SKF Tudela
An example of decarbonisation in industry
A manufacturing plant geared towards energy savings
SKF, the company which invented the spherical ball bearing in 1907, is now a global reference in its sector, thanks to its wide range of products and services for practically all rotary and linear motion applications. The company was founded in 1973, in Tudela (Navarra, Spain), with a 14.000 m2 plant dedicated to manufacturing bearings for the automotive sector.
The aim of this project was to fully decarbonise the plant, thereby eliminating fuel consumption, reducing CO2 emissions and cutting operating costs to make the Tudela plant much more competitive in terms of its energy consumption.
An integrated approach to decarbonising industrial installations
This installation is a perfect example of the way forward for decarbonising thermal installations in the industry, in which the following steps have been taken:
- Firstly, define clear objectives in terms of sustainability; at the same time, establish a commitment to meet these, by defining a mediumand long-term plan to achieve them.
- Secondly, understand the actual thermal requirements of the installation and identify the potential energy savings there, by analysing all residual heat sources inside the plant and working out how these could be used for our thermal installation.
- Thirdly, define a solution that combines the best current technologies and best practices carried out in other installations, that will enable us to obtain the best possible result by optimising the energy efficiency of the installation.
- And, finally, it is key to take into account the full life cycle of the installation, establishing a correct maintenance plan to ensure that the units remain in perfect condition for as long as possible.
Combining technologies to achieve the best result
After analysing the thermal requirements, an installation was designed with two main objectives: firstly, to meet the cooling requirements of the process, using highly efficient 30KAV air-to-water chillers; secondly, to extract the heat produced in the bearing manufacturing part and transfer it to the air conditioning part of the building and offices, via water-to-water chillers equipped with a heat recovery option.
An air-to-water heat pump was also installed for those times when the heat demand exceeds the heat which can be extracted from the manufacturing process, or in the event of a breakdown of any process equipment, thereby guaranteeing the necessary reliability to avoid any stoppage in the plant.
The result of this design is that the gas consumption of the installation is now zero, making the plant highly competitive in terms of its energy consumption and minimising its environmental impact.
