Summary

At the end of 1997, as part of an assessment on the energy saving potential in the hot dip galvanizing industry in the Netherlands, at hot dip galvanizing plant "Johan Vis & Co BV" a feasibility study was carried out on energy conservation options in and near the zinc melting furnace. Based on the results of this feasibility study hot dip galvanizing company "Johan Vis & Co BV" formulated an investment project which in the spring of 1998 was approved by Novem as a market introduction project within the TIEB/ Tendem subsidizing programme.
In the project the heat losses of the zinc melting furnace and the pre-treatment baths are reduced, also the waste heat of the flue gases of the furnace is recuperated by means of a heat exchanger and used for heating the pre-treatment baths. In the period between April 1998 and March 1999 the mentioned energy saving measures are successively executed.
After executing the project it became obvious that the specific consumption of natural gas (m³ / ton product) was reduced at about 30% and that the process water consumption was decreased by more then 50%. The needed investment costs (about 180.000 Euro) can be paid off within 5 years by means of the annual savings on the natural gas costs.