CASE STUDIES

rem SAVED FEED THE CHILDREN 60% ON UTILITY UPGRADE

Feed the Children is a charity dedicated to feeding children around the world. They recently acquired a new distribution center in Elkhart, Indiana. This distribution center was formally a Bayer manufacturing and warehousing facility having an enclosed area of approximately one million square feet.

	Feed the Children's Distribution Center (click on photo to enlarge)

The heating and air conditioning system was massive and far too costly to operate. There was excessive boiler and compressed air capacity. An estimate to reconfigure and update the system indicated a cost of over $5,000,000.00. At this point, rem ENGINEERING was contacted and asked to confirm the price and suggest ways to reduce this high cost.

The existing cooling system was comprised of over 8,000 horse power of ammonia compressors, far more than was required. We replaced the entire ammonia system with modern chillers. We reduced the installation cost by placing the units on the roof of the ammonia compressor building. The steel support structure cost was virtually eliminated by using steel formally used to support cooling towers required for the ammonia system.

We installed a new fire tube boiler to meet the reduced needs replacing the over 400,000 lb/hr of steaming capacity. The boiler was sited in the building to take maximum advantage of the existing steam and fuel lines. The boiler system included zeolite softeners to replace a hot lime system and a new deaerator with boiler feed pumps. The deaerator was also connected into the condensate return system. The out dated air compressors were replaced by a single screw compressor and air drying system.

The final bill for all required equipment installed was less than 40% of the original estimated costs. The required air permits were obtained and all equipment placed in service on schedule. References are available for this project. Please contact rem ENGINEERING.

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