CASE STUDY 1 - VIRIDOR GLASS RECYCLING

Viridor Glass Recycling Plant Newhouse near Motherwell

Dryer Fan Installation

The Process

There is already a strong culture of glass recycling in the UK and the opportunities for creating new recycled glass products are growing.

Viridor’s advanced glass recycling facilities in Sheffield and Scotland deliver cutting-edge glass sorting technology and ensure that more than 99% of incoming material is recycled. They accept all types and variations of coloured glass and process them into high quality raw materials for the glass container and fibre-glass markets.

In addition, the processing recovers metals for recycling and can produce a glass aggregate by-product that is utilised within the construction industry.

Viridor’s facilities have the capacity to treat up to 100,000 tonnes of glass a year delivered from domestic and business collections and MRFs throughout the UK.

Description

The existing 315kW Dryer Fan was started by a soft starter supplied with the original plant.

The fan is used to dry glass prior to colour sorting and is critical to the process, no dryer fan no production.

In June 2015 the soft start failed, with no replacement available EDC supplied a ‘Hire Drive’ to get the plant up and running.

Solution

Rather than replace the existing soft starter Viridor decided to upgrade to a Variable Speed Drive for the following reasons-

• To reduce peak starting currents that were typically over 2500A
• Process Improvements
• Energy Saving

However the new inverter would not fit in the existing switch room, any location within the plant was just too dusty, so EDC had a custom built Kiosk made to house the inverter and sited it local to the motor outside.

Benefits

• Starting current held within 600A at all times.
• Cost effective Installation.
• Higher plant availability.
• Energy Saving

 Proof

Site visits can be arranged on request.