Amcor
At a Glance
Industry
Consumer Packaged Goods
Project Types
Goals/Targets, Industrial Energy Efficiency, Sustainability and Energy Management Strategy
Year
2020
Location
Dongguan
Summary
Cheng Chen identified VOCs reduction and energy conservation solutions at Amcor (China), By establishing a mathematical model to simulate and predict Operating status of manufacturing devices.
Goals
Amcor is the global leader in consumer packing with more than 50,000 staff span in about 250 sites worldwide. The reason that Amcor can succeed is not only because of their high-quality products, but also owe to their social responsibility. During the manufacturing process, amounts of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are generated, whose terminal treatment is energy-intensive. To reduce the generation of VOCs and energy consumption of the terminal treatment, Amcor China enlisted Cheng Chen to facilitate the improvement scheme of Dongguan site.
Solutions
Based on on-site investigation, Chen identified the biggest challenges that Dongguan Site faced, then divided the improvement scheme into three parts accordingly:
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Set VOCs emission control target and establish monitoring system. By referring relevant laws and national/local standards, Chen identified compliance objectives. Besides, in response to the poor state of data acquisition, an online monitoring system was proposed.
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Clarify VOCs reduction and energy conservation potentials. Chen came up with 7 thorough programs to help reduce generation of VOCs and energy consumption of terminal treatment. Which include: Optimization of running state of manufacturing equipment; Improvement of production accessory system; Establishment of standard operating procedures to eliminate the occurrence of abnormal situations.
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Mathematical modelling the operation state of terminal treatment equipment (RTO). Based on artificial neuro network, Chen simulated the operating process of RTO, and predicted its energy consumption under different conditions. The model can be applied to predict the running state of manufacturing equipment while key data are available.
Impact
actBy applying Chen’s scheme, Dongguan Site can quantitatively manage the whole life cycle of VOCs-containing materials. Meanwhile, engineering projects proposed by Chen could help to reduce the emission of VOCs, wind volume of waste exhaust, and natural gas consumption. As Dongguan Site finishes the data acquisition plan, the mathematical tool Chen established can be applied to predict energy consumption of the whole plant. It is a significant improvement which would benefit sustainable development of our world in depth.