One of the largest food industries in the country, Cargill invests in energy efficiency using WEG solutions. In the beginning of the year, the company installed two WEG frequency inverters on the motors of the boiler at the unit in Ponta Grossa, state of Paraná, a part of the soya bean complex which buys, sells and processes soya and other oil seeds. According to Gilmar Weidner, WEG Service, the work with energy efficiency has brought the expected results: “The customer has reached his goal which is to save energy monthly producing with the same quality“.

Working together with Cargill, last year WEG carried out studies and tests to find the best way to save energy, rationalize operations and update the production complex through evaluation of the consumption of energy and application engineering of new products. Through examination in loco, it was possible to detect opportunities of improvement, such as repowering of the fan motor, the installation of a frequency inverter on the motors of the 200 HP and 60 HP fans and automatization of the system. With the inverters, it was possible to eliminate the mechanical Damper and gain also in the productive process of the equipment (see results below). Besides the improvements already mentioned, two motors of the boiler at Cargill in Ponta Grossa will be replaced by two W22 Premium motors. And, the study has shown that there will be considerable gains when this replacement is effective.

Energy efficiency results with 60 HP motor:

- Savings of 37 kWh.
- Estimated savings of 144,607 kWh of electricity per year.
- Return of investment: 11 months.
- Energy savings with motor + frequency inverter: R$ 26,078.60/year.
- Investment with motor + frequency inverter: R$ 22,000.00.

Application engineering results with 200 HP motor:

- Savings of 48 kWh.
- Estimated savings of 509,416 kWh/year.
- Return of investment of repowering the motor to 150 HP, W22: 7 months.
- Energy savings with motor + frequency inverter: R$ 76,412.51/year.
- Investment with motor + frequency inverter: R$ 42,000.00.

New Energy Efficiency law

The W22 Premium motors are already in conformity with the new energy efficiency law which will take effect as of January of 2010. They assure high efficiency, reliability and very low operation costs. Actually, the cost/benefit relation of this product is excellent especially in terms of energy savings but also the low levels of noise and easy maintenance.