Part of the DuPont group, the Kotka factory in Finland produces xylitol, a natural sweetener, along with top-grade fruit sugar, fructose. The factory is the world’s first, largest and most capable xylitol production plant. Xylitol and fructose are used as raw ingredients in the food and pharmaceutical industries.
World’s largest xylitol factory relies on Sarlin
The world’s largest and most efficient xylitol producer, the Kotka factory of Danisco Sweeteners Oy, uses high-quality compressed air in its production.
Food-grade compressed air
The factory requires food-grade compressed air for its various machines and tools. Danisco uses all Sarlin services for compressed air production, management, maintenance and monitoring.
The largest amount is consumed by the pressurised tubes used for material transfers between sections. Because the compressed air comes into contact with products, it must be of excellent quality to meet the strict standards of the food industry.
Long partnership
Sarlin and Danisco have collaborated for two decades already. Along the years, the Kotka factory has housed many oil-free screw compressors and adsorption dryers supplied by Sarlin.
In addition, the factory uses a CompAir Quantima high-speed turbocompressor. The latest purchase from Sarlin is the energy-saving vacuum-regenerated dryer manufactured by FST that has managed to save 25 per cent in compressed air consumption – an outstanding cost saving.
The Sarlin maintenance contract leaves Danisco with extra internal maintenance resources with which to target production challenges elsewhere.
Control by Sarlin Balance since 2003
Management of the compressed air system has been handled with the Sarlin Balance system since 2003 and a software upgrade is now in the works. With the new version of Sarlin Balance, the factory will have new opportunities for development with even better control and reporting options.
The shared objective of the partners has been energy-efficient and reliable compressed air production.
Verifiable energy cost savings have been achieved with the use of the Sarlin Optimi service and the Sarlin Balance system. Sarlin Balance allows optimal compressor control and provides system data for energy efficiency project planning.
Sarlin Optimi service
Sarlin Optimi is our service for ensuring the optimal and cost-efficient operation of compressed air systems and it allows us to contribute to the development of the system. The service is based on the Sarlin Balance control, monitoring and data collection system, which is also used by Danisco Sweeteners.
