Potential opportunities for energy savings in a Jordanian poultry company

Rising concern about energy resource availability and energy prices in Jordan, cost of energy has become an issue that cannot be ignored in Jordan's industrial sector. In this study, energy auditing in a meat production factory related to poultry company was carried out. Based on the collected data and the conservation laws of energy, the performance of steam boilers, domestic hot water boilers, compressors, refrigeration systems, chillers, pumps, daily consumption of diesel and water were reviewed. The percentage of energy consumed by the refrigeration units, with respect to the total energy consumed, has been estimated. The results demonstrated a normal operation with thermal efficiency of 80.66% for the steam boiler, ability to save 18818.99 JD by installing economizer with payback period of 0.637 year and a 12.3% reduction of the energy cost achieved by reducing the blow down rate. The rate of diesel consumption was reduced by 12.87% over the last period of the study as a result of the recommendations that have been submitted to the technicians and professionals. The sum of 22223.77 JD can be saved by using heavy fuel oil instead of diesel oil. Moreover, this study demonstrated that energy saving can be considered as an ideal choice to increase profit and promote competition within the poultry industry if the company adopts all the proposals and recommendations that have been offered by this study. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.