Over the past twelve weeks, we’ve covered the fundamentals of process heating efficiency — from how energy is lost to how to make the financial case for improvements. This final post in the series offers a practical framework for putting those concepts into action over a 90-day window.
Unitherm recommends starting with a systems approach, identifying the components with the highest efficiency impact, analyzing those components in detail, and then implementing improvements in a sequence that accounts for how changes in one component affect others.
Days 1–30: Audit and Inventory
The first month is about understanding what you have. This means conducting a surface temperature survey of your process heating equipment using an infrared thermometer or thermal camera — noting which surfaces are running significantly above ambient. It also means documenting the insulation condition on pipes, valves, ductwork, and equipment: what’s insulated, what’s not, and what’s damaged or missing.
For fuel-fired systems, this is also the time to check exhaust gas oxygen content and verify that burners are operating at or near the target excess air level. A combustion analyzer can do this quickly.
The DOE’s Process Heating Assessment Tool (PHAST) is available as a free download through the Advanced Manufacturing Office and can help structure this assessment phase.
Days 31–60: Prioritize and Plan
With the audit data in hand, prioritize opportunities by two criteria: magnitude of the energy loss and ease of implementation. Insulation improvements on large, hot, uninsulated surfaces typically score well on both — significant energy impact, relatively straightforward to address.
For combustion adjustments, consult your equipment documentation and work with a qualified technician to verify setpoints before making changes.
For more complex improvements — waste heat recovery systems, burner upgrades, process controls — develop a project scope and get engineering input before committing resources.
Days 61–90: Implement and Measure
The third month is for acting on the highest-priority items and measuring results. For insulation improvements, that means ordering and installing covers, jackets, or blankets on the priority surfaces. For combustion adjustments, it means making the calibration changes and monitoring results.
Measure performance against baseline: energy use per unit of production before and after. Even simple tracking of monthly fuel or electricity consumption by system can reveal the impact of improvements.
UniTherm offers removable and reusable insulation solutions across the full range of surfaces identified in a process heating audit: plastics equipment (UniVest®), pipes and valves (IsoCovers), exhaust systems, and fire protection (FirePro). For a facility-wide insulation assessment, contact the UniTherm team at info@unitherm.com or 800.657.9542. We’re based in Lewisville, TX and serve facilities nationwide.
Keep Going After 90 Days
Each round of improvements creates a new baseline from which the next round of opportunities can be identified. Facilities that build efficiency review into their regular maintenance and operational planning consistently outperform those that treat it as a one-time project.
The resources referenced throughout this series — including the full DOE Sourcebook, tip sheets, and the PHAST tool — are available free through the Advanced Manufacturing Office at energy.gov/eere/amo. They’re worth keeping on hand.
For our standard removable insulation solutions, visit shop.unitherm.com.
To request a quote for a custom insulation solutions click here.
Source: U.S. DOE, Improving Process Heating System Performance: A Sourcebook for Industry (Third Edition), 2015.
This concludes our 13-week content series. For questions, insulation samples, or to discuss your facility’s needs, contact UniTherm at unitherm.com or 800.657.9542.