HWL

Hot Water Loop

Publieke samenvatting / Public summary

Aanleiding
Cargill aspires to make a significant contribution to the global fight against climate change and aims to establish the most sustainable food supply chains worldwide, minimizing the environmental footprint and prioritizing the well-being of individuals. This project is a key contributor to the Cargill Sustainability Strategy. It is a synergy with the commitment of Cargill on CO2 savings as it focuses on energy savings leading to the reduction of CO2 emissions in the core business product. Cargill will implement the project on Cargill's site in the Botlek. This facility is primarily involved in the production of more than 230 types of refined oils, specifically the production of edible oils. It is one of the largest Cargill's operations in Europe, and also includes a R&D department.

Doelstelling
Vegetable oils, whether the crude oil, intermediate, or final product, need to be stored at a particular setpoint, otherwise the liquid oil will cool down into solid fat which cannot be processed. In the current set-up, the oil storage tanks are kept warm by a supply of steam that heats coils inside the tanks. The steam is transported to the tank farm through a series of pipes once the temperature of the oil drops below the setpoint. After heating the tank, a condensate returns in the piping network. The steam is generated in the main low pressure boiler which uses natural gas as a fuel source. The goal of this project is to realize a hot water loop on the Cargill site in the Botlek to recover heat from the oil (process). This heat would otherwise be dissipated through cooling towers and now will be used to maintain roughly 70 storage oil tanks at their setpoint temperatures. This leads to savings in natural gas consumption and, therefore, CO2 emissions.

Korte omschrijving
To realize the project, several steps still need to be completed such as detail engineering, ordering equipment, and contracting suppliers to perform the work. Once this is completed, the equipment can be replaced.

Resultaat
The final result is the implementation of the hot water loop. Cargill has calculated that an annual energy reduction of 1,322,880 m3 of natural gas can be achieved through this investment. The resulting CO2 reduction is 2,302,364 tonnes/year.