Innovation in process technology Alfa Laval

INNoVaTIoN IN PRoCESS TEChNoLoGy

Alfa Laval is a global market leader in heat transfer and fluid handling technology. Its subsidiary business in India is driving the growth of the group’s operations in Asia and is a major contributor to the company’s global energy optimisation programme as well as to its commitment to sustainability and protection of the environment. Philip Yorke reports.

IN January 2017 Mr Anantha Padmanabhan was appointed as Managing Director, Alfa Laval India Limited and Cluster President for India – Middle East – Africa. Anantha is based in Pune, the headquarters of Alfa Laval India.

Anantha Padmanabhan was the Managing Director of Alfa Laval Middle East Limited before taking up the new role in India. Anantha is a Mechanical Engineer who joined Alfa Laval India Limited in 1985 and has served in various senior and leadership positions with Alfa Laval, in India, Indonesia and the Middle East. Alfa Laval has been present in India since 1937. The Indian company holds a unique Group Manufacturing Unit status for supplying Centrifugal Separators, Decanters and Flow equipment for the global market through sales companies across the globe. The company’s products & systems are widely used in a variety of applications in Indian industries such as Food Processing, Inorganic, Marine, Pharmaceutical, Oil & Gas, Energy, Effluent Handling, Steel & Metal, Sugar, Petrochemical, Pulp & Paper, Distillery, Starch, Edible Oil Processing and Brewery.

Alfa Laval India Limited holds ISO 9001:2008 Certification from LRQA of UK for its entire manufacturing operations and after sales services. With deep knowledge of processes, experience and

expertise in handling projects, in-house manufacturing of a wide range of equipment has given a cutting edge advantage to the company to offer complete projects in diverse sectors like vegetable oil refineries, breweries, ethanol production and food processing.

Brewery process line

Alfa Laval India’s recent projects include the supply of a process solution to a leading multinational brewery group for one of its plants in India. The order had a value of approximately SEK 60 million and delivery was completed in 2016.

The order was for a complete process line, including separators, heat exchangers, mixers and fluid handling equipment. The process line handles yeast propagation, fermentation, maturation and filtration. This is the first brewery in India to use Alfa Laval’s unique mixing technology to reduce the fermentation processing time.

“This order is interesting in many ways since it involves a unique technology, a complete process line and also one of the major players in the brewery industry,” said Lars Renström, President and CEO of the Alfa Laval Group. “It proves our position as a reliable supplier.” Heat exchangers

This contract followed a previous order to supply Alfa Laval Packinox heat exchangers to a refinery in India.

The Alfa Laval Packinox heat exchangers were part of a capacity expansion in the refinery. The heat exchangers were designed to recover heat from one part of the process to be reused in the process of catalytic reforming, where petroleum products are transformed into high octane liquids.

“Our Packinox heat exchangers are extremely efficient when it comes to heat recovery and can replace several shell-and-tube heat exchangers in the same duty. This order confirms that they are highly suitable for the demanding applications in the refinery and petrochemical industry,” said Lars Renström.

To date Alfa Laval has delivered more than 250 Packinox heat exchangers for catalytic reforming to refineries around the world. It has recently won an order to supply a refinery in the Middle East. The order, worth approximately SEK 55 million, is booked in the Welded Heat Exchangers unit of the Energy Division. Delivery is scheduled for 2018.

The order comprises compact heat exchangers for energy recovery in the refinery process where low octane refinery naphthas are converted into high-octane liquid products. One single Alfa Laval Packinox heat exchanger can raise the temperature of the incoming naphtha from 80 to 520 degrees Celsius, by reusing heat from the refinery process.

“This is the second order within a short period of time for our reliable Packinox heat exchangers,” says Susanne Pahlén Åklundh, President of the Energy Division. “This confirms our products’ proven capacity to generate energy savings for customers in energy-intense industries – at a time when this is getting increasingly important.”

Global engineering solutions

Alfa Laval is a leading global provider of specialised products and engineering solutions based on its key technologies of heat transfer, separation and fluid handling.

Its equipment, systems and services are dedicated to assisting customers in optimising the performance of their processes. The solutions help them to heat, cool, separate and transport products in industries that produce food and beverages, chemicals and petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, starch, sugar and ethanol.

Alfa Laval’s products are also used in power plants, aboard ships, in the mechanical engineering industry, in the mining industry and for wastewater treatment, as well as for comfort climate and refrigeration applications.

Alfa Laval’s worldwide organisation works closely with customers in nearly 100 countries to help them stay ahead in the global arena.