Kemira – Smart Lighting for the Process Industry

Kemira Rotterdam produces hydrogen peroxide in various grades at its Europoort site, for applications such as wastewater treatment, cleaning beverage packaging, and paper bleaching. As is common in the process industry, the installation was illuminated 24/7 for safety reasons. Kemira believed this could be done smarter. That is why the company contacted itsme Lighting Technology. “In addition to saving energy, we now also save on maintenance.”

The lighting was getting worse and worse, noticed Yuri Verschuur, who joined Kemira three years ago. As a maintenance supervisor E/I, he is responsible for maintenance and investment projects. “Most of it was still fluorescent lighting. It could definitely use an upgrade.” Fluorescent lighting was being phased out, explains Ronald Los, lighting consultant at itsme Lighting Technology. “It was becoming increasingly difficult for Kemira to keep the existing lighting operational, so we needed to explore new ideas together.”

Safe, Energy Efficient and Robust

In 2023, the process of mapping the site and defining the key requirements for the upgrade began, says Yuri Verschuur. “Naturally, the new lighting had to be safe, energy efficient, and robust, because it has to function in an industrial environment where scaffolding builders walk around with pipes that can bump into anything. Part of the lighting is installed outdoors and exposed to sun and rain, so it had to be resistant to that as well. Finally, it needed to be easy to maintain and preferably as maintenance-free as possible.”

“For the lighting, we looked for a partner that could take us into the future.”

Kemira and itsme entered into discussions and involved their on-site installer SPIE. Ronald Los created a lighting plan and prepared quotations for various brands of luminaires. Ultimately, the choice fell on LED luminaires from the German supplier Schuch. Yuri Verschuur: “I knew them from my previous work in the installation sector. I worked extensively with Schuch luminaires back then, and they always served me well. I never had issues with them, and they were pleasant to operate and easy to open.” Ronald Los adds: “We looked for a partner that could take us into the future, because we wanted to supply products that we would still be able to maintain ten years from now. My real motivation was seeing the lighting on every time I drove to the Botlek or Europoort. How could we ensure that those plants only used light when they actually needed it? To achieve that, we needed a product with a proven track record. That’s why we chose Schuch.”

Smart features

All luminaires, more than 150 in total, have now been installed. The outdoor luminaires are equipped with smart features, while the indoor ones are not. They are the same type of luminaire, says Ronald Los. “We wanted to keep everything within one series to standardize as much as possible.”

“These smart features include day/night detection, motion detection and a dimming function that adjusts based on the amount of daylight. Yuri Verschuur: “By default, the light is dimmed to 10 percent intensity. When someone passes a motion sensor, the intensity of the nearby luminaires increases to 100 percent for, for example, two hours. After that, the light slowly dims back to 10 percent until someone walks by again. If there is sufficient daylight, the lighting simply switches off, for instance one hour after sunrise, and turns back on one hour before sunset. We are currently fine-tuning the exact settings, after which the final commissioning can be carried out.”

“The payback period is between three and four years”

It is still too early to say anything about the actual savings, but according to the calculations, the payback period for the investment is between three and four years, reports Yuri Verschuur. “In addition to the energy savings, we also included the maintenance savings in the calculation. The government requires us to implement energy-saving measures and uses a five-year period for payback. If we manage to achieve this in a shorter period, such a project is even more advisable.” The maintenance savings are partly due to the reduction in operating hours and the gradual switching on and off of the lights, which prevents peak currents.

A follow-up project is coming up for the lighting in the control room; itsme will first conduct a demo there. Lighting is also important in that location, explains Yuri Verschuur. “This is a process plant where the control room is occupied 24/7. It still has fluorescent lighting with reflector hoods—old technology that has been proven not to be ideal for someone who may be there at any time of day or night. We are therefore going for full-light-spectrum lamps that mimic sunlight. You can filter out blue light and reintroduce it when needed.” Once this is implemented, the lighting at Kemira Rotterdam’s Europoort site will be fully up-to-date, aside from some ATEX lighting that is still somewhat outdated.

Less lighting during the day

Ronald Los from itsme sees new opportunities at Kemira’s Botlek site. “That site is even larger than the Europoort location, so we’re trying to start discussions there as well.” Yuri Verschuur can at least give his colleagues at Botlek a great demonstration and share his positive experiences with itsme. “The design work is solid, and communication runs smoothly, just like with SPIE, with whom we have been working for a long time. We are transparent with each other, and once expectations were clearly discussed, communication went very well. Ronald and his colleagues at itsme are always reachable if there are questions.”

Ronald Los adds: “I really enjoy this project because I have a direct line to Yuri. When you start a project, you think you know everything, but there are always questions and new things. He doesn’t beat around the bush and just tells you what he thinks, even if something isn’t right and we need to fix it. I think it has gone well, because at least we’re allowed to return for the control room.”

If a project also arises for the Botlek site, both Europoort and Botlek will be a bit better during the day and less unnecessarily lit. “Let’s hope so. It shows outsiders that serious work is being done on energy saving.”

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