LPG for Industry | Case Study

Conversion Assistance: Pre-heating application

THE ESTEEMED CUSTOMER

Our customer is a leading organization of Stainless Steel Ingots manufacturing from S.S. scrap. The customer used electricity for scrap preheating, and we have converted the preheating application which was on electricity to LPG.

Customer Product Process Flow:

Sorting of scrap- SS scrap sorting is done based on the type, and size and they are cut into smaller sizes and filled in the trays for pre-heating.

Pre-heating of scrap- At 700C temperature, moisture, and impurities like Zinc, Aluminum and Lead are removed. The heating cycle time varies from 40-90 minutes.

Melting- In the induction furnace, the temperature ranges from 1400 to 1530C. The SS ingots are rolled. 

THE CHALLENGES:

• The customer was not sure of an uninterrupted supply of LPG as storage of LPG more than the specified storage limit is a concern.
• Due to the high consumption of LPG, the customer did not want to deal with the LPG dealer/franchisee as they were not confident regarding services, technical knowledge, and professionalism.
• Handling high Nos. of LOT Cylinders was a concern point for the customer.
• As the consumption of LPG was high, the customer was sceptical about placing an order and timely delivery.

They were not very confident using LPG due to the above challenges.

SUPERGAS APPROACH:

We got their reference from one of our partners for their upcoming plant to be commissioned in late 2022. While getting the data for consumption, we understood their existing electricity usage, cost, maintenance, breakdown etc. We captured the opportunity and diverted our discussion to the conversion of the existing plant.

SOLUTION OFFERED:

We discussed LPG’s tangible and intangible benefits over electricity and offered 8X450 Maxima installation to take care of their consumption. The customer was impressed by the approach of SUPERGAS, our technical knowledge, dedicated team for technical as well as customer service and SUPERGAS’s products and services. Our offer covered all the challenges they were facing, i.e., fewer nos. of cylinders to handle, direct supply and no dealer/franchisee involved, placement of order through IVRS, and cost saving by using LPG over electricity.

OBSERVED BENEFITS:

• LPG supply assurance, smooth and uninterrupted LPG Supply with lesser no. of cylinders to handle.
• IVRS System and hence not dependent on manual intervention. EACD+ device sorted out their issue of manual ordering and delays in LPG delivery. 
  
• Approximately Rs.12,00,000/- per annum cost saving by conversion as well as maintenance which they were incurring in the electric preheating oven.
• No downtime for cleaning/maintenance of the furnace.
• No spillage of fuel.
• The smoke-free environment in the plant.