Reducing energy use in powder coating systems
High energy pricing has significantly raised the importance of minimizing energy use in powder coating systems. Corporations now consider energy to be a major threat to their bottom-line profitability and incorporate energy-saving strategies into their business plans. New energy-saving technologies and processes can cut operating costs and provide quick payback. This article presents strategies and methodologies to cut this energy cost in half.
The finishing application process can consume half the energy used by the manufacturing plant. Natural gas has the highest energy use, followed by electricity. Figure 1 shows the pricing history of natural gas. Since maintaining a relative plateau in the 1990s, the cost of energy has been on a sharp increase. Rising energy costs directly impact the overhead and profitability of the powder coating operation. Annual energy costs from 2002 to 2006 for a single shift of a typical powder coating finishing system have risen from $39,500 to $107,576; an increase of 275 percent.