Spirax Sarco Helps Heinz Save 473 Tonnes of Carbon a Year

GLOUCESTERSHIRE, ENGLAND, April 20, 2011 (Press-News.org) Heinz is saving 6% of its average steam load per year at its baked bean factory in Wigan by recovering energy from effluent using a system designed and built by Spirax Sarco.

Cooking British family favourite Heinz Beanz begins by blanching the raw haricot beans in hot water. Starches and sugars leach from the beans into the water and agricultural residues are washed off. The blanching water must be purged regularly to maintain the necessary quality. Before the new system was installed, the purged hot water was disposed of to drain, but the Spirax Sarco system now intercepts it and uses it to help heat the blanching process.

The system recovers around 1,500kW. "It's been in place for 18 months now and we are seeing excellent results from the heat recovery," says Barry Aspey, Environmental Compliance Manager for Heinz.

The filtered effluent is passed to one of two heat exchangers, which use its energy to pre-heat the blanching make-up water, cooling the effluent in the process. The make-up water then passes through another exchanger, which uses steam to raise its temperature before entering the blanching vessel. The vessel itself is maintained at an optimum temperature by injecting live steam.

The Heinz factory in Wigan is the largest food factory in Europe. The 55-acre site produces canned soups, baked beans, pasta and puddings for the UK and European market, and its on-site energy centre generates up to 140 tonnes of steam per hour to keep the canning lines running.

For further information please contact;

Natalie Byrne, Marketing Communications Manager Spirax Sarco, Charlton House, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, GL53 8ER Tel: 01242 521361; Fax: 01242 573342 E-mail: Natalie.Byrne@UK.SpiraxSarco.com Web: http://www.spiraxsarco.com/uk