Harnessing steam for paper factory in Däniken
Cartaseta needs a huge quantity of steam for its paper manufacturing process. Luckily its neighbour, Gösgen nuclear power station, happens to produce huge volumes of steam as a by-product for which it has no need. So what could be better for Cartaseta than to purchase hot steam directly from the nuclear power station? One tricky task was to connect the paper factory to the nuclear power plant's waste steam system. So it called in the professionals from Kraftanlagen Heidelberg (KAH), an Alpiq subsidiary based in Germany.
Full-service contract covering everything from engineering to start-up The work began in mid-2008. KAH installed a new evaporator system capable of delivering 10 tonnes of steam per hour at a pressure of 15 bars. Outside the nuclear power station the engineers from Heidelberg set up an auxiliary steam and condensate pipeline from the power plant to the paper factory. Part of the new steam line is above ground so as to facilitate line checks and maintenance. The full system has been in continual operation since 1 November 2009.
Hot steam protects the environment For Cartaseta, purchasing hot steam is not only economically beneficial but also protects the environment since the company no longer needs to burn heavy oil for steam production. This means the company can avoid emitting several thousand tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, as well as sulphur dioxide, nitrous oxides and other air pollutants.