Crucible Specialty Metals Plant Survey

A plant wide assessment, with funding from DOE's Industrial Technology Program and the NY State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), was conducted at Crucible Specialty Metals in Syracuse, NY. A number of recommendations were implemented that resulted in a total annual energy savings of 203,406 MMBtu (natural gas reduction) and 27.3 million kWh (electric reduction). The total annual cost savings is $3.3 million, with an installed cost of $2.5 million, yielding a simple payback of 0.8 years.

The survey had two major components; the study of the plant's process equipment (such as furnaces) and the study of the plant's utilities (such as air compressors, lights, and motors). We first took a top-down approach to studying Crucible's overall plant including a detailed look at its gas and electric bills. The second step was to evaluate several utility technologies and a number of process technologies that Crucible deemed to be of high priority to their operation.