The energy crisis in the world and therefore the increase in costs puts pressure on all companies. For this reason, the importance of energy efficiency is increasing day by day, especially energy-intensive areas like in the wood industry. Because of those reasons, Starwood wanted to enhance the overall energy efficiency by saving energy within their drying process in the MDF press line 1.

Starwood was searching for an energy efficiency solution partner to achieve these goals. That's why they reached out to Siemens because of the deep know-how on their processes and special process oriented energy efficiency solutions for all wood industries.

The dryer process is one of the most energy intensive processes in MDF plants. That's why the Siemens service experts used the Eff-DRY software to identify some savings potential. The process know-how and the software were developed by Siemens engineers and commissioned in the MDF plant with the use of a Sinamics GH180 Perfect Harmony drive (2250 kVA) and a new, state-of-the-art SIMATIC S7-300 PLC. 

Technical solution in detail:

• SIMATIC S7-300 PLC and ET200 IO station
• Eff-DRY automation algorithm (PLC) and Scada programming
• Sinamics GH180 Perfect Harmony (2250 kVA) drive and commissioning
• Measurement and verification for Energy Performance Contracting
• Instrumentation for velocity measurement of dusty hot air

The energy performance guarantee was given by Siemens and the before/after measurements and verification was done by certified Siemens Energy Efficiency Experts. 

Starwood, engaged in the wood based panel board industry, is one of the biggest industrial companies in Turkey with its growing production capacity and new investments every year. The company has the highest production volume capacity in Turkey. It produces 2,000 m³ MDF per day on 2 lines and 3,000 m³ chipboard on 3 lines, which is especially specialized in the production of thin MDF from 1.5 mm to 8 mm. Starwood has a total production capacity of 220,000 m² in a 180,000 m² closed area in the İnegöl plant and has a production capacity of 30,000 sheets / day with 8 short cycle press lines (dims 1830 mm and 2100 mm) together with a Georgian plant.