Energy Utilization in a Hand Soap Manufacturing Plant - Essay Example

Energy Utilization in a Hand Soap Manufacturing Plant Hand soap is one of the basic amenities required in modern households, for sanitary purposes. The manufacture of soap goes through several stages, which can be used to best explicate energy consumption in this manufacturing process. The production phases include saponification, mixing and washing, filtration or lye separation, neutralization, drying, plodding or other soap design considerations, and finally packing. The soap industry, just like most other manufacturing industries utilizes thermal and electrical energy in production processes. Virtually all production units have boilers installed, in order to generate required steam. On the other hand, electrical energy is primarily utilized for lighting, refrigeration, generation of compressed air, and conveyance of raw materials and final products. Thermal energy could be generated from a wide array of boiler fuels, ranging from coal and firewood to diesel combustion. The main processes that utilize energy include those using thermal equipment like saponification, vacuum drying, mixing and plodding. In contrast, electric equipment constitutes air compressors, lighting system, and refrigeration plant, machines that handle material, boilers, electrical drives, and diesel generators, among others. Better understanding of energy consumption can be gained from consideration of the soap production processes individually (Wansbrough, 2013). The first process of significance is saponification. During this manufacturing phase, raw materials or fats are treated using thermal heat. The latter form of energy is usually in form of steam. Thermal treatment is conducted in presence of caustic soda, an alkali, resulting in formation of glycerin and soap. The thermal heat promotes reaction of raw fats with alkali forming grains of soap. Further boiling of the mixture with alkali makes it possible to create more soap grains. The resultant soap during this phase comprises of approximately 65% soap and 35% water, among other trace materials like salt and glycerin. The subsequent production stage involves soap washing. This is necessary to remove the excess glycerin and water presently in the soap mixture. The solution comprising of soap is poured into a column and lye is added at the top. When the latter flows down the column several rotating disks keep turning, effectively agitating the mixture. These disks are turned by electrical energy, and the resulting turbulence makes sure that the lye and soap solution are adequately mixed. The soap is allowed to overflow, while the remnant lye is channeled away from the bottom of the column through regulated pumping. This shows that electrical energy is required for the pumping machine (Simmons & Appleton, 2007). The fourth stage in soap production involves lye separation. The stated separation is crucial to ensure that the final soap is adequately pure and wielding the right texture. Lye and soap are set apart using a centrifuge. This refers to a machine, whose varying rotating speed allows components in a fluid to separate on the basis of their density. Since lye is denser than soap, it remains at the bottom from where it is effectively drained away. The crucial point to note in this case is that, the centrifuge is propelled by electrical energy. The other soap manufacturing phase that does not require immense energy is the fifth one, which entails neutralization of the soap, fresh from the lye separation stage. This stage is necessary to make soap usable, since its alkali levels are still high because of caustic soda (NaOH) used in preceding stages. Neutralization is achieved through use of a relatively weak acid for example, citric acid, phosphoric acid, and fatty acids from coconut oil. Addition of preservative is also necessary at this stage of production. During this phase, mixing is still imperative necessitating use of electrical energy. The sixth step in this process involves drying the soap. This is vital because water levels should be reduced to a percentage of twelve or lower. Drying also referred to as vacuum drying is done through heating soap to approximately 1250C under intense pressure. The high pressure prevents water from over boiling and flowing over when soap can still be found in the pipes (Simmons & Appleton, 2007). The soap is then sprayed into evacuation chamber, from where it is extracted and processed further. Other than saponification, this is the other soap manufacturing stage that requires immense thermal energy generated from combustion of diesel and other fuels. It is important to take note of the fact that, the latent heat of vaporization which is lost after water boils off, lowers the temperature of soap to about 450C. It is under this lower temperature that soap solidifies on the walls of evacuation chambers. The steam utilized in the drying stage is obtained from boilers powered mainly by thermal energy. After drying, the soap stuck on walls of evacuation chambers is scraped off and then squeezed into lumps, a process known as plodding. After collection, the soap can then be compressed, cut and designed as desired. Electrical energy is necessary to propel the remnant materials towards recycling sections. For example, the remaining wet soap is conveyed to barometric condensers allowing condensation of vapor while making sure that the necessary vacuum is not compromised (n.a., 2000). References n.a. (2000). The Soap and Other Detergents Manufacturing Industry: Trends and Characteristics: A Report of the Center for Competitive Analysis. Retrieved from http://www.umsl.edu/~cca/IndustryReports/soapmfg-cabool-final.pdf Simmons, W. & Appleton, H. (2007). The Handbook of Soap Manufacture. Retrieved from http://www.gutenberg.org/files/21724/21724-h/21724-h.htm Wansbrough, H. (2013). Soap and Detergent Manufacture. Retrieved from http://www.nzic.org.nz/ChemProcesses/detergents/11A.pdf Development of an Energy Management Philosophy in a Hand Soap Manufacturing Plant Soap is a crucial commodity in any society, this means that it is produced widely and is likely to have a great impact on the environment, in terms of emissions and disposal of waste materials. Further, modern soap manufacturers must show commitment to energy and environmental conservation in general, in order to retain market positions, comply fully with government regulations and safeguard surroundings for the benefit of future generations. This can best be achieved if a soap manufacturing industry establishes and develops an inclusive energy management philosophy and culture (Neelis, Worrell & Masanet, 2008). This would be invaluable in ensuring reduction of pollutants and dedication of staff to environmental protection. Additionally, adoption of an energy management philosophy would make sure that the company saves on costs likely to be incurred in unnecessary energy investments. The energy management corporate culture would also ensure that the company can invest savings from improved energy consumption can be redirected to other areas, hence increasing chances of accruing greater revenue. The initial step toward creating this energy efficiency philosophy and later culture would be to create a clear set of objectives and goals. For example, the prospective framework should be founded not just upon compliance with government regulations, but also commitment of the facility to energy saving (Bardey, 1999). Following clear definition of objectives, a manager can proceed to create awareness programs. These would communicate project intentions to different partisans and convince them why it is necessary to have energy efficient measures in the process of manufacturing soap. At the time of energy management philosophy establishment in such an industry plant, there are aspects that are very precise to the industry and should be put into consideration. For instance, a manager could make recommendations such as replacing leaking steam valves as well as using certified products. Additionally, the managers should try and reduce heating time for the fat storage tank. It is preferable that the manager should reduce the hours to three. The management philosophy should also include the right amount of water to be utilized in saponification, in order to minimize steam consumption in the cooling stage. The philosophy should also include recovery of soiled and spilled fat during material handling section by steam treatment. Therefore, the philosophy could include protocols which can be utilized in energy regulation. This is the reason why the philosophy should be inclusive of standards and reporting elements allowing comparisons across the firm facilities. Additionally, it should allow implementation of better environmental policies and compliance with governmental laws (Bardey, 1999). The other important things that should be considered in the philosophy is personnel training. This is why workers should be encouraged to develop their skills and in training campaigns and programs provided by the organization. This way, the employees will provide the organization with necessary skills to get specific needs. The training will help employees to be better committed towards energy management. The philosophy should be strategized towards improving energy management as well as making it an imperative part of the company’s culture and planning process. The workers should also be trained on assessing principal energy use in the in organization in order to develop a crucial foundation of energy utilization and also setting development targets. Energy management philosophy should have goals and indicators which will help them in developing and shaping action plans. Therefore, employees should be taught on energy utilization as well as performance goals. These are some of the elements that will help in energy improvement, consumptions and performance (Bardey, 1999). There is need to have transparency when establishing an energy management philosophy. This will facilitate communication on issues pertaining to managing energy resources. This will only be attained by promotion of suitable energy management aspects and reinforcement of good management activities. It is also important to consider facilities’ evaluation and prioritization of energy improvement technologies. For that reason, it is important to successfully implement energy management philosophy, and consider the management time. This is because any successful implementation does not take a few days (Neelis, Worrell & Masanet, 2008). The workers should include commitment, effort, time, expertise, and repetition of long-term rewards. It is extremely imperative for the management to have proper mechanisms which will make the philosophy sustainable. The latter could also entail financial support, preparation, as well as execution of a conscious environment for hand soap technology solutions. References Neelis,M., Worrell, E., & Masanet, E. (2008). Energy Efficiency Improvement and Cost Saving Opportunities for the Petrochemical Industry. Retrieved from http://www.energystar.gov/ia/business/industry/Petrochemical_Industry.pdf Bardey, C. (1999). Making Soaps and Scents: Soaps, Shampoos, Perfumes & Splashes. New York, NY: Black Dog & Leventhal. Analysis of a Hand Soap Manufacturing Industrial Facility Soap Saponification Vessel Soap manufacturing process is done in special designed equipment and in many cases they are heavy vessel. Saponification vessels have been designed for better expediency in operation and better saponification procedure. During the process the oil is heated in the vessels by use of steam from the boilers in proper quantities. The vessels are designed to withstand high heat and also cool to substantial degrees (Basu, Pranab, & Thakur, 2014). Steam Boiler The steam boiler is utilized in steam generation from the water. The steam is imperative because it is needed for heating the oils in the soap saponification vessels. The steam boiler is also used in making sure hand soap manufacturing is done on time and with the right heat conditions. Soap chips machine This is a very important machine in the industry. This is because of its use in making soap chips of soap bars in different sizes as required. It is imperative to convert the soap bars into chips in order to have properly dried products. Bar Production The hand soap production process is tasking especially because of its use of "Finishing Line". There are different processes and equipment that comprise soap production and are discussed herein. Mixer A mixer is also called an Amalgamator. This is a machine that is utilized in the mixing of the soap base which are also called soap chips to integrate color, fragrance as well as other ingredients that are imperative to the production (Dunn, 2010). 1st Refiner The 1st refiner machine is used to take soap chips mixture from the mixer into the fine mesh screen. This is a process that is used in making the soap have necessary factors which are more enjoyable to the customers. For instance, some of the users would like hand soap that has aspects become more homogeneous. The screen can have 10 mesh, 30 mesh or 50 mesh, but that depends on the application. The process takes bouts 3-n 4 roles (Dunn, 2010). 2nd Refiner The second refiner usually repeats the 1st refiner process for homogeneity increment. In some cases, the process is usually eliminated but that depends on its application. Vacuum Duplex Plodder The machine utilization comprises of two stages. The 1st stage in the vacuum duplex plodder is another refining which is the last step in the refining process. In the second stage, a machine called the extruder is used shape the bars in and continuous billet. This stage is connected via a vacuum chamber that acts as a de-aerate to the soap. The extruder is commonly known as a "Plodder". The plodder produces long continuous hand soap bars (Garzena and Marina, 2004). Cutter The Cutter is used in cutting the soaps into small pieces. The machine is fully automated and incessantly cuts the billet into small slugs. Stamper The stamper is also known as the "Press". The stamper gives the hand soap slug the final shape s well as embossing the logo of the hand soap. Die Chiller This is the last process is used to prevent the hand soap from sticking to the die. This can impend its removal thus the Chiller is utilized in circulating super chilled liquid throughout the die (Garzena and Marina, 2004). References Basu, S. Pranab, D., Thakur, A. (2014). Experimental design in soap manufacturing for optimization of fuzzified process capability index. Journal of Manufacturing Systems, 3, 1-12. Dunn, M. (2010). Scientific Soap making: The Chemistry of Cold Process. Cambridge University: Clavicula Press. Garzena, P., & Marina T. (2004). Soap Naturally: Ingredients, methods and recipes for natural handmade soap. New York, NY: Programmer Publishing. Read More