Intergen’s technological excellence at the service of the Made in Italy flavour of Prosciutto di San Daniele PDO

Energy efficiency, sustainability and reduced emissions for the Principe di San Daniele del Friuli ham production factory, thanks to a modern cogeneration plant with MWM engine, “custom-made” by INTERGEN.

Lomagna (LC), December 2015. A traditional recipe, that of Prosciutto di San Daniele, just the meat of pigs, born and reared in Italy, and sea salt; an innovative contract (the Energy Performance Contract), which allows companies to upgrade energy-consuming systems without having to sustain the investment directly, and with certain operating costs; a young energy-efficient company, Enerlife from Trieste, an Energy Intelligence Company, which makes the rational use and awareness of energy consumption a business model to be shared with other companies: these are the ingredients that have allowed Principe, leader in the quality cured-meats sector for over 60 years, to improve its own simple, traditional recipe, thanks to a “customised” solution by Intergen, a leader company in the design and manufacture of custom-made cogeneration solutions for efficient industry.

The processing companies in the food sector are often large consumers of electricity and heat and therefore have a great interest in interventions that improve efficiency, which they can obtain thanks to the installation of cogeneration plants.

Principe has always searched for the best solutions for obtaining greater efficiency and control of the crucial production processes, such as curing; choosing to use modern technologies in order to obtain a top quality end product. Investments in plants and advanced technologies are essential for businesses that want to enter the market with impeccable quality.

The economic savings are a strong incentive, making these investments extremely appealing and attractive; so much so that Enerlife invested directly in the San Daniele project, signing a “shared savings” contract. The formula used has two unique features: 1) the cogenerating plant and the connection system to the company’s plants are property of Enerlife and are granted to the company free of charge, 2) the two partners (Principe and Enerlife) make savings through the production of energy using the cogenerating plant and divide said savings fifty-fifty. The remuneration of the ESCo therefore depends on the level of energy saving and ultimately from the analysis of the efficiency of the technology used, the quality of the project and the optimisation of the management of the system and the interfaces with the company process. Furthermore, since ESCo and company can access the so-called white certificates (Energy Efficiency Credits), this revenue can also be shared, further increasing the saving deriving from the installation of the cogeneration plant.

An extremely interesting example of that described in this article, is represented by the plant manufactured by Intergen, the cogeneration dept. of the IML Impianti Group, at the Principe di San Daniele del Friuli ham production factory (UD).

Established over 60 years ago, the Principe ham production factory is part of the Kipre Holding, owned by the Dukcevich family from Trieste, which through the holding also controls another operating company, King’s; a company that produces cured and smoked hams. Regarding San Daniele PDO, the Principe ham production factory is, as of today, the largest producer of the Consortium.

In the establishment of San Daniele, the San Daniele PDO ham is processed and cured for up to 20 months in full compliance with the legal provisions. The production site has a covered area of 10,000 m² over three floors and a technical gallery. The production of San Daniele ham involves noteworthy absorption of electric and heat energy during all processing and curing stages. To give just a few examples, the double salting stage must be carried out in environments with temperature between -1°C and + 3°C; the acclimatisation and washing of the product (pre-curing) requires hot water; the rest and curing stages take place in environments with temperature between 4°/6°C and relative humidity stabilised between 70/80%; the anti-microbiological treatments of the curing salts require hot water. The curing stage is particularly important for the quality of the product and extends from a minimum of 13 up to 20 months from the start of the process. It is in this phase that the Principe ham production factory has made investments, in order to guarantee traceability and constant high quality.

Faced with the significant use of energy that characterises the entire preparation process, the company has embarked on the road to energy efficiency in order to reduce costs and improve its competitiveness, managing to cut a market share also overseas, where Principe has represented Made in Italy for several years now with its products of excellence. Pursuing optimisation in the allocation of resources, Principe has decided to rely on an ESCo for energy efficiency interventions. Enerlife of Trieste was chosen, which after having carried out an intervention at the Group’s establishment in Trieste with a 400 kWe cogenerating plant, tackled the much larger plant for the Group’s main establishment at San Daniele. Also in this case, the intervention was of the ESCo-type, therefore without capital investments by Principe, governed by a Shared Savings agreement.

On assuming the risk in full, the selection of the technology and plant supplier was particularly critical for Enerlife. The choice was made in favour of Intergen for its proven experience in the industrial cogeneration sector, for the technological excellence of its units based on MWM endothermic engines and for its “customised” approach to manufacturing plants to meet the customer’s needs. The unit supplied is equipped with 800 kW electrical output and 407 kW thermal output TCG 2016V16C, which can be recovered by the cooling circuit of the engine casing and 454 kWt from the exhaust fumes. Electric efficiency is 42.3%, while thermal efficiency reaches 45.5%, for a total of 87.8%; the top of the category. The cogeneration unit is connected with low voltage to the establishment mains and the hot water circuit.

The entire production of electricity is totally consumed by the establishment utilities necessary for the production process: refrigeration, air conditioning and ventilation of the preparation premises, rest and curing etc. The heat energy, in the form of hot water, is used to wash the product, to dehumidify the air and for the environmental anti-biological treatment of the curing salt.

The application of the cogeneration unit allows interesting savings also in this last phase, since the absorption of energy attributable to it is practically continuous, more than 8,000 hours over a year; an ideal condition for cogeneration.

The introduction of the new cogeneration plant into the Principe di San Daniele production establishment respects specifications and unique requirements, also from the point of view of space, access and manoeuvre logistics in the adjacent area. Thanks to a “customised” design, Intergen has managed to develop and build the new plant around the establishment’s work activities. Ground clearance of the cogenerating unit has been reduced to a minimum thanks to a package in container configuration with the covering entirely dedicated to the positioning of the smoke pipe exchanger for the production of hot water, fitted with fumes diverter valve and emergency bypass, the muffler and, finally, the V-shaped radiator for the emergency disposal of cylinder liner heat and the intercooler. The components were positioned in synergy with the company’s activities, making the choice of a cogeneration plant at the service of the establishment where it is introduced and used even more functional and effective. Customisation of the product is a driver that Intergen has always embraced for the enhancement of its plants. In addition to high performance, the industry market increasingly requests customised solutions able to address the specific space and positioning needs, which in decades of use lead to further benefits and savings.

INTERGEN has also been able to provide a “customised” software instrument for the metering and monitoring of heat recovery, which is able to acquire all parameters (not only those coming from the cogeneration system) useful for the optimisation and better management of heat transfer mediums. The profitability of the project improves also thanks to the maximum performance of its entire operation. The monitoring software and remote control have thus been improved by an additional section for monitoring, the metering and management of the hot water utilities produced and carried in the establishment. In this way, the customer is put in the condition to introduce further improvements and therefore achieve greater savings.

Reliability, performance and strength are the elements with which Intergen selects its component suppliers, in order to manufacture and offer winning plant solutions in the industrial cogeneration field to support the most varied sectors, from foodstuffs to chemicals and paper. The INTERGEN “customised” cogeneration plant manufactured for the Principe ham production factory is built with high quality components, such as the MWM engines, of which the IML Impianti Group has been exclusive distributor in Italia for almost thirty years and represents an example of engineering and plant engineering excellence.