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Harnessing the Power: Cleveland Brothers Joins PepsiCo’s Green Initiative  

By: Brittney Christopher
April 16, 2018

Article featured in Run Ready magazine.

Gatorade Pepsi - Co-generation & Heat Recover | Cleveland Brothers CatIn 2006, PepsiCo made a full-on commitment to sustainability when it unveiled its Performance with Purpose initiative. Harnessing the power of its global scale, the iconic food and beverage company outlined far-reaching goals to make healthier food and curb its environmental footprint, resulting in savings of $600 million between 2011 and 2015. Two years ago, PepsiCo re-upped its sustainability goals, which include improving water use efficiency by 25 percent by 2025 and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2030.

As Director of Sustainability for PepsiCo’s North American beverage operations, Andy Lempera oversees environmental programs in 65 manufacturing facilities in North America that make Gatorade, Tropicana and Pepsi. “We provide a lot of manufacturing jobs, and some of these facilities are in water-stressed areas, so we’re very sensitive to the fact that we’re using water for our product, and we want to use it as efficiently as possible,” Lempera said from PepsiCo’s office in downtown Chicago, which features first floor public displays that demonstrate the company’s sustainability efforts.

 

Generation Next

Utilizing cogeneration within its manufacturing facilities is a key piece of PepsiCo’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, a typical power plant, no matter what the fuel—whether it’s nuclear, coal or natural gas—operates at about 30 percent net efficiency. Most of that wasted energy dissipates in the atmosphere. “With cogeneration, we generate electricity onsite where we can capture the heat, which means we can operate at increased net efficiencies of more than 70 percent,” Lempera says. “In the course of making Gatorade, we have a very high thermal demand, so we’re able to recover that heat from the generator set and put it to good use, offsetting our consumption of natural gas.”

At the Gatorade facility in Mountain Top, Pa., a Cat® G3516H gas generator set drives a combined heat and power (CHP) system for a beverage-making operation that produces 140 million gallons of the popular sports drink annually.

The CHP project was developed in late 2015 by Cat dealer Cleveland Brothers Power Systems, with construction taking place throughout most of 2016 and final commissioning in January 2017. The project scope included upgrading the facility’s medium-voltage switchgear and heat recovery systems.

Heat Recovery Solution at Gatorade | Cleveland Brothers Cat
The power produced by the generator is used throughout the Mountain Top facility for everything from air conditioning to process control of Gatorade production. The facility uses a peak of 3 MW of power in the summertime. The Cat generator produces 2 MW, meaning that two-thirds of the facility’s peak energy needs are supplied by the CHP system. “This CHP system is well suited for the application because we use a lot of heat in our manufacturing process in addition to electric power,” says Hank Bastemeyer, a controls resource engineer at the Gatorade plant.

Driven by the Cat genset, the CHP system makes about 2,800 lbs./hr. of 100 psi steam, and provides roughly five to six million BTU per hour of hot water. The Mountain Top facility uses three different heat sources from the cogeneration system:

  • Exhaust gas is used to generate steam that is used in the beverage-making process.
  • Jacket water used for cooling the engine is utilized in a heat recovery loop.
  • Aftercooler water is used for preheating Gatorade prior to the pasteurization process.

“One thing we’ve instituted that wasn’t part of the original design is taking the crankcase vent gases and recirculating them back into the engine,” Bastemeyer adds. “So that provides us with a much greener footprint for the engine.”

 

Cleveland Brothers Support

Cleveland Brothers Power Systems provided a turnkey proposal for the generator installation, serving as construction manager for the entire project, as well as the vendor for the generator. Cleveland Brothers also provides all maintenance of the CHP system through a 10-year Customer Support Agreement.

Facilities staff at the Gatorade plant conduct a daily inspection of the G3516H genset. “If plant personnel identify a concern, they call Cleveland Brothers, and being local, they’re able to respond very quickly—their technicians are near the Mountain Top facility, and a short drive away—so they arrive typically within a half hour, but surely within the same day,” Lempera says.

Bastemeyer has developed a software monitoring system that provides live, comprehensive information about the CHP system, including performance of the Cat engine. “We also have a cell signal that’s being connected to the engine, so that Cleveland Brothers can remotely monitor the system, as well,” he says. “We have email and text messages when there’s an alert. So both myself and Cleveland Brothers receive information from the engine 24/7.”

The staff at the Mountain Top plant is also evaluating the possibility of utilizing biogas derived from its wastewater treatment system as an additional fuel source for the Cat genset, Bastemeyer says. “We have a good relationship with Cleveland Brothers,” he says. “It’s the expectation of PepsiCo that the genset runs 90 percent of the time or better, and we are working with them to achieve that goal.”

 

Green = Big savings

Since it began operating in late January with full heat recovery, Lempera says the CHP system will save the Gatorade facility about $1 million in annual electric utility costs. That savings is offset by added use of natural gas to run the generator, as well as regular maintenance performed by Cleveland Brothers. Annual net savings with the CHP system is expected to total about $600,000, he says.

“PepsiCo is looking to reduce costs as any other company would, but we also have a very green incentive,” Bastemeyer says. “By installing a cogeneration system and generating power onsite, we are reducing our greenhouse emissions, so it’s better for the environment, as well as saving us money in energy costs.” When selecting a generator, PepsiCo bases its decision on price, local support, and also operating experience with the engines. “We have several Cat generators in our fleet, and we’ve had good experience with them,” Lempera says. “The entire project was turnkey, and Cleveland Brothers was in the right ballpark for what we expect on price. So at the end of the day, pricing and our experience with Caterpillar helped us make our decision.”

Currently, PepsiCo is nearing completion of a 3.6 MW cogeneration system consisting of three Cat 3512E generator sets at its Indianapolis Gatorade facility. Lempera says there is more to come. “Based on the success we’ve had at the Mountain Top facility and our ongoing project at Indianapolis, we have more opportunities for cogeneration systems, and we’ll continue to work on developing additional projects that serve our needs and help us meet our sustainability goals.”

Learn more about Cogeneration Solutions

Want to learn more about Co-generation Systems and delivering a leaner operation at your facility, send us a message online to speak with an expert or visit our Co-generation and Heat Recovery Solutions page.


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