Partners provide A&M’s solution to cutting costs

Most laundry managers realise that managing and improving the use of water and energy is one of the best ways to reduce costs. Efficiency in any laundry requires that energy and water consumption be kept in focus at each stage of the operation, from planning and equipment selection to ongoing maintenance.

One successful collaboration has seen two specialists in the industrial laundry sector, Christeyns and Lapauw, working together on a turnkey project developed by Jensen to significantly reduce water and energy consumption at Ardennes & Meuse (A&M) Blanchisserie Basse Meuse.

A&M, based at Vottem, near Liege, Belgium, specialises in providing a textile rental service for the region’s hotel and restaurant businesses. Since February 2009 it has operated from one of Europe’s most modern, industrial laundries.

A&M’s objective was to reduce its energy consumption at its new factory to an absolute minimum and this meant excluding steam wherever possible.

General manager, Marc Broers represents the third generation in the Broers family business, which was founded in the 1950s as La Meuse laundry. In the 1960s Joseph Broers took over the company and concentrated on drycleaning.

However, growth in the region’s tourism sector led the company to switch its focus to the hotel and restaurant market. Currently, A&M supplies 400 different customers in all hotel categories (chains and independents) over an area of up to 120km. Personalised linen accounts for 80% of the hotel work while 20% is standard hotel rental textiles. A&M’s also serves restaurants where 90% is pool stock.

The company has an 80% share of the market in the Belgian Walloon region and this share was worth Euro4.5m in 2008 and is expected to grow to Euro5m this year.

At its 4,200square metre purpose-built factory, the company currently handles up to 20tonnes of rental linen per 8hour working day but Marc Broers expects it to grow to 120tonnes per line per week.

A&M now concentrates solely on the hotel and restaurant sector and this change of focus affected its thinking on the new laundry’s design. So it rejected steam as the main energy source in favour of gas.

From steam to gas

Marc Broers says that the decision to switch from steam to gas has, through the interaction between the different processes, reduced water consumption across the laundry to 3.5litres/kg this year from 25litres/kg in 1990, whilst energy usage now stands at 0.9kWh/kg.

Both Christeyns and Lapauw stayed in close contact with Jensen during every step of the turnkey process, from the project planning to installation and start-up.

According to Jensen, there is a clear worldwide demand for gas-heated machines in laundries. This demand is increasing and customers expect a higher availability of machines and systems over a longer period. Marketing manager Kathrin Scheffel says the Jensen Group develops direct gas-heated machines that provide higher productivity and minimise energy and water consumption. One key advantage of direct gas heating is that there is no longer a need for the traditional boiler house and steam boiler. Although A&M hasn’t eliminated steam entirely, its energy-efficient laundry has just one extremely small steam boiler.

The Broers family decided to keep this small boiler so that A&M would be able to continue using its existing steam-heated Senking Universal P5014 continuous batch washers and washer-extractors.

For the direct heating of the new washing tunnels, dryers and ironers Jensen opted for gas. As a pioneer of the steam-free concept, Jensen introduced the steam-free tunnel washer, equipped with Christeyns Zero-Steam to heat water for compartments that would otherwise need steam-injection.

The system also includes an integrated heat-exchanger to reduce energy use by around 30%.

Hotel bed linen and towels are washed at 60C in two gas-heated Senking Universal P5013 tunnel washers using the low-temperature process from Christeyns, while table linen is washed at higher temperatures in the steam-heated washing tunnel.

A&M’s line has ten Senking DT60 dryers. These are gas-operated and feature infrared control that regulates the temperature to avoid over-heating of the linen and Jensen’s RecoCross heat-exchanger, where exhaust air is used to pre-heat the incoming air.

Jensen also supplied a Logic Plus feeder and folder, with a Viking 2000 separator before the feeder to ensure a continuous flow of linen to the operators. Gas consumption for the entire laundry, including the wash process, has fallen to 0.085m3/kg dry linen, which corresponds to an overall energy usage of 0.9kWh/kg, says Marc Broers. He points out that the internal water recycling system in the Senking tunnel washers and the Christeyns microfiltration system have reduced the overall water consumption in the laundry to 3.5litres per kg of dry linen.

Rudi Moors, Christeyns’ marketing manager, says that systems to reduce steam use are already available but allowing tunnel washers to operate without steam is a step forward.

The A&M operation benefits from Christeyns’ Zero-Steam system for tunnel washers, combined with its Sanoxy Max technology. Essentially, the laundry’s closed system uses fresh water, heated by a gas burner, which goes into a heat-exchanger.

“With Zero-Steam, the need for a steam boiler becomes obsolete,” says Moors. “There is less pipe work, there are no energy losses from leaking steam traps and water consumption is much lower as there is no feed water for the boiler.”

Moors says that figures for the wash process at A&M reveal significant reductions in both gas and water consumption.

Gas consumption for the wash process has fallen by 80% to 0.12kWh/kg this year from 0.6kWh/kg in 2000.

Water consumption has fallen by 82% to 1.85litres/kg from 10litres/kg over the same period.

Philip Poeth, Christeyns’ manager energy, explains that at Vottem, hot water (up to 94C) is stored under pressure in an insulated tank. The wash process also benefits from Christeyns’ Heat-X heat-exchange system and from Lint-X water filtration. The hot water produced by the gas-fired generator flows inside the rotating discs of the Heat-X heat exchanger in a closed, pressurised circuit. Main wash water is pumped from the washer into the heat-exchanger and flows around the discs. The heated main wash water flows back under gravity into compartment five of the Senking Universal P5013 tunnel washer.

Christeyns’ Sanoxy system takes the savings a step further by recycling the fresh water used in the prewash.

In the A&M washers, detergent is added to compartment one during pre-wash and to compartment five at the main wash stage.

The pre-wash temperature can be adjusted to suit from 35 – 50C.

Fresh water and Sanoxy liquid are dosed in compartment twelve of the rinse zone. The waste-water is filtered with Christeyns’ Lint-X Regain before re-use. Deposits from dirty water are avoided by taking water from the middle of the main wash. Unwanted particles are removed from the waste water and the filtered water is then stored in a tank, ready for re-use.

Marc Broers points out that using the Sanoxy Max system reduces pollution charge, cuts water consumption to 3.5litres/kg and achieves an overall reduction in energy costs.

Wim Demeyer of Lapauw says that co-operation between the partner companies on the A&M project had “transcended the boundaries of competition”.

“I think that this is also an important message for the customer,” he adds.

“A turnkey project with more than one partner is not a nightmare but results in a success story, providing customers with the optimal solution to their requirements.”

Demeyer says there is a strong link between Lapauw and A&M, not just because both companies are Belgian, but also because “people at A&M were convinced by the Lapauw ironer”.

He says gas gives laundries the opportunity to keep the door open for expansion because it is independent of the steam boiler capacity. Gas also gives them an operational flexibility. “I think that most laundries will recognise the situation where a restaurant or hotel calls them up Friday afternoon requesting table linen for a banquet the Saturday evening. This usually results in the pieces that have been washed on Friday evening being ironed on Saturday morning. With a gas-heated ironer there is no need to have the steam boiler running just to do the ironing.”

The first Lapauw 4000XXL ironer was installed by A&M at its former laundry in 2005. Demeyer explains that A&M was looking for an ironer to provide a high quality finish for its top class table linen. The Lapauw 4000XXL fitted those requirements perfectly, says Demeyer.

A&M has two 4000XXL ironers. The machine is a one-roll 1,600mm diameter ironer with the flexible covering the roll over 286degrees. These machines are used for A&M’s high quality finish requirements for hotels and restaurant table linen.

There are two Duo 1,200mm diameter gas-heated ironers, which handle the bed sheets, capable of reaching ironing speeds of up to 42metres/minute and one Duo 1,600mm diameter gas-heated ironer to handle duvet covers.

There is also one Mono 1,600mm gas-heated ironer.

All Lapauw’s ironers are equipped with smart modulating burners that are controlled by a microprocessor that allows a constant temperature to be achieved and enables dedicated ironing programs to be created. The 4000XXL, Duo 1,600mm ironer and Mono 1,600mm ironer also have an integrated smoke gas recuperation system. The Duo 1,200mm ironers have Lapauw’s Aircup system, which is mounted on top of the rollers to recover heat from the smoke gas.

In addition to saving energy, A&M also sees the increased automation of its laundry process as very important.

Before washing, the soiled hotel laundry is sorted into 50kg batches according to customer and category using Jensen’s Futurail Tri-Sort system and forwarded in bags to the storage system.

This sorting system for table linen is able to determine the exact number of soiled items delivered. The count of soiled items is automatically captured and is compared with the delivery contracts for customers.

The laundry operating system communicates the delivery priority to the central Jensen production monitoring system, which steers the selection of lots that must be washed first.

The production monitoring system knows before the start of the wash process the type and number of laundry items that must be delivered on the same day.

The central Jensen production monitoring system supplies the local laundry operating system with exact data for creating delivery notes and invoices for end customers.

Marc Broers says it is possible to wash a load of soiled napkins sent by one customer in the morning and then deliver cleaned and finished items to another customer promptly in the afternoon, without having to hold large stock levels. “This system makes our job considerably easier and helps us to react quickly to customer requirements,” he adds.

The Futurail bag conveyer system supplies clean laundry to the finishing area as required. Six Tematic Pro folding machines handle the towel items, while thick bathrobes are folded and stacked by a Maximat 900.

Two ironer lines, each equipped with a Quickfeeder and an Extreme feeder with two stations, are used for processing sheets, which are fed without handling the corners.

All duvet covers are processed via one or two lanes in the Logic Plus, while large items of table linen are fed via one or two lanes in the Variant 2000.