Midland, Michigan -- Dow Chemical Co. has won four 2010 American Chemistry Council (ACC) Responsible Care Energy Efficiency Awards for improving energy efficiency at three of its US production sites.
At its Freeport, Texas facility, Dow engineers managed to de-rate a refrigeration compressor and lower its horsepower while producing polymeric MDI (methylene diphenyl diisocyanate), the company said 5 May. After a series of test and simulations, Dow was able to save 13 000 MW per year while maintaining PMDI production quality.
The Midland-based company was also recognised for using "conventional process optimisation techniques" to reduce the amount of solvent used in recycle and reboiler streams in its PMDI tower, and save 78 800 million British Thermal Units a year by reducing the amount of liquid heated for daily production, the statement said.
Dow was also recognised by ACC for using energy-efficient initiatives at its West Alexandria, Ohio and Houston, Texas sites.
"Energy efficiency has been a critical initiative for our company for years and we have worked hard to be a leader in it through our actions and innovations," said Doug May, vice president of energy, climate change, and alternative feedstocks at Dow. "We're proud to build on success that has allowed us to reduce our energy intensity by 38 percent since 1990," he added (RD)
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