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The U. S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Industrial Technologies Program (ITP), through Oak Ridge National Laboratory, is supporting plant wide energy efficiency assessments that will lead to substantial improvements in industrial efficiency, waste reduction, productivity, and global competitiveness in industries identified in ITP’s Industries of the Future. The stated goal of the assessments is to develop a comprehensive strategy at manufacturing locations that will significantly increase plant productivity, profitability, and energy efficiency, and reduce environmental emissions. ITP awarded a contract to Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation to conduct a plant wide energy efficiency assessment for their Mt Pleasant Facility in Mt Pleasant, Texas. Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation is the largest poultry company in the U.S. and Mexico producing nearly 9 billion pounds of poultry per year. Pilgrim's Pride products are sold to foodservice, retail and frozen entree customers. Pilgrim's Pride owns and operates 37 chicken processing plants (34 in the U.S. and three in Mexico), 12 prepared foods plants and one turkey processing plant. Thirty-five feed mills and 49 hatcheries support these plants. Pilgrim's Pride is ranked number 382 on 2006's FORTUNE 500 list and net sales were $7.4 billion. In Mt. Pleasant, Texas, Pilgrim's Pride operates one of the largest prepared foods plants in the United States, with the capability of producing 2,000 different products and the capacity to turn out more than 7 million pounds of finished goods per week. The facility is divided into distinct departments: East Kill, West Kill, Prepared Foods, Protein Conversion, Wastewater Treatment, and Truck Shop. Facility processes include killing, eviscerating, refrigeration, baking, frying, and protein conversion. Pilgrim’s Pride formed a team to complete the plant wide energy efficiency assessment. The scope of work for this project was to: provide the analysis of departmental energy use, identify areas for detailed analysis, perform a detailed analysis for several of the opportunities identified, and support the development of an energy strategy for the facility. The team consisted of Pace Global Energy Services, LLC; Hudson Technologies Company; Rocky Research, Inc.; and W.J. Turpish and Associates. The project used a systematic approach to complete a plant-wide energy efficiency assessment at the Mt Pleasant Facility. Major energy consuming equipment and processes were determined and opportunities for high annual savings potential were targeted for further evaluation. Exhibit 1 below summarizes the major savings opportunities at the site. The total energy savings represent 14% of the energy consumed on site on an MMBtu basis, with 12% of total energy savings achievable in projects with less than a two year payback. Pace Global Energy Services, LLC of Fairfax, Virginia provided the analysis of departmental energy use, identification of areas for detailed analysis, and support for the development of an energy strategy for the facility. Hudson Technologies Company analyzed the combustion and steam systems to identify opportunities for economic heat recovery and improvement in boiler operations. Rocky Research, Inc analyzed the refrigeration systems and W.J. Turpish and Associates reviewed the cooling towers and evaporative condensers.

Tokushu Paper Mfg. Co., Ltd., founded in 1926, is presently numbered among the most unique paper makers in Japan. It has two mills, one in Mishima and the other in Gifu. Mishima Mill is located at the foot of Mt. Fuji in Shizuoka Prefecture and Gifu Mill introduced here is situated in Gifu Prefecture, which is one of the most famous forest arears in Japan.The mill, which has five paper making machines, produces more than one thousand variations of fine papers depending on customer's requirements. The current paper production is 1, 000 metric tons per month. These speciality papers have provided good appearance and satisfaction as artistic printing paper for users in Japan, as well as overseas'.The mill has about 25, 000m2 site and 250 skilled employees.

Mishima Paper Co., Ltd. was established in 1918 and since then it has been specialized in the manufacture of thin paper. Presently it owns a head office in Tokyo and two mills; one is Harada Mill in Fuji City (Please refer to the May, 1980 issue of this magazine.) and the other is Suita Mill in Suita City, Osaka which we are going to introduce here.Since 1970 when the world famous EXPO'70 was held there, Suita City has rapidly grown to be an important center of traffic and economy in the Kinki districts as well as a bedroom town of Osaka. Suita Mill is located just on the border between two big cities, Suita and Osaka, and may be called as a typical urban plant. The mill has highly developed its manufacturing facilities, taking every possible care to avoid environmental pollution.Suita Paper Mfg. Co., Ltd., original of the present Suita Mill, was founded in 1928 for the purpose of manufacturing cigarette-paper and incorporated with Mishima Paper Co., Ltd. in 1936. From that time on, the mill has been an important base of our company's marketing in west JapanSuita Mill has three Fourdrinier machines and its main products are cigarette-paper, Indiapaper, copying-paper, carbon base-paper, etc. The mill site covers an area of about 36, 000 m2 and the mill employees count about 200.