AB | Case History

AB FORGARDA PLAST

TrigeneraTion To improve energy efficiency and opTimise consumpTion in The indusTrial

plasTic injecTion moulding process

AB for GArDA PLAST

AB AND GARDA PLAST

PARTNER TO PRODUCE

elecTriciTy, heaT and cold WaTer

USEFUL TO THE PRODUCTION CHAINS.

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TRIGENERATION: sTraTegic

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TRIGENERATION:

In the beverage industry, the cost of

packaging is an ever more important

economic component for the companies

operating in the sector. Suppliers of PET

pre-moulds need to stay competitive

even though in a market scenario that has

seen sizeable increases in raw material

prices. A company like Garda Plast

hence needs to optimise its production

costs in order not to negatively weigh

down on the dialogue with acquired or

potential customers. It should also be

considered that energy significantly

“weighs” on the production costs, even

over 30%. Another fundamental aspect

is that the production chain in large

measure makes use of thermal energy.

Last but not least, many customers

have a watchful attitude towards eco-

environmental sensitivity. All this

almost naturally leads to trigeneration,

a system that in an integrated manner

combines the production of electrical

and thermal energy with a concrete

reduction in consumption and

environmental impact.

A PRODUCTION PROCESS wHERE THERmAL ENERGy HAS A kEy ROLE AND IS CONTINUOUSLy REqUIRED.

sTraTegic FOR THE THERmOPLASTIC INDUSTRy.

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GARDAPLAST

SPECIALISED IN THE mANUFACTURE OF PRE-mOULDS FOR POLyETHyLENE BOTTLES AND PACkAGING, GARDA PLAST AImS AT ENERGy EFFICIENCy TO COmBINE mARkET COmPETITIvENESS AND RESPECT FOR THE ENvIRONmENT.

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GARDAPLAST

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Set up in 1996, Garda Plast SpA is

today one of the most well-established

Italian industrial concerns operating

in the manufacture of polyethylene

terephthalate (PET) packaging

for food liquids and detergent

containers. As well as its core

business of manufacturing PET pre-

moulds for the mineral water and

beverage sector (both single-stage

and two-stage bottles), the company

has progressively added solutions

for other sectors, always basing its

offer on product quality and service

efficiency: Garda Plast is a guarantee

for many beverage companies where

the packaging is made of PET.

Garda Plast is currently capable of

producing over 1 billion pre-moulds

a year in various types and colours,

not only for the mineral water and

beverage sector but also for the food

oil, milk, juice, wine, detergent and

cosmetic sectors.

The entire plant design represents the

excellence technology offers today:

this guarantees a high level of quality

and productivity with considerable

production cost cutting, elements

that are the key to success also in the

packaging sector.

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THE COLLABORATION BETwEEN

REDUCE THE COSTS. INCREASE THE COmPETITIvENESS. mORE ECOSUSTAINIBILITy.

aB and garda plasT

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THE COLLABORATION BETwEEN

The trigeneration plant AB has installed at Garda Plast of

Polpenazze del Garda (BS) is an example of how you can steer

technological innovation in the direction of maximum energy

efficiency, significantly curbing costs and contributing to concrete

and quantifiable ecosustainability.

aB and garda plasT

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THE Ecomax®

PLANT

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THE AB SOLUTION FOR GARDA PLAST IS ECOmAX® 18: a TrigeneraTion planT IN mODULAR PACkAGING THAT ASSURES high performance and fasT reTurn on invesTmenT.

THE Ecomax®

PLANT

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THE TRIGENERATION PLANT INSTALLED AT garda plasT in polpenazze del garda (Bs)

THE PRODUCTION PROCESS

The Garda Plast production process combines

remarkable energy-consuming components with the

need to have continuous heat available, especially for

one phase: PET granule drying before going to the

injection moulding machines. The manufacturers

supply the raw material as PET granules contained in

special bags. The material is processed in an entirely

closed circuit without pollutants, transferring the

granules from the bags or from storage silos to the

moulding plants. The granules are fed into hoppers

positioned above the presses where they stay for

about 6 hours to undergo the drying process, which

reduces the moisture in the granules to a value of

less than 30 P.P.M.

At this point, the granules are fed into the presses

and once they reach the injection screw are melted at

a temperature of around 250°C. The molten material

is then injected into the cooled mould where in a

first phase the pre-mould is formed and in a second

phase it is cooled. These two phases have a variable

duration depending on the profile of the pre-mould

and its basis weight.

The moment the mould is reopened, the parts are

picked up by robots and then released onto the

conveyor belt.

The thus produced pre-moulds are fully automatically

packed into boxes positioned at the end of the belt.

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TRIGENERATION

The transformation of thermal energy into cooling

energy is made possible by the use of an absorption

cooling cycle whose functioning is based on

the transformation of the cooling fluid state in

combination with the substance used as absorbent.

At Garda Plast, the cooling energy is used to cool the

PET after the thermoforming process. Compared to

generation of electrical energy only, in a trigeneration

system, the overall efficiency increases because a

larger percentage of the fuel heat value is used.

It should moreover be considered that conventional

thermoelectric power plants convert approximately

a third of the fuel energy into electricity (the rest is

lost in heat), while in a trigeneration system, more

than 4/5 of the same energy is exploited, given that

the heat is recovered directly.

TRIGENERATION

FUEL 100%

COLD

HEA

T LO

SS 1

5%

ELEC

TRIC

ITY

43,1

%

HEA

T 41

,9%

TRIGENERATION DIAGRAM

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ECOMAX®

The Ecomax® trigeneration plant is the fruit of applied

research of AB, established in 1997 and which soon

became the main technological and qualitative benchmark

in the trigeneration market.

Ecomax® is a high-performance industrial product

based on the principles of versatility, modularity and

compactness and assures fast return on investment.

Ecomax® does not require any building permission

and offers numerous advantages: great flexibility, fast

installation and startup, easy connection with existing

plant-engineering systems.

THE SOLUTION

At Garda Plast the thermoforming processes take place

in two recently constructed industrial units interfaced

with logistic support structures. Consulting with the

technicians and engineering staff of AB, the ECOMAX® 18

plant was identified as the ideal trigeneration solution.

The plant runs for about 8,000 hours/year at 100% rated

electric load with transfer to the network of solely surplus

energy, i.e. having removed the part share for internal

company use. A diathermal oil heat exchanger is installed

on the flue gas circuit to produce hot drying air for

technological uses of the company and a recovery boiler

with flue gas pipes to produce hot water between 93°C

and 96°C and to feed an absorber with a power of 675 kWf.

The total thermal energy recoverable is 1,871 kWt.

ecomax® 18 ngs

Fuel consumption Nm3/h 445

Power input kw 4,228

Electrical power (cos.phi=1,0) kw 1,824

Electrical efficiency % 43,1

Diathermal oil kw 597

Diathermal oil delivery temperature °C 240

Diathermal oil return temperature °C 210

Hot water kw°C

1,27495

Cold water kw°C

6757

CO2 emission saving: approx. 640 ton/year

Oil consumption saving: approx. 275 TEP/year

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2009

CHRONOLOGICAL WORK SCHEDULEYear

MonthWeek

January February March April May June July August September October November December

DesignPrefabricated units in the workshopBuilding worksInstallationsConnectionsStart-ups

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THE EFFECTIvENESS OF ECOmAX® 18 in garda plasT’s Words.

Interview with Amos Tonoli, Chief Executive Officer of Garda Plast SpA

“After about a year of operation, we have been able to tangibly gauge the efficiency with respect to the expected benefit. We very carefully watch this aspect and I’m happy to say that the plant has achieved the results we set as objective.”

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What led garda plast to invest in a trigeneration plant?

Our production process is essentially based on heating the raw material and then the exacting need to quickly cool the parts. It was hence only logical to think of trigeneration, also because this technology allows at the same time generating the electricity the company needs with considerable savings in energy costs. we first of all need to dry the pre-mould material, PET. In the past we did this using heating elements to heat diathermal oil. Today, however, we use trigeneration recovering the flue gas and hot water the plant engine produces during its operation. In particular, we use the thermal energy during the PET drying phase which lasts from six to seven hours at 180 degrees, and the cooling energy to cool the pre-moulds.

how is the ecomaX® plant integrated in your production process?

After a very short period of testing proper functioning and coordination with our production process, the plant is by now perfectly integrated and has become part of the Garda Plast facility to all intents and purposes. The plant structure should not be underestimated either; it consists of a container integrated in the existing plant-engineering systems in a minimally invasive manner. This has also solved the landscape requirements seeing that we operate in a natural context among the most appreciated in the area. The easy and versatile management allows us to modulate the plant power based on our energy requirements and to best exploit the thermal energy, an energy vector essential for our production. After about a year of operation, we have been able to tangibly gauge the efficiency with respect to the expected benefit. we very carefully watch this aspect and I’m happy to say that the plant has achieved the results we set as objective; at the same time, it is a nice image and eco-environmental sensitivity showcase when customers come to visit us, especially potential customers we would like to involve because we know that they are particularly sensitive to this issue. In particular, there is a certain clientele bracket, for example groups such as Nestlè and Coca Cola, that put this issue at the top of a scale of decision-making values for their supplies.

Why did you choose aB?

The decision was made following a careful and scrupulous selection process. Initially, we also looked at other companies, because we started off searching for an engine; we saw the plant-engineering systems as the next step. we were curious about the fact that AB is Jenbacher’s most important customer in Europe and this pushed us to look deeper into the technological components to understand how and why a trigeneration plant is much more than just an engine. Discovering the AB world, its engineering, the evident passion in every department and how it translates into reliability and performance was what fully convinced us.

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aB

ho

ldin

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pa

AB Ambiente Srl

AB SETS THE

CoGENErATIoN STANDArDS

GLoBALLYaB indusTrial group has

Been operaTing for over

30 years in The secTor

of cogeneraTion and

promoTion of energy

from reneWaBle

sources.

AB Energy SpAiTa lysales

AB Plants Srl AB Power SrlproducTion

AB Service Srlservice

AB fin-solution SpAfinancing

reneWaBleenergy

AB Energy International GmbH

KWE Technika Energetyczna Sp. z.o.o.

AB Energyromania Srl

AB EnergyEspaña S.L.

AB EnergyHrvatska d.o.o.

Green House Power Netherlands BV

EPS AB Energy Canada Ltd.

AB EnergySrbija d.o.o.

AB Energy Ceská s.r.o.

AB Energy do Brasil Ltda

foreignBranches

AB Energy (UK) Ltd.

AB EnergyDeutschland GmbH

AB Energy USA LCC

AB Energyrussia

AB EnergyIsrael Ltd.

AB Energy france

AB Energy Turkey

AB is currently made up of 24 companies and over 500 employees and is a single entity able to manage the entire manufacturing cycle of a cogeneration plant: consultancy, design, production, installation and start-up with a comprehensive service. This has enabled AB to acquire unparalleled know-how, to become acquainted with every product detail and to provide a top-quality and highly-effective after-sales service. The success of AB - which has already designed and built more than 900 plants - stems from ongoing investments in cutting-edge technologies, from the constant training and professional specialisation of all operators and from the development of an absolutely unique engineering

department: a team of over 110 engineers engaged in developing the industry towards the production of increasingly more reliable and higher performance plants. AB cogeneration plants are distinguished by modularity, compactness and ease of transport and cater to the energy requirements of a number of different companies. Outright leader in Italy, AB is also expanding globally: in Spain (2007), in Romania (2009), in Poland (2010), and again with the opening of subsidiaries in Croatia and Serbia (2011). From 2012 AB is in Czech Republic, from 2013 also in the Netherlands, Austria, Brazil, Francia and Canada. From 2014 AB in Uk, Germany, USA and Israel and from 2015 in Russia and Turkey too.

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Cogeneration has proven to be a winning choice, also in other industrial and non-industrial fields, such as food chemical, pharmaceutical, textile, plastic, paper, brick, etc.

700 customers, some of them are:Amadori, Benetton, BNL, Buitoni, Cartiere Saci, Coca - Cola, Cotonificio Albini, Eridania, Esselunga, Fatro, Ferrero, Felli Color, Galbani, Garda Plast, Granarolo, Gruppo Cremonini, Gruppo mapei, kraft, Lafarge, Lilly, martini & Rossi, Nestlè, Orogel, Pastificio Garofalo, Pastificio Rummo, Peroni, Pfizer, Polynt, Spumador, wienerberger, etc.

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com

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www.biogaschannel.com

www.cogenerationchannel.com

AB Energy SpAvia Caduti del Lavoro, 13 25034 Orzinuovi BS - ItalyT. +39 030 94 00 100www.gruppoab.com