Hanoi Rubber Joint Stock Company  - HARCO (Cau Dien town, Tu Liem district) is an enterprise specializing in manufacturing fabric shoe products and exported floor pads. The technological line system of the company has been put into use for over 30 years, so the productivity as well as energy consumption is quite large.

According to Mr. Nguyen Cong Hoi, a member of technical staff of Hanoi Rubber Joint Stock Company, to increase productivity while reducing energy consumption, by 2009, the company has renewed approximately 50% of equipment for production. However, the current energy consumption of the company is not really efficient since the control system has not been fully equipped, making it difficult to supervise and manage energy consumption.

In 2009-2011 period, implementing product development orientation of Vietnam Leather and Footwear Association, HARCO will invest more in the equipment system, improve production capacity; increase shifts to reach a growth rate of 15-20% per year. This will bring about a 15-20% increase in energy consumption. Leaders of the company have estimated that the power consumption of the company would raise from 2.2 million kWh in 2009 to 3.2 million kWh in 2011, coal consumption from 1600 tons in 2009 to 2500 tons in 2011.

According to analysis of Mr. Hoang Minh Lam, Head of Audit Group, Hanoi Energy Conservation Center, with current equipment and technology and business targets in the next years, electricity will account for a large proportion of and directly impact employees’  incomes as well as the company's profits. After being suggested, the leaders of HARCO has realized that the investment in new equipment and technologies and the application of energy saving measures to reduce production costs are essential.

Energy cost saving measures include solutions for the boiler system, rolling machine system and lighting system. With all these solutions, the company could save over 470 tons of coal and about 1 million kWh of electricity annually. Calculated under the current price, each year, the company can reduce over VND2.1 billion.

The boiler system has the design capacity of 2.5 T/h, but the actual capacity is only about 60%, causing ineffectiveness and fuel waste. Through observation and measurement at the boiler system, the audit team has found many opportunities to save energy.

For example, the recovery of condensed water in areas of phosphorizing  and rolling machine to supply the boilers can save 85 tons of coal, nearly six thousand m3 of water and about 9.5 thousand kWh of electricity. The maintenance of the entire manifold and pipe system can save nearly VND27 million per year. The replacement of valves to deal with steam leakage can reduce costs for coal by VND150 million per year. With all solutions for the boiler system, the company would save VND587 million per year.

For the lighting system, about 400 bulbs which the company is using are the T10 - 40W type using ferromagnetic ballasts and old reflectors. Previously, although there have been energy saving measures such as turning off the bulbs separately, using only one light in unnecessary areas, this system still has a lot of saving potential. According to calculations, replacing all bulbs currently in use by T8 - 36W bulbs using electronic ballasts and new reflectors with the same lighting capability can reduce power consumption. This solution can save 14,400 kWh per year, equivalent to VND15 million.

For the rolling machine system, four solutions including replacing 2-plot rolling machines at the rolling workshop, replacing 3-plot machines by 4-plot ones, replacing 14in*1250mm 4-plot rolling machines and installing inverters for 2-plot rolling machine motors in EVA workshop, have the potential to save about 293 thousand kWh per year. With the average electricity price of VND1,043 per kWh, each year, the company can reduce costs by over VND300 million.

In particular, the company is using three rolling machine sets to process rubbers to manufacture soles. In each set, according to design, the hydraulic pump system can lift 6 rolling machines, but currently, it can only lift 2-4 machines with quite high fuel consumption (electricity and steam) of the sole rolling machine set. To deal with that problem, the energy audit team has suggested the company consider replacing the current sole rolling machine set by a new one to save energy and improve the efficiency of the system. This solution will help save 30% of steam supplied to the rolling machine set due to the automatic heating mode. Calculation results have shown that  with the initial investment capital is VND2.3 billion, the company can save about VND590 million annually.

Besides, the replacement of low performance engines can bring high energy efficiency. For example, replacing three color extruders could save VND28 million per year, replacing EVA rolling set can save VND182 million per year and reduce the consumption of about 80 tons of coal ...

With the current power consumption, HARCO is listed as one of the key energy consumers of Hanoi. In coming years, to achieve production targets and confirm the brand in domestic and foreign markets,  energy efficiency and conservation should be early considered and put into implementation.

By Duc Minh