water per year and thereby deliver significant savings.

“As one of the largest manufacturers in Scotland, we are constantly looking for ways to improve our environmental performance. We have made significant upgrades and investments in recent years to improve the reliability and efficiency of the plant. Following the implementation of GE’s technologies, we have seen a considerable decrease in water usage,” said Kenny Stevenson, KG plant manager. “We are very honored that GE Water & Process Technologies recognized our efforts with these Ecomagination Leadership and ROE awards.”

GE’s InSight APM system and service reliability center allowed for continuous monitoring of key water parameters between service visits, which ensured that any issue that could increase the scaling due to increased cycles were addressed quickly and efficiently.

“Effective cooling water system operation is critical to reducing water usage and operating costs at petrochemical plants. By applying data analytics to online information from the plant’s cooling system, we can continuously optimize our chemical treatment solution and help INEOS reach its business and environmental goals,” said Amy Ericson, global leader, chemical and monitoring solutions—GE Water & Process Technologies. “INEOS’ petrochemical plant in Grangemouth, Scotland, is a great example of how monitoring solutions can achieve desired results for our customers. INEOS is deserving of both the Ecomagination Leadership and ROE awards for its many environmental successes.”

The GE Water & Process Technologies Ecomagination Leadership award recognizes the achievements of industrial users for striking a positive balance between today s economic, industrial and sustainability challenges. It is given to the top customers in environmental and economic performance. The business’ prestigious ROE award honors significant environmental (water, energy, resource) accomplishments.

INEOS is a global manufacturer of petrochemicals, specialty chemicals and oil products. It comprises 18 businesses each with a major chemical company heritage. Its production network spans 67 sites in 16 countries throughout the world. Grangemouth represents INEOS’ largest manufacturing site by volume of products. It is home to Scotland’s only crude oil refinery and produces the bulk of fuels used in Scotland.

Its Grangemouth petrochemical plant makes around 1 million tonnes per annum of product, which is used as the building blocks in the manufacturing of household items. These include synthetic ethanol, ethylene, propylene and polymers (polyethylene and polypropylene). INEOS’ products are used extensively in the petrochemical industry and transformed into bottles and pipes, cabling and insulation and food packaging and are used in the pharmaceutical industry.