Consumables

Eastman Chemical Company Receives Energy Efficiency Awards for 20th Consecutive Year

Tuesday 21. May 2013 - Eastman Chemical Company (NYSE:EMN) was one of 17 American Chemistry Council (ACC) members honored at the annual ACC Responsible Care Conference and Expo for implementing energy-efficiency improvements in 2012. Eastman received 6 of the 66 awards presented for outstanding projects, marking the 20th consecutive year the company has earned energy efficiency awards from ACC.

“Eastman is honored to be recognized again by ACC,” said Jim Rogers, Chairman and CEO. “Energy efficiency is a global macro trend that we are addressing through our own emissions reductions and improved efficiencies. It’s a critical part of operating sustainably.”
According to ACC, the total annual energy savings of all winning projects was 10.6 trillion BTUs, enough to power all the homes in a city the size of Bangor, Maine for a year. Combined, Eastman’s winning projects save enough energy to power 1800 homes and eliminate greenhouse gas emissions from over 2,700 cars.
“Eastman is constantly looking for ways to drive energy improvements. These six winning projects exhibit innovative examples of control strategy modifications, trials with new types of equipment, creative process redesign and operational changes,” said Sharon Nolen, Corporate Energy Program Manager.
Eastman’s Tennessee Operations in Kingsport, Tennessee received awards for the following projects:
Lighting upgrades – Replacing 175 watt Mercury Vapor (MV) lights with LED lights in 6 operation buildings not only reduced energy use but also significantly reduced maintenance expenses due to the increased lifetime of the LED lights (60,000 hours LEDs vs. 12,000 hours MVs). This resulted in annual energy savings of 37,616 MMBtu and a greenhouse gas emissions reduction of 2271 tons.
Chiller Optimization – Using cool river water available during the winter months to lower the energy required to run various refrigeration machines used by the Utilities organization resulted in an electrical power reduction. Annually, this effort saves 35,000 MMBtu and reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 2110 tons. Base heater improvements -To optimize a column’s performance, new trays were installed. In addition, the level-controlled condensate pot was replaced with a different type of orifice trap, which is more efficient at draining condensate and trapping live steam. As a result, annual savings total 39,000 MMBtu and a reduction of 4046 tons of greenhouse gas emissions.
Evaporator Solids Control – To reduce the amount of acetic acid being sent back to weak acid recovery instead of to refining, more effective solids control by the evaporators was achieved by installing dedicated base draw-off pumps from the evaporators. This equates to annualized energy savings of 27,568 MMBtu and an annual greenhouse gas emissions reduction of 2,860 tons.
Cooling tower fan control – A speed control system was installed on three fans in a cooling tower. This allows fan speed to be controlled using a strategy based on water outlet temperature versus running continually at maximum speed. A control plan was also put in place to shut down fans as needed to maintain maximum efficiency. This project resulted in an annual savings of 14,500 MMBtu and greenhouse gas emissions reduction of 877 tons.
By-product stream strategy – To reduce energy consumption from processing of a by-product stream, a strategy was implemented to quickly change prioritization and routing of by-product stream flows depending on the quantity being received at the time. This allowed large quantities of an unwanted process stream to be managed in a way that best used energy resources while exploiting the value of the acid contained in the stream. This achieved annual energy savings of 8187 MMBtu and greenhouse gas emissions reductions of 849 tons.
Eastman was named a 2012 ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year for strategically managing and improving energy efficiency and a 2013 ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year for continuing to build upon its sound energy management foundation.
The use of chemistry in energy efficiency products and technologies save Americans up to $85 billion in energy costs every year. And a recent study by the International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA) found that chemistry used in energy-saving building applications such as window and roofing coatings, insulation, piping and lighting could help achieve a 41 percent reduction in energy use and 70 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, when combined with a shift to lower-carbon fuels.