Benchmarking Study for Energy Footprint of Water Bottling in Saudi Arabia

ABSTRACTA benchmarking study was performed for two local water bottling factories in Saudi Arabia. The energy consumption values were compared with internationally reported values. For the local water factories a detailed energy audit was conducted to determine the energy consumption. The power consumption and power factor of each machine in the production process was measured using an energy analyzer. For one of the local energy audits, the heaviest consumption of power was by the injection molding machine, which consumed approximately 37% of the total power; the compressors accounted for 24%; while the chillers took 18% of total power. The power factors of different machines were in the range of 0.7 to 0.9. A benchmarking analysis showed an energy use index (EUI) of 0.41 MJ/liter and 0.29 MJ/liter for the two water bottling plants studied in this research, whereas international benchmarks reported are around 0.25 MJ/liter. Major energy conservation measures suggested were improvement of power factor, el...