See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/233928225

Energy use, energy savings and emission analysis in the Malaysian rubber
producing industries

Article · August 2010

DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2009.12.018

CITATIONS READS

64 386

2 authors:

Saidur Rahman Saad Mekhilef

Sunway University University of Malaya
450 PUBLICATIONS   25,180 CITATIONS    678 PUBLICATIONS   24,705 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Malaysia Building Integrated PV Technology Application View project

Selective harmonic elimination in inverters using bio-inspired intelligent algorithms View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Saad Mekhilef on 02 June 2021.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 Applied Energy 87 (2010) 2746–2758

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Applied Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apenergy

Energy use, energy savings and emission analysis in the Malaysian rubber
producing industries
R. Saidur a,*, S. Mekhilef b
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
b
Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In this paper an analysis of energy use and energy conservation in the Malaysian rubber producing indus-
Received 22 May 2009 tries is presented. It has been found that rubber industries consume a substantial amount of energy.
Received in revised form 25 December 2009 Excessive use of energy is usually associated with many industrial plants worldwide, and rubber plants
Accepted 28 December 2009
are no exception. This study is based on the realization that enormous potential exists for cost-effective
Available online 22 January 2010
improvements in the existing energy-using equipment. Through the method of a walkthrough energy
audit, power rating, operation time of energy-consuming equipment/machineries and power factor were
Keywords:
collected. The data were then analyzed to investigate the breakdown of end-use equipment/machineries
Rubber industry
Energy use
energy use. The results of the energy audit in the Malaysian rubber and rubber producing industries
Energy savings showed that the electric motor accounts for a major fraction of total energy consumption followed by
Emission reductions pumps, heaters, cooling systems and lighting. Since the electric motor takes up a substantial amount
of the total energy used in rubber industries, energy-savings strategies such as the use of high efficient
motors, and variable speed drive (VSD) have been used to reduce energy consumption of motors used
in rubber industries. Energy-savings strategies for compressed-air systems, boilers, and chillers have also
been applied to estimate energy and cost savings. It has been found that significant amount of energy
and; utility bills can be saved along with the reduction of emission by applying the foretold strategies
for energy using machineries in the rubber industries.
Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction sub-sectors comprise194 companies, producing a wide range of

The Malaysian rubber producing industries comprise more than
510 manufacturers producing latex products; tyres and tyre-re-
lated products; and industrial and general rubber products. These
industries employed more than 68,700 workers and contributed
RM10.58 billion to the country’s export earnings in 2007. In fact
rubber products accounted for 1.7% of Malaysia’s total exports
and 2.3% of Malaysia’s exports from the manufacturing sector [1].
The major natural rubber consuming industries for 2007 were
rubber gloves (63.8%), rubber thread (13.0%) and tyres and tubes
(11.8%). The total consumption of the three industries constitutes
88.6% of the overall domestic consumption of natural rubber. The
rapid growth of these has enabled Malaysia to become the world’s
largest consumer of natural rubber latex [1,2].
There are currently 126 companies in the tyre and tyre-related
products sub-sector of which nine are tyre producers; the remain-
ing companies produce retreads, tyre treads for retreading, valves
and other accessories. The industrial and general rubber products
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +60 379674462; fax: +60 379675317.
E-mail address: saidur@um.edu.my (R. Saidur).
rubber products such as mountings, beltings, hoses, tubings, seals,
and sheetings for the automotive, electrical and electronics,
machinery and equipment and construction industries, all of which
are largely for the domestic market.
Malaysia is the fourth largest producer of rubber in the world,
the fifth-largest consumer of rubber and one of the world’s largest
exporters of rubber products. In line with increased competitive-
ness and consumer demands, the Malaysian rubber industries will
be further consolidated and integrated to cover a wide range of
activities with forward and backward linkages in both upstream
and downstream rubber industries [2].
Rubber goods are produced with a large variety of articles
mainly small and medium sized enterprises, but also large tyre
manufacturers. Production plants for tyres or general rubber prod-
ucts comprise production lines of 800–1200 m in length, and are
usually spread out in different buildings. The main processing
steps for rubber products are: mastication, mixing (mills, internal
mixers, cooling mills), further processing (pre-warming, processing
in extruders, processing on calendars), and vulcanization.
Energy is needed for all the steps in rubber product processing
and it represents the highest cost for the use of some of the

0306-2619/$ - see front matter Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2009.12.018
 R. Saidur, S. Mekhilef / Applied Energy 87 (2010) 2746–2758
Nomenclature
AESHR annual energy savings associated with heat recovery,
kW h
AESpd energy savings due to pressure drop, kW h
Cchiller capacity of chillers, RT
EF emission factor, kg/kW h
ER emission reductions, kg
AESia energy savings associated with the usage of outside in-
take air temperature, kW h
AEScs_leak energy savings by preventing compressed-air leaks,
kW h
%ES %energy savings due to compressed-air leak prevention
AES annual energy savings, kW h
AEU annual energy use, kW h
AESChiller annual energy savings by chillers, kW h
ASEAN Association of South East Asian Nations
c average energy cost, $/kW h
CO2 carbon dioxide
Eee energy-efficient motor efficiency rating (%)
Estd standard motor efficiency rating (%)
ESVSD energy savings with the application of VSD, kW h
EU European Union
FR horsepower reduction factor
FRi ratio of proposed power consumption to current power
consumption
GDP gross domestic products
GHG Greenhouse gas
Havg_usage annual average usage hours
HEM high efficiency motor
equipment such as compressors (see Figs. 1 and 2 [3]). Among the
rubber product manufacturing processes, the milling process,
extrusion process and rolling process have a relatively higher
electric power consumption which is more than 50% of the total
consumption, while the vulcanizing process uses up 80% more
or less of the total consumption [1,2].
Recently, there has been a growing concern about energy use
and its adverse impact on the environment. Since the last few dec-
ades, most of the developing countries have shifted from agricul-
ture towards industrialization and urbanization due to economic
growth. The growth of the industrial sector, while promising a
healthy expansion of the GDP, has however severely affected the
ability of the countries to maintain fuel supply or reserves. The
introduction of the concept of rational use of energy aims at the
reduction of energy use and also targets the optimum use of all
limited economic resources [4]. This definition indicates that mea-
sures leading to a more rational use of energy would have advan-
tages over the current situation. It is undeniable that energy losses
in a large number of industries exist, and there is potential for en-
ergy efficiency improvements [5]. Among the various sectors con-
tributing to GHG emissions, the contribution of the industrial
sector has been significant. Malaysia’s GHG emissions totaled the
equivalent of 164 million tons of CO2 in 2004.
Thus, mitigating GHG emissions from the industrial sector of-
fers the best means of reducing overall GHG emissions. Energy
conservation means less reliance on energy imports and, thus, less
GHG emissions. Previous studies report that implementing a few
options with little or no cost to the industrial sector could reduce
10–30% of GHG emissions [6,7].
One of the ways to attain more efficient use of final energy in an
industry is to determine the amount of energy used and energy
loss. Different types of equipment and devices would use energy
at varying levels of efficiency, depending on their characteristics
2747
hp horsepower
Hr annual operating hours
HRF heat recovery factor
L load factor
Lstack stack gas loss
n number of motors
P motor power, kW
Pdc discharge pressure at current pressure conditions, kPa
Pdp discharge pressure at proposed operating pressure con-
ditions, kPa
Pi inlet pressure (atmospheric pressure), kPa, k the ratio of
specific heat for air (k = 1.4)
SSR percentage energy savings associated certain percent-
age of speed reduction
Ta air temperature, °C
Tc combustion temperature, °C
TI the average temperature of inside air, °C
TNB Tenaga National Berhad
To the annual average outside air temperature, °C
VSD variable speed drive
WI work of compressor with inside air, kW
Wo the work of compressor with outside air, kW
WR the fractional reduction in compressor work
Greek symbols
gefficient efficiency of energy efficient chillers, kW/ton
gstandard efficiency of standard chillers, kW/ton
and the working conditions. A method that can be used to identify
and quantify how energy is being used as well as wasted in a plant
is an energy audit. Numerous studies have been published on en-
ergy audit and energy analysis results for different industries [8–
12]. Energy use performances and energy efficiencies of the indus-
try have also been studied via various surveys [14,15] in different
countries. However current literature does not show any study that
has identified and quantified estimates of the energy usage break-
down in Asian rubber producing industries.
A general method for measuring plant-wide industrial energy
savings that takes into account changing weather and production
between the pre- and the post-retrofit periods has been presented
by Kissock and Eger [16]. This method is demonstrated using case
studies of actual energy assessments. However there are two major
limitations: (i) the conclusions drawn from this analysis should be
measured against the statistical uncertainty of the results and (ii)
the second and the most important limitation is in the system do-
main, where the method attempts to determine savings from indi-
vidual subsystems using whole-plant energy use [17,18].
The trigeneration method is presented in Ref. [19], as an alter-
native way of improved energy use in cogeneration systems. Sav-
ings are observed by the decrease of the fuel fed to the turbo-
generation equipment. Thermodynamic methods of (energy and
exergy) analyses have been employed to illustrate energy use in
industry and it has been concluded that poor thermodynamic per-
formance is principally the result of exergy losses in combustion
and heat-transfer processes [20].
This study presents the analysis and results of a walkthrough
energy audit of 22 industries in Peninsula Malaysia. All of these
industries happened to be tyre-producing industries; their selec-
tion was based on the responses received during the survey. The
authors hope that this study will be useful for benchmarking and
for other policy measures for ASEAN and other countries with
2748 R. Saidur, S. Mekhilef / Applied Energy 87 (2010) 2746–2758
Fig. 1. Steps in rubber processing energy use [3].
Fig. 2. Share of energy cost in rubber industry [3].
rubber industries. The study may also be useful for utility compa-
nies for expanding their future plans. The results of the study
would also be able to provide an insight into the energy and elec-
tricity use patterns of the Malaysian rubber industrial sector for
policy makers. Furthermore, the results could provide important
guidelines and insights for future research and development allo-
cations and energy projects.
2. Methodology
This section describes the targeted factories, walkthrough audit,
data collection, approaches used to estimate energy use and energy
savings by energy-using equipment/process for different energy
savings measures. These are elaborated below:
2.1. Targeted manufacturing factories
The targeted industries in the present study (from the rubber
sector in various regions within Peninsula Malaysia) are electricity
users of TNB (a national utility company).
Questionnaires were distributed by mail to more than 300
industries which comprise 60% of the total Malaysian rubber and
rubber producing industries. Based on the responses received from
these industries, 22 industries were selected for the walkthrough
audit. The selection of these industries was based on the informa-
tion they had provided during the mail survey, their willingness to
accept the audit team and the amount of energy the industries
used.
2.2. Walkthrough energy audit
Before conducting a walkthrough energy audit in the selected
industrial facilities, the following preparations were made. A meet-
ing was held with the relevant plant personnel who were familiar
with the physical conditions and day-to-day operation of the man-
ufacturing equipment in the facility. The purpose of the meeting
was to identify areas where auditors’ attention should be focused
during the walkthrough audit. A well prepared questionnaire and
checklist, specifically prepared for a walkthrough energy audit,
were sent to the industrial facility at least 1 week prior to the walk-
through audit in order to allow sufficient time for the relevant
authorities to obtain the required data and inform the staff con-
cerned. An audit team consisting of qualified electrical and
mechanical engineers was formed and trained in order to conduct
the walkthrough energy audit as they did not have the experience
for conducting energy audits. It must be noted that each team was
accompanied by an expert (a lead auditor who was either a Profes-
sor, Associate Professor or Senior Lecturer with sufficient experi-
ence in conducting energy audits). This was done to ensure that
the data collections would be carried out reliably. The on-site
walkthrough energy audit adopted the following procedure:
(a) Initially, an energy audit meeting was held with the facility
manager/maintenance engineer to introduce the energy
audit target and the members of the audit group. The facility
manager then explained the company’s manufacturing pro-
cess and energy-consuming equipment/machineries, and
provided operation and maintenance records for review by
the auditors.
(b) Following the meeting, the maintenance engineer took the
audit team to the manufacturing plant for an on-site audit.
The auditors, together with the representatives of the equip-
ment operators then inspected the energy-using equipment.
(c) Next, the auditors reviewed the operating manual and
equipment specifications for the energy-consuming
equipment.
(d) In addition to the facility inspection, the auditors met again
with the facility staff to review the preliminary findings and
the recommendations being considered.
(e) Along with the energy audit, a checklist was filled out to
investigate the industries’ emphasis on energy conservation
or awareness of energy conservation in their industrial
facilities.
 R. Saidur, S. Mekhilef / Applied Energy 87 (2010) 2746–2758
After the on-site walkthrough audit, the data and recommenda-
tions were combined to produce the on-site energy audit report.
2.3. Energy audit data
During the walkthrough audit in the factory, the audit team
counted all the equipment on the production floor took notes of
the rated power from technical specifications on the equipment
and operating hours per working day. The audit team also esti-
mated the total working days in a year in consultation with the
personnel responsible for the production process.
The most important data that were collected during the walk-
through audit are: power rating and operation time of energy-con-
suming equipment/machineries; fossil fuel and other sources of
energy use; production figures; peak and off peak tariff usage
behavior and power factor. Using these data, an analysis was car-
ried out to investigate the breakdown of end-use equipment/
machineries’ energy use, the peak and off peak usage behavior,
power factor trend, specific fossil fuel energy and specific electric-
ity use.
It should be mentioned that the authors are very aware that
data collection by meter (such as power meter or electric pliers)
or via an experimental investigation would have been the best
method However, due to time and budget constraints and the nat-
ure of the audit (i.e. walkthrough audit), the data were collected
using the technique mentioned earlier. It should also be noted that
several other studies in different countries used similar approaches
to estimate equipment/appliances’ energy use [21–23].
2.4. Estimating energy use, savings, payback period and emission
reductions
2.4.1. Annual energy used by electric motors
Annual energy used by electric motors in rubber producing
industries can be estimated through Eq. (1):
AEU ¼ hp  L  0:746  hr ð1Þ
Energy can be saved in various ways for different types of
machinery that use industrial energy through numerous energy
saving strategies. However, the focus of the present study is to
identify major energy-using equipment and to apply energy-saving
options for it. Since motors consume a substantial share of total
industrial energy (see Fig. 3), energy savings through the use of en-
ergy-efficient motors, and VSDs have been estimated.
2.4.2. Energy savings by using high efficiency motors
A HEM uses low-loss materials to reduce core and copper losses.
Therefore, it generates less heat and requires a smaller and more
energy-efficient cooling fan. The most popular approach is de-
mand-side management, one aspect of which is to improve effi-
ciency to offset load growth. These facts led electric motor
manufacturers to seek methods for improving the motor efficiency,
which resulted in a new generation of electric motors that are
known as energy-efficient electric motors. Several leading electric
motor manufacturers in the US and Europe, developed energy-effi-
cient electric motors [24].
Switching to energy-efficient motor-driven systems can save
Europe up to 202 billion kW h in electricity use, equivalent to a
reduction of €10 billion per year in operating costs for industry. It
was reported that a reduction of 79 million tons of CO2 emissions
(EU-15), or approximately a quarter of the EU’s Kyoto target, is
achievable using energy-efficient motors. This is the annual
amount of CO2 that a forest the size of Finland transforms into oxy-
gen. If industries are allowed to trade these emission reductions
based on energy saved, this would generate a revenue stream of
2749
Fig. 3. Percentage of energy consumption by end-use equipment of rubber industry
for year 2006.
€2 billion per year. For EU-25, the reduction potential is 100 mil-
lion tons [25].
2.4.2.1. Mathematical formulations to estimate energy savings using
HEMs
The AES obtainable by replacing a standard efficient motor with
a high energy-efficient motor can be estimated by using the meth-
odology described in Ref. [26]:
 
1 1
AES ¼ hp  L  0:746  hr    100 ð2Þ
Estd Eee
Annual bill savings associated with the above energy savings
can be calculated as:
Savings ¼ AES  c ð3Þ
2.4.3. Motor energy savings using VSD
Many building systems are designed to operate at maximum
load conditions. However, most building systems operate at their
full load only for short periods of time. This often results in many
systems operating inefficiently over long periods of time. Most of
such inefficient operations in buildings are encountered in motor
drive systems that are usually sized to meet peak load conditions,
which occur only for short periods during the normal day. The effi-
ciency of such systems can be improved by varying their capacity
to match actual load requirements.
As all these are variable torque applications, the power required
(to drive the pumps or fans) varies to the cube of the speed and,
therefore, large power reductions result from small reductions in
speed. The most common method is to modulate the speed of
the motors of pumps and fans to vary their capacity using VSDs
[27].
VSDs provide continuous control, matching motor speed to the
specific demands of the work being performed. Variable-frequency
drives are an excellent choice for adjustable-speed drive users, be-
cause they allow operators to fine-tune processes while reducing
costs for energy and equipment maintenance in heating, ventilat-
ing and air conditioning of buildings [28,29].
VSD installations can increase energy efficiency (in some cases
energy savings can exceed 50%), improve power factor and process
precision, and afford other performance benefits such as soft start-
ing and over speed capability. They can also eliminate the need for
expensive and energy-wasting throttling mechanisms such as con-
trol valves and outlet dampers [27].
Electric motors are over 90% efficient when running at their
rated loads. However, they are very inefficient at load-following,
2750 R. Saidur, S. Mekhilef / Applied Energy 87 (2010) 2746–2758
or running at part loads. Conventional electric motors typically use
60–80% of their rated input energy, even when running at less than
50% load [29,30]. It is very important to select an electric motor of
suitable power to work efficiently. In general, motors are chosen in
big capacities to meet extra load demands. Big capacities cause
motors to work inefficiently at low load. Normally, motors are
operated more efficiently at 75% of rated load and above. Motors
operated at lower than 50% of rated load, because they were cho-
sen based on large capacity, perform inefficiently, and due to the
reactive current increase, power factors are also decreased. These
kinds of motors do not use the energy efficiently because they have
been chosen for large motor power, not according to the needs.
These motors should be replaced with new suitable-capacity mo-
tors, and when purchasing new motors, energy-saving motors
should be preferred [31]. VSDs yield sizable energy savings (15–
40% in many cases) and extend equipment life by allowing for gen-
tle start-up and shutdown [32].
2.4.3.1. Mathematical formulations to estimate energy savings using
VSD. There are many ways to estimate the energy savings associ-
ated with the use of VSD for industrial motors for various applica-
tions. This study employed the methods found in [32]. Energy use
of fans and pumps varies according to the speed raised to the third
power, so small changes in speed can result in huge changes in en-
ergy use. A motor energy savings using VSD can be estimated as:
ESVSD ¼ n  P  Havg usage  SSR
The potential energy savings associated with speed reduction
using VSD for industrial motors is shown in [23,32]. These data
have been used to estimate motor energy savings using VSD.
2.4.4. Estimation of boiler energy savings
2.4.4.1. Estimation of fuel savings associated with boiler fan speed
reduction. By adding fan motor speed control, burner turndown
can be increased without compromising efficiency, and additional
fuel savings can be achieved. By adding a driver to the system, and
controlling the fan motor speed, electrical energy is saved and by
restricting excess air rate, stack losses are minimized. Based on
the methodology explained by [33], Lstack can be expressed as:
KðT stack  T A Þ
Lstack ¼
CO2
 
O2
CO2 ¼ 1   CO2 max
21
Value of CO2max is 15.9 and K is 0.53 for petroleum fuels taken
from Ozdemir [33]. Annual fuel saving in percentage calculated
using Eq. (7):
New efficiency  Old efficiency
Fuel savings ð%Þ ¼
New efficiency
g ð%Þ ¼ ð100  Lstack Þ
Necessary input data such as concentration of O2, CO2max, stack
gas temperature and ambient temperature needed for boiler flue
gas energy analysis have been taken from references [33–35].
Amount of fuel that can be saved by trimming excess air can be
expressed as:
FS ¼ FC  SEAR
The properties of natural gas used in flue gas energy analysis
have been taken from reference [31]. The price of natural gas
was considered to be about US$2/GJ and the cost of oxygen trim
system taken as US$32,000 from Carpenter et al. [36].
2.4.5. Compressed air energy savings
2.4.5.1. Energy savings through leak prevention. Leaks can be a sig-
nificant source of wasted energy in an industrial compressed-air
system, sometimes wasting as high as 20–50% of a compressor’s
output. An unmaintained plant is likely to have a leak-rate equal
to 20% of total compressed-air production capacity. Besides being
a source of wasted energy, a leak contributes to other operating
losses; it causes a drop in system pressure, making air tools func-
tion less efficiently, thereby affecting production [37,38].
In addition to increased energy consumption, leaks can make air
tools less efficient and adversely affect production, shorten the life
of equipment, lead to additional maintenance requirements and
increased unscheduled downtime. Leaks cause an increase in com-
pressor energy and maintenance costs [37].
Air leaks are the single greatest cause of energy loss in manu-
facturing facilities with compressed-air systems. The cost of com-
pressed-air leaks is the cost of the energy required to compress
the volume of lost air, from atmospheric pressure to the compres-
sor’s operating pressure. This cost is often significant. The amount
of lost air depends on the line pressure, the compressed-air
temperature at the point of leak, the air temperature at the
compressor inlet, and the area of leak. Air leaks, in general, occur
at the joints, flange connections, elbows, reducing bushes, sudden
expansions, valve systems, filters, hoses, check valves, relief
valves, extensions, and the equipment connected to the com-
pressed-air lines. Total elimination of air leaks is impractical, but
ð4Þ a 20% leakage rate is considered acceptable. The cost of com-
pressed-air leaks increases exponentially as the diameter of the
leak increases. Leaks may easily be located through the hissing
sound they make which is audible when other plant operations
are idle. Leaks should be repaired as soon as it is practical; in some
situations, it may be necessary to wait for a scheduled plant
shutdown. Temporary repairs can often be made by placing a
clamp over the leak [35,39,40]. Leaks in compressed-air systems
have no benefit and can account for 20–30% of a facility’s com-
pressed-air demand [41–43].
The best way to detect leaks is to use an ultrasonic acoustic
detector, which can recognize the high frequency hissing sounds
associated with air leaks. Ultrasonic leak detection equipment is
an essential component to successful leak abatement programs.
This equipment facilitates identification of even the smallest leak,
ð5Þ regardless of the baseline ambient noise level in an industrial plant
[43–45].
2.4.5.2. Energy-saving formulations. According to Refs. [46–48],
ð6Þ
about 20% energy can be saved in compressed-air systems. Based
on g this assumption, energy savings through leak prevention
can be expressed as:
AEScs leak ¼ AEU  %ES ð10Þ
ð7Þ 2.4.5.3. Energy savings using outside intake air. The air that is sup-
plied to the compressor’s intake port is drawn from the compressor
ð8Þ room. Because air expands at higher temperatures, the compres-
sors have to work harder to compress this hot, expanded air. This
decreases the efficiency of the air compressors. Using cooler out-
side air can reduce compressor work [37]. If air flow is kept con-
stant, reducing the inlet air temperature reduces energy used by
the compressor. In many plants, it is possible to reduce inlet air
temperature to the compressor by using suction from outside the
building. As a rule of thumb, each 3 °C reduction will save 1% com-
ð9Þ
pressor energy [48–49].
2.4.5.3.1. Energy-saving formulations. The compressor work for
usual operating conditions in manufacturing plants is proportional
to the absolute temperature of the intake air. Thus, WR; resulting
from lowering the intake air temperature is estimated as [37]:
 R. Saidur, S. Mekhilef / Applied Energy 87 (2010) 2746–2758
WI  WR
WR ¼
WI
TI  To
WR ¼
T I þ 273
AESia can be expressed as:
AESia ¼ hp  L  0:746  hr  W R
2.4.5.4. Energy savings due to pressure drop. In many cases, system
pressure can be lowered, thereby saving energy. Most systems have
one or more critical applications that determine the minimum
acceptable pressure in the system. The hissing of the air leaks can
sometimes be heard even in high-noise manufacturing facilities.
Pressure drops at end-use points in the order of 40% of the compres-
sor-discharged pressure are not uncommon. Yet a common re-
sponse to such a problem is the installation of a larger compressor
instead of checking the system and finding out the cause of the
problem. The latter corrective action is usually taken only after
the larger compressor also fails to eliminate the problem. The en-
ergy wasted in compressed-air systems because of poor installation
and maintenance can account for up to 50% of the energy consumed
by the compressor, and it is believed that about half of this amount
can be saved by practicing energy conservation measures [37,50].
It is prudent to operate compressed-air systems at the lowest
functional pressure that meets production requirements. When
pressure supply is higher than required, greater volume of air is ex-
pelled for any given end-use, which equates to wasted energy. The
standard rule of thumb is that reducing pressure settings by 13 kPa
will reduce energy consumption by 1% [43,44].
2.4.5.4.1. Energy-saving formulations. Energy savings due to pres-
sure drop can be estimated as:
AESpd ¼ hp  L  0:746  hr  ð1  FRi Þ
FRi is used to represent a reduction in run time based on max-
imum operating pressure.
The following Eq. (18) can be used to estimate FR, the horse-
power reduction factor, based on current and proposed operating
pressures [32].
 k1
ðP dp þPi Þ k
1
FRi ¼ 
Pi
k1
ðP dc þP i Þ k
Pi
1
2.4.5.5. Energy savings from heat recovery. As much as 80–93% of
the electrical energy used by an industrial air compressor is con-
verted into heat. In many cases, a properly designed heat recovery
unit can recover anywhere from 50% to 90% of this available ther-
mal energy and put it to useful work in heating air or water. Typ-
ical uses for recovered heat include supplemental space heating,
industrial process heating, water heating, makeup air heating,
and boiler makeup water preheating [47,51–53].
A recuperator can be used to recover waste heat from the com-
pressed-air system. In a recuperator, heat exchange takes place be-
tween the flue gases and the air through metallic or ceramic walls.
Ducts or tubes carry the air for combustion to be pre-heated, while
the other side contains the waste heat stream [54].
2.4.5.5.1. Energy-saving formulations. AESHR can be expressed as:
AESHR ¼ hp  L  0:746  hr  HRF
2.4.5.6. Energy saving by efficient nozzles. High-velocity air streams
create a partial vacuum in the surrounding space, which entrains
ambient air into the stream. This effect occurs with all air streams,
2751
including compressed air exiting an open tube. This effect can be
ð11Þ
enhanced by specially-designed nozzles that amplify the flow of
compressed air by up to 25 times [50]. Air-saver nozzles have
smaller discharge areas than intake areas; thus, the flow of com-
ð12Þ
pressed air from an open tube is reduced by installing an air-saver
nozzle. Replacing the old nozzles with new, air efficient types sig-
nificantly reduces air usage [55]. Zuercher [56] reported that effi-
ð13Þ cient nozzles can reduce energy consumption by 30–60%. The
operating pressure of copper pipes and air efficient nozzles were
obtained from reference [57].
2.4.6. Chillers energy savings
Chillers are used for the cooling of rubber processing facilities. A
significant portion of cooling energy is supplied for cooling of rub-
ber by chillers. Chillers found in most of the audited facilities are
about 10–15 years old. Old chillers perform poorly compared to
modern chillers whose efficiency is better. Chillers energy savings
by replacing old inefficient chillers with energy efficient can be
estimated using the following formula:
AESChiller ¼ C chiller  L  hr  ðgstandard  gefficient Þ ð17Þ
Efficiency of standard and efficient chillers was taken from ref-
erence [58] along with incremental price of efficient chillers.
2.4.7. Mathematical formulations of the payback period
A simple payback period for different energy-savings strategies
can be calculated using Eq. (18):
Incremental cost
Simple payback period ðyearsÞ ¼ ð18Þ
Annual dollar savings
Input data needed to estimate energy savings and the payback
ð14Þ period for these strategies have been shown in Table 1. The average
usage hours have been collected from the energy audit survey data.
Efficiency of standard and high efficiency motors has been col-
lected from [26]. Incremental costs associated with the usage of
high efficient motor, and input data for energy savings using VSD
have been taken from [26,33,59]. Since no comprehensive work
has been carried out on motors in Malaysia, these data have been
used to obtain at least some modicum of insight into how much
ð15Þ energy and cost can be saved along with emission reductions.
Moreover, since motors are manufactured, sold and used around
the world, data from various countries have been used in this
estimation.
2.4.8. Estimation of emission reduction
Energy savings are likely to reduce electricity generation from
power plants. As a consequence, the reduction of CO2 and other
emissions from the fuels used by the power sector can be esti-
mated. The amount of emission that can be reduced associated
with energy savings can be estimated using the following equation
[59]:
ER ¼ AES  EF ð19Þ
The EF for per unit energy in has been used to estimate the
amount of emission that can be reduced [59].
ð16Þ
Table 1
Input data for motor energy savings.
Parameters Value
Average usage hours 6000
Average electricity cost (US$/kW h) 0.064
2752 R. Saidur, S. Mekhilef / Applied Energy 87 (2010) 2746–2758

Table 2 age, each rubber industry consumes about 5640 MW h of energy

Energy savings, bill savings and payback period for high efficient motors. annually. It has been estimated that about 2876 GW h of energy
HP Quantity (No) Motor Energy use (MW h) is used by electric motor populations in Malaysian rubber indus-
1 370 853 tries. Based on Figs. 4–6 and by analyses of the data, it was deter-
1.5 93 107 mined that 4097 MW h, 3780 MW h, and 2132 MW h of total
2 106 710 energy can be saved by using energy-efficient motors for 50%,
3 317 1918 75% and 100% motor loadings respectively. It was observed that
5.5 132 11,650
7.5 238 391
more energy can be saved for the motors that are operated at lower
15 1084 1065 load (i.e. load is about 50%) as losses of motor can be reduced at
20 26 532 higher loads. Similarly, associated bill savings for the estimated
25 53 14,206 amount of energy savings are US$262,216, US$241,931 and
30 13 5328
US$136,460 respectively. It also has been found that the payback
40 264 2133
50 79 5681 period for using energy-efficient motors ranges from 0.72 to
60 26 3556 15.18 years for different percentages of motor loadings. These pay-
75 53 10,661 back periods indicate that the introduction/implementation of en-
ergy-efficient motors would be cost-effective, as their payback
periods are less than one third of the motor life (if the average mo-
tor life is considered as 20 years) in most cases. From Fig. 6, it can
3. Results and discussion of energy use, savings, payback period be observed that payback period at 100% load for motors with
and associated emission reductions 60 kW and 75 kW is very high and it will not be economically via-
ble to replace standard motors with high efficiency motors.
3.1. Motor energy analysis Using Eqs. (4) and (5) and data from Table 1 and [23] the energy
savings, bill savings and payback period for different percentage of
Fig. 3 shows the breakdown of energy consumption by end-use speed reduction of motors using VSD have been estimated and are
equipment of rubber industries in Malaysia for the year 2006. shown in Tables 3 and 4.
Using Eqs. (1)–(3), (5) and input data from Table 1, and effi- From Table 3, it is evident that a huge amount of energy can be
ciency of motors from Garcia et al. [25] energy use, energy savings, saved for different percentages of speed reductions. It has been ob-
bill savings, and the payback periods associated with energy sav- served that more energy can be saved for higher speed reductions
ings as a result of using a high efficiency motor have been esti- (i.e. when speed can be reduced by 50%). Along with energy sav-
mated and presented in Table 2 and Figs. 4–6 for different motor ings, a substantial amount in expense can be saved using VSD for
sizes and loads. industrial motors in Malaysia as indicated in Table 3. From Table
As shown in Table 2, it has been found that total motor energy 4, it can be seen that the payback period for some motors is
used by the audited industries is about 62,025 MW h. On an aver- economically very viable, since the payback period is very short.

Fig. 4. Energy savings by energy-efficient motors for different percentage of motor loadings.
 R. Saidur, S. Mekhilef / Applied Energy 87 (2010) 2746–2758 2753

140.000

130.000

120.000 50% Load

75% Load
110.000
100% Load
Bill savings. US$ 100.000

90.000

80.000

70.000

60.000

50.000

40.000

30.000

20.000

10.000

0
1 1.5 2 3 4 5.5 7.5 15 20 25 30 40 50 60 75
Motor Power. HP

Fig. 5. Bill savings by energy-efficient motors for different percentage of motor loadings.

Fig. 6. Payback periods for energy-efficient motors for different percentage of motor loadings.

However, VSD is not economically viable for some other motors, associated with boilers’ excess air reduction (i.e. from 31% to
since the payback period is significantly higher as reported by optimum amount of 10%) have been estimated and presented in
other researchers as well [61,62]. Abbott [61] for instance reported Table 5.
that the payback period of using VSDs for different sizes and cate-
gories of motors ranges from 0.4 to 1.5 years. 3.3. Energy savings by compressed air

3.2. Boiler energy analysis 3.3.1. Energy savings by preventing leak prevention
Using Eq. (10), energy savings, and bill savings associated with
Using Eqs. (5)–(9) and data from Carpenter et al. [36] and compressed-air leak prevention have been estimated and pre-
Odzemir [33], energy savings, bill savings and payback period sented in Table 6.
2754 R. Saidur, S. Mekhilef / Applied Energy 87 (2010) 2746–2758

Table 3
Energy savings of electric motors using VSDs.

Motor Energy savings (MW h) Bill savings (US$) for different speed reduction
power
10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
(HP)
Speed Speed Speed Speed Speed Speed Speed Speed Speed Speed Speed Speed
reduction reduction reduction reduction reduction reduction reduction reduction reduction reduction reduction reduction
1 188 375 520 622 708 759 12,003 24,007 33,282 39,830 45,286 48,559
1.5 23 47 65 78 89 95 1502 3004 4164 4984 5666 6076
2 156 313 433 519 590 632 10001 20002 27730 33185 37,730 40,458
3 422 844 1170 1400 1592 1707 27,008 54,015 74,885 89,617 101,893 109,259
4 2563 5126 7106 8504 9669 10,368 164,031 328,062 454,813 544,284 618,844 663,579
5.5 86 172 239 286 325 348 5507 11,014 15,270 18,274 20,777 22,279
7.5 234 469 650 778 884 948 14,997 29,993 41,582 49,762 56,579 60,669
15 117 234 324 388 441 473 7487 14,974 20,759 24,843 28,247 30,288
20 3125 6251 8666 10,370 11,791 12,643 200,017 400,034 554,592 663,693 754,609 809,160
25 1172 2344 3250 3890 4422 4742 75,021 150,043 208,014 248,935 283,036 303,496
30 469 939 1301 1557 1771 1899 30,039 60,078 83,290 99,674 113,328 121,521
40 1250 2499 3465 4147 4715 5056 79,983 159,965 221,770 265,397 301,752 323,566
50 782 1565 2169 2596 2951 3165 50,065 100,129 138,816 166,124 188,881 202,535
60 2345 4691 6503 7782 8848 9488 150,103 300,207 416,196 498,071 566,299 607,237
75 585 1170 1622 1941 2207 2366 37,435 74,870 103,797 124,217 141,232 151,442

Table 4
Payback period for electric motor energy savings using VSDs.

Motor power (HP) Payback period (year)

10% Speed reduction 20% Speed reduction 30% Speed reduction 40% Speed reduction 50% Speed reduction 60% Speed reduction
1 58.84 29.42 21.22 17.73 15.60 14.55
1.5 123.53 61.77 44.55 37.23 32.74 30.54
2 22.07 11.03 7.96 6.65 5.85 5.45
3 26.47 13.23 9.55 7.98 7.02 6.54
4 0.38 0.19 0.14 0.12 0.10 0.10
5.5 64.40 32.20 23.23 19.41 17.07 15.92
7.5 48.13 24.07 17.36 14.51 12.76 11.90
15 627.06 313.53 226.15 188.98 166.21 155.00
20 0.68 0.34 0.24 0.20 0.18 0.17
25 4.28 2.14 1.54 1.29 1.13 1.06
30 3.00 1.50 1.08 0.90 0.79 0.74
40 28.57 14.28 10.30 8.61 7.57 7.06
50 16.39 8.19 5.91 4.94 4.34 4.05
60 2.10 1.05 0.76 0.63 0.56 0.52
75 20.82 10.41 7.51 6.28 5.52 5.15

Table 5
Savings from oxygen trim.

Excess air Exhaust temperature New combustion Old combustion Savings Total savings Bill savings Payback period
(%) (°C) efficiency (%) efficiency (%) (%) (GJ) (US$) (year)
31 350 84.41 69.04 18.21 9331 18,663 1.71
27 297 87.04 74.27 14.68 7522 15,045 2.13
26 297 87.04 74.27 14.68 7522 15,045 2.13
24 295 87.14 74.46 14.55 7456 14,912 2.15
19 289 87.44 75.06 14.16 7256 14,512 2.21
20 274 88.18 76.54 13.21 6769 13,538 2.36
23 241 89.82 79.79 11.17 5724 11,448 2.80
23 203 91.71 83.54 8.91 4566 9132 3.50
10 146 94.54 89.15 5.70 9331 18,663 1.71

The payback period resulting from leak prevention is taken
from Radgen [46] who found that the payback period for leak pre-
vention is about 6 months, which is economically very viable. Yang
[63] also reported that the payback period through leak prevention
is about 5.14 months, based on a Vietnamese enterprise. Kuisis
[64] reported that the cost of leak detection equipment ranges
from US$3680 to US$11042. Michael et al. [65] reported that the
average payback period for improving compressed-air system in
pulp and paper industry through leak prevention is about
4 months. CADET [55] reported a payback period for leak preven-
tion program of about 8 months. Christina and Worrell [44] re-
ported that the Ford Stamping Plant in Geelong, Victoria
(Australia) used an ultrasonic inspection tool to detect leaks. After
the leaks had been repaired, the savings were over US$83,200 per
year. The payback period was less than 1 month.
3.3.2. Energy savings using outside intake air
Using Eqs. (11)–(13), energy and bill savings and payback peri-
od have been calculated and presented in Table 7.
3.3.3. Energy savings due to pressure drop
Using Eqs. (14) and (15), energy and bill savings and payback
period have been calculated and presented in Table 8.
 R. Saidur, S. Mekhilef / Applied Energy 87 (2010) 2746–2758 2755

Table 6 3.3.4. Energy savings from heat recovery

Impact of leak prevention on compressed-air systems. Using Eq. (16), energy and bill savings and payback period have
Compressor power Number of Energy savings, Bill savings, been calculated and presented in Table 9.
(HP) compressor MW h US$
0.25 50 7 430 3.3.5. Energy savings by efficient nozzles
0.5 29 8 498 Using Eq. (15) and data from reference [57], the horsepower
0.75 36 15 928
reduction factor has been found to be 0.5212. Using this factor
1 60 32 2063
1.5 15 12 773 and applying it in Eq. (14), energy, bill savings and payback period
2 29 31 1994 for using efficient nozzles has been estimated and presented in Ta-
3 45 73 4641 ble 10. From the results presented, it can be seen that about
4 355 763 48,813
124,801 MW h of energy and a bill of US$27,987,289 can be saved
5.5 7 21 1323
7.5 9 36 2320
by using air efficient nozzles.
15 9 73 4641 The cost of an efficient nozzle is about US$60 [57] and the
20 51 548 35,063 resulting payback periods for using efficient nozzles is found to
25 21 282 18,047 be in the range of 0.01–2.68, meaning that investment in efficient
30 10 161 10,313
compressors is economically very sound. According to the best
40 16 344 22,000
50 9 242 15,469 practices reported by [57], payback period for use of efficient noz-
60 15 483 30,938 zles in their plant was about 4 months. Anon [66] also reported
75 5 201 12,891 that payback period for using efficient nozzles is about 4 months.
Michael et al. [65] reported that the average payback period for

Table 7 Table 9
Impact of intake temperature reduction on compressed-air systems. Impact of heat recovery on compressed-air systems.

Compressor Number of Energy Bill Payback Compressor Number of Incremental Energy Bill Payback
power (HP) compressor savings, savings, period, year power (HP) compressor cost, US$ savings, savings, period,
MW h US$ MW h US$ year
0.25 50 3 172 110.72 0.25 50 4.66 45 2865 0.08
0.5 29 3 199 55.36 0.5 29 9.33 52 3323
0.75 36 6 371 36.91 0.75 36 13.99 97 6188
1 60 13 824 27.68 1 60 18.65 215 13,750
1.5 15 5 309 18.45 1.5 15 27.98 81 5156
2 29 12 796 13.84 2 29 37.30 208 13,292
3 45 29 1853 9.23 3 45 55.95 483 30,938
4 355 305 19,494 6.92 4 355 74.60 5085 325,423
5.5 7 8 529 5.03 5.5 7 102.58 138 8823
7.5 9 14 927 3.69 7.5 9 139.88 242 15,469
15 9 29 1853 1.85 15 9 279.75 483 30,938
20 51 219 14,003 1.38 20 51 373.00 3652 233,755
25 21 113 7207 1.11 25 21 466.25 1880 120,315
30 10 64 4118 0.92 30 10 559.50 1074 68,751
40 16 137 8786 0.69 40 16 746.00 2292 146,670
50 9 97 6178 0.55 50 9 932.50 1611 103,127
60 15 193 12,355 0.46 60 15 1119.00 3223 206,254
75 5 80 5148 0.37 75 5 1398.75 1343 85,939

Table 8 Table 10
Impact of pressure reduction on compressed-air systems. Impact of efficient nozzle on compressed-air systems.

Compressor Number of Energy Bill Payback Compressor Number of Energy Bill Payback
power (HP) compressor savings, savings, period, year power (HP) compressor savings, savings, period, year
MW h US$ MW h US$
0.25 50 2 150 Immediate 0.25 50 17 1120 2.68
0.5 29 3 174 0.5 29 20 1299 1.34
0.75 36 5 325 0.75 36 38 2419 0.89
1 60 11 722 1 60 84 5375 0.67
1.5 15 4 271 1.5 15 31 2016 0.45
2 29 11 698 2 29 81 5196 0.33
3 45 25 1624 3 45 189 12,094 0.22
4 355 267 17,085 4 355 1988 127,208 0.17
5.5 7 7 463 5.5 7 54 3449 0.12
7.5 9 13 812 7.5 9 94 6047 0.09
15 9 25 1624 15 9 189 12,094 0.04
20 51 192 12,272 20 51 1428 91,375 0.03
25 21 99 6317 25 21 735 47,031 0.03
30 10 56 3609 30 10 420 26,875 0.02
40 16 120 7700 40 16 896 57,333 0.02
50 9 85 5414 50 9 630 40,312 0.01
60 15 169 10,828 60 15 1260 80,625 0.01
75 5 70 4512 75 5 525 33,594 0.01
2756 R. Saidur, S. Mekhilef / Applied Energy 87 (2010) 2746–2758

Table 11 content of 935,200,000 kg of tyre is about 9352 GW h. Total energy

Chillers energy savings, bill savings and payback period. that can be recovered from scrap, waste and recovering is esti-
Chiller capacity, Energy savings, Bill savings, Payback period, mated to be about 281 GW h, based on 3% [68] energy recovery
RT MW h US$ year from scrap, waste and rework.
200 7875 504,000 1.39
300 9788 626,400 1.39 3.6. Emission reductions
400 2448 156,672 4.34

improving compressed-air system in pulp and paper industry
using efficient nozzle is also about 4 months.
3.4. Energy savings by efficient chillers
Using Eqs. (3), (17), and (18), and chiller efficiency and cost data
from reference [58], energy savings, bill savings and payback per-
iod have been calculated for energy efficient chillers compared to
standard chillers and presented in Table 11.
Using emission factor from [59] and energy savings data shown
in Fig. 4, and Eq. (19), the amount of emission that can be reduced
as a result of introducing high efficiency motors has been esti-
mated and presented in Table 12. Table 13 shows the emission
reduction associated with energy savings by motors using VSD.
Similarly emission reduction associated with energy savings by
preventing compressed-air leaks, using outside temperature as in-
take, reducing pressure drop, heat recovery and energy efficient
nozzle have been estimated and presented in Table 14. Emission
reductions associated with chillers energy savings has been pre-
sented in Table 15.

3.5. Energy savings from waste rubber 4. Conclusion

About 935,200,000 kg of tyre is produced by 20 industries in The rubber industry including tyre manufacturing has a history
Malaysia. Sharma et al. [67] reported that waste tyre has fuel con- of more than a hundred years, and its growth has been remarkable.
tent of about 8000 kcal/kg (8000 kcal  10kW h). The total energy In line with its rapid growth, energy consumption has also in-

Table 12
Amount of emission reduction at different % of motor loadings using energy-efficient motors.

Motor Power (HP) Emission, kg Emission, kg Emission, kg

For 50% load For 75% load For 100% load
CO2 SO2 NOx CO CO2 SO2 NOx CO CO2 SO2 NOx CO
1 49,546 297 140 30 42,540 255 120 26 20,019 120 56 12
1.5 12,512 75 35 8 9509 57 27 6 8007 48 23 5
2 13,012 78 37 8 16,515 99 47 10 9008 54 25 5
3 93,087 557 263 57 88,583 530 250 54 56,553 339 159 34
4 5,505 33 16 3 5505 33 16 3 4504 27 13 3
5.5 45,543 273 128 28 23,522 141 66 14 16,015 96 45 10
7.5 48,045 288 135 29 43,040 258 121 26 30,529 183 86 19
15 990,927 5,932 2794 603 956,394 5725 2697 582 528,494 3164 1490 321
20 22,521 135 64 14 30,529 183 86 19 18,017 108 51 11
25 59,556 357 168 36 72,067 431 203 44 47,044 282 133 29
30 16,015 96 45 10 15,515 93 44 9 6506 39 18 4
40 398,873 2388 1125 243 233,719 1399 659 142 264,748 1585 747 161
50 99,593 596 281 61 173,662 1040 490 106 32,530 195 92 20
60 57,554 345 162 35 19,518 117 55 12 7507 45 21 5
75 138,630 830 391 84 161,651 968 456 98 17,516 105 49 11

Table 13
Amount of emission reduction at different % of motor speed reduction.

Motor Power (HP) Emission, kg Emission, kg Emission, kg

For 20% speed reduction For 40% speed reduction For 60% speed reduction
CO2 SO2 NOx CO CO2 SO2 NOx CO CO2 SO2 NOx CO
1 187,676 1123 529 114 311,291 1863 878 189 379,855 2274 1071 231
1.5 23,522 141 66 14 39,037 234 110 24 47,544 285 134 29
2 156,646 938 442 95 259,743 1555 732 158 316,296 1893 892 192
3 422,395 2528 1191 257 700,655 4194 1976 426 854,299 5114 2409 520
4 2,565,399 15,356 7234 1560 4,255,980 25,476 12,002 2589 5,188,852 31,060 14,633 3156
5.5 86,080 515 243 52 143,134 857 404 87 174,163 1043 491 106
7.5 234,719 1405 662 143 389,364 2331 1098 237 474,444 2840 1338 289
15 117,110 701 330 71 194,182 1162 548 118 236,721 1417 668 144
20 3,128,425 18,727 8822 1903 5,189,853 31,066 14,635 3157 6,327,417 37,876 17,843 3849
25 1,173,097 7022 3308 714 1,946,821 11,654 5490 1184 2,373,219 14,206 6692 1443
30 469939 2813 1325 286 779,229 4664 2197 474 950,389 5689 2680 578
40 1,250,670 7487 3527 761 2,075,441 12,424 5853 1262 2,530,366 15,147 7136 1539
50 783,232 4688 2209 476 1,299,215 7777 3664 790 1,583,981 9482 4467 963
60 2,347,695 14,053 6621 1428 3,894,642 23,313 10,983 2369 4,748,440 28,424 13,391 2888
75 585,548 3505 1651 356 971,408 5815 2739 591 1,184,107 7088 3339 720
 R. Saidur, S. Mekhilef / Applied Energy 87 (2010) 2746–2758 2757

Table 14 [9] Ibrik IH, Mahmoud MM. Energy efficiency improvement procedures and audit
Emission for compressed air energy savings (Temperature, pressure, nozzle, heat results of electrical, thermal and solar applications in Palestine. Energy Policy
recovery). 2005;33:651–8.
[10] Priambodo A, Kumar S. Energy use and carbon dioxide emission of Indonesian
Motor Power (HP) Emission, kg small and medium scale industries. Energy Convers Manage
2001;42:1335–48.
0.25 CO2 SO2 NOx CO
[11] Thollander P, Karlsson M, Soderstrom M, Creutz D. Reducing industrial energy
0.5 25,023 150 71 15 costs through energy-efficiency measures in a liberalized European electricity
0.75 29,027 174 82 18 market: case study of a Swedish iron foundry. Appl Energy 2005;81:115–26.
1 54,051 324 152 33 [12] Chan David Yih-Liang, Yang Kuang-Han, Hsu Chung-Hsuan, Chien Min-Hsien,
1.5 119,612 716 337 73 Hong Gui-Bing. Current situation of energy conservation in high energy-
consuming industries in Taiwan. Energy Policy 2007;35:202–9.
2 45,042 270 127 27
[14] Ozturk HK. Energy usage and cost in the textile industry: a case study for
3 115,608 692 326 70
Turkey. Energy 2005;30:2424–6.
4 269,252 1612 759 164
[15] Christoffersen LB, Larsen A, Togeby M. Empirical analysis of energy
5.5 2,830,647 16944 7982 1722 management in Danish industry. J Cleaner Prod 2006;14(5):516–26.
7.5 76,572 458 216 47 [16] Kissock Kelly J, Eger Carl. Measuring industrial energy savings. Appl Energy
15 134,626 806 380 82 2008;85(5):347–61.
20 269,252 1612 759 164 [17] Tam KW, Leung CW, Probert SD. Energy management in a dairy-products
25 2,033,401 12172 5734 1237 plant. Appl Energy 1989;32(2):83–100.
30 1,046,479 6264 2951 637 [18] Perapong Tekasakul, Machimontorn Promtong. Energy efficiency
40 598,059 3580 1687 364 enhancement of natural rubber smoking process by flow improvement using
50 1,275,693 7636 3597 776 a CFD technique. Appl Energy 2008;85(9):878–95.
60 896,839 5368 2529 545 [19] Joel Hernández-Santoyo, Augusto Sánchez-Cifuentes. Trigeneration: an
75 1,794,178 10740 5060 1091 alternative for energy savings. Appl Energy 2003;76(5):219–27.
[20] Hammond Geoffrey P. Industrial energy analysis, thermodynamics and
sustainability. Appl Energy 2007;84(7):675–700.
[21] Subrahmanya MHB. Labour productivity, energy intensity and economic
performance in small enterprises: a study of brick enterprises cluster in
Table 15 India. Energy Convers Manage 2006;47(6):763–77.
Chillers emission reduction using efficient chillers. [22] Bayindir R, Sagiroglu S, Colak I. An intelligent power factor corrector for power
system using artificial neural networks. Electr Pow Syst Res 2009:52–160.
Chiller capacity, RT Emission reductions (kg) [23] Akbaba M. Energy conservation by using energy efficient electric motors. Appl
Energy 1999;64:149–58.
CO2 SO2 NOx CO
[24] Anon. Variable speed driven pumps, best practice guide. Automation
200 3,941,186 23,592 11,114 2397 instrumentation & control laboratory technology, <www.gambica.org.uk>;
300 4,898,581 29,323 13,814 2979 2004 [31.12.08].
400 1,225,146 7334 3455 745 [25] Garcia AGP, Szklo Alexandre S, Schaeffer Roberto, McNeil Michael A. Energy-
efficiency standards for electric motors in Brazilian industry. Energy Policy
2007;35:3424–39.
creased tremendously. Given this situation, energy conservation [26] Beggs C. Energy management and conservation. Elsevier Ltd.; 2002.
[27] Jayamaha L. Energy efficient building systems. McGraw Hill Publisher; 2006.
and energy efficiency is a major concern of most rubber industries.
[28] Teitel M, Zhao ALY, Barak M, Eli Bar-lev, Shmuel D. Energy saving in
From the analysis of the energy audit data, it can be concluded agricultural buildings through fan motor control by variable frequency
that: drives. Energy Buildings 2008;40:953–60.
[29] Bouzidi F. Energy savings on single-phase induction motors under light load
conditions. MS thesis. Las Vegas (USA): University of Nevada; 2007.
(a) a substantial amount of energy and utility bills can be saved [30] Kaya D, Alptekin Yagmur E, Suleyman Yigit K, Fatma Canka Kilic, Salih Eren A,
if high efficiency motors and VSD are used for industrial Cenk Celik. Energy efficiency in pumps. Energy Convers Manage
motors; 2008;49:1662–73.
[31] Nadel S, Elliott RN, Shepard M, Greenberg S, Katz G, de Almeida AT. Energy-
(b) the payback period for using energy-efficiency strategies for efficient motor systems: a handbook on technology, program, and policy
some motors for VSD is reasonable (i.e. within 1–3 years); opportunities. 2nd ed. Washington (DC): American Council for an Energy-
(c) emissions can be substantially reduced by applying energy- Efficient Economy; 2002.
[32] Anon. Ways to save on motor energy costs, <http://www.aps.com/main/
savings strategies to industrial motors; and services/business/WaysToSave/BusWaystoSave_16>; 2008 [28.11.08].
(d) greater energy can be saved at levels of higher speed reduc- [33] Ozdemir E. Energy conservation opportunities with a variable speed controller
tion (i.e. speed reduction above 40%). in a boiler house. Appl Therm Eng 2004;24:981–93.
[34] <http://home.iprimus.com.au/nissenr/mb_13.pdf> [05.09.09].
[35] Environmental Protection Agency. Guide to industrial assessments for
Acknowledgement pollution and energy efficiency. EPA/625/R-99/003. Cincinnati (OH): US
Environmental Protection Agency; 2001.
[36] Carpenter K, Kissock K, D’Antonio M. Common excess air trends in industrial
Authors would like to acknowledge the service provided by the boilers with single-point positioning control and strategies to optimize
University of Malaya Scholarly Publication Unit for polishing the efficiency. In: ACEEE summer study on energy efficiency in industry; 2007
language. [37] Kaya D, Phelan P, Chau D, Sarac HI. Energy conservation in compressed-air
systems. Int J Energy Res 2002;26:837–49.
[38] Compressed air system leaks. CA SourceBook Fact Sheet #7. <http://
References www.plantsupport.com/download/CompAirSysLeaks.pdf> [18.08.09].
[39] Laurel and Associates, Ltd., Resource Dynamics Corporation. Compressed air
challenge training: fundamentals of compressed air systems: compressed air
[1] Malaysian Rubber Industry & Products Directory; 2006–2007.
challenge; 1999.
[2] Malaysian rubber review, 4th Quarter; 2007.
[40] Shanghai HQ, McKane A. Improving energy efficiency of compressed air
[3] www.tangram.com.uk [18.03.09].
system based on system audit. LBNL; 2008.
[4] Akash Bilal A, Mohsen Mousa S. Current situation of energy use in the
[41] Department of Energy (DOE). Office of industrial technologies, energy
Jordanian industry. Energy Convers Manage 2003;44:1501–10.
efficiency and renewable energy. Best practices program. Implementing a
[5] Mohsen MS, Akash BA. Energy analysis of the steel making industry. Int J
compressed air system leak management program at an automotive plant;
Energy Res 1998;22:1049–54.
December, 2000.
[6] Ghaddar N, Mezher T. Modeling of current and future energy intensity and
[42] Risi JD. Energy savings with compressed air. Energy Eng 1995;92(6):49–58.
greenhouse gas emissions of the Lebanese industrial sector: assessment of
[43] D’Antonio M, Epstein G, Moray S, Schmidt C. Compressed air load reduction
mitigation options. Appl Energy 1999;63:53–74.
approaches and innovations. In: Industrial energy technology conference, USA;
[7] Climate Change 1995. Impacts, adaptation and mitigation of climate change:
2005.
scientific-technical analysis. In: Contribution of working group II to the second
[44] Christina G, Worrell E. Energy efficiency improvement and cost saving
assessment report of the intergovernmental panel climate change
opportunities for the vehicle assembly industry. LBNL; 2008 [50939-Revision].
(IPCC). Cambridge (UK): Cambridge University Press; 1996.
[45] UE systems compressed air leak detection guide. <http://www.
[8] Fromme JW. Energy conservation in the Russian manufacturing industry.
uesystems.com> [22.09.09].
Energy Policy 1996;24:245–52.
2758 R. Saidur, S. Mekhilef / Applied Energy 87 (2010) 2746–2758
[46] Radgen PE. Efficiency through compressed air energy audits. In: Energy audit
conference, <www.audit06.fi>; 2006.
[47] PEC. Pacific energy center factsheet: high-efficiency industrial compressed air
systems, <http://www.pge.com/pec> [18.08.09].
[48] Centre for the Analysis and Dissemination of Demonstrated Energy
Technologies (CADDET). Saving energy with efficient compressed air
systems. Maxi Brochure 06; 1997.
[49] Parekh P. Investment grade compressed air system audit, analysis, and
upgrade. In: Twenty-second national industrial energy technology
conference proceedings. Houston, Texas, vol. 5–6; April 2000. p. 270–9.
[50] UD-IAC, University of Dayton Industrial Assessment Center, <www.engr.
udayton.edu/udiac>; 2009.
[51] Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Improving compressed air system
performance: a sourcebook for industry. Washington (DC): United States
Department of Energy; 2003.
[52] EPA. Wise role for industrial efficiency. A tool kit for estimating energy savings
and greenhouse gas emissions reductions. United States Environmental
Protection Agency, EPA; 1998 [231-R-98-014].
[53] Cunha Ivor F Da, Compressed air energy efficiency reference guide (CEATI),
Customer energy solutions interest group (CESIG); 2007.
[54] <http://www.em-ea.org/Guide%20Books/book-2/
2.8%20Waste%20Heat%20Recovery.pdf>; [19.03.09].
[55] Cadet energy efficiency. Compressed air savings by leakage reduction and
efficient air nozzles, <http://www.druckluft-effizient.de/downloads/dokumente/
result-402.pdf>; [18.08.09].
View publication stats
[56] Zuercher Jan. Energy saving opportunities in compressed air systems. Air
systems, Quincy compressor, USA; 2005.
[57] <http://airtechnology.co.uk/Compressed%20air%20publications/GPCS346%20-
%20air%20efficient%20nozzles.pdf>; [19.08.09].
[58] <http://www.energy.wsu.edu/ftp-ep/pubs/engineering/chillers_hvac.pdf>;
[28.09.09].
[59] Tolvanen J. Saving energy with variable speed drives. World Pumps 2008:
32–3.
[61] Abbott III L. Power quality and cost analysis of industrial electrical distribution
systems with adjustable speed drives. MS thesis. USA: California State
University; 2006.
[62] Gilbert AM, John GD. Energy management for motor driven
systems. Washington State University; 2000.
[63] Yang M. Demand side management in Nepal. Energy 2006;31:2677–98.
[64] Kuisis M. Efficient use of compressed air. South Africa: ICUE; 2009.
[65] Michael J. Chimack, Christine E. Walker, Robert Miller. Energy conservation
opportunities in the pulp and paper industry: an Illinois case study,
<www.erc.uic.edu/docs/ACEEE-Pulp-Paper_2003.pdf>; 2003 [18.08.09].
[66] Anon. Reduction of the air leak and compressed air reduction by high-efficient
air nozzles. Energy Conserv 2001;53(13):73–5.
[67] Sharma VK, Mincarini M, Fortuna F, Cognini F, Cornacchia G. Disposal of waste
tires for energy recovery and safe environment – review. Energy Convers
Manage 1998;39(5/6):511–28.
[68] Loreta Stankevičiu  té. Energy use and energy management in tyre
manufacturing: the Trelleborg 1 case. Master’s thesis. Lund University; 2000.