AH Marks

AH Marks is a Bradford based chemical processing company and a key manufacturer of specialist agrochemicals. In recent years, the company has invested significantly in upgrading equipment and introducing environmental improvements.

As a result, investing in combined heat and power (CHP) represented a natural step towards achieving the company's environmental goals, whilst also providing cost savings. CHP reduces industry overheads and improves competitiveness - in effect a win-win technology that makes both a long-term contribution to meeting UK environmental targets, and improves industrial energy efficiency.

Working together with AH Marks, the CHP scheme was designed and constructed to meet the site's project requirements, with increased flexibility and efficiency in operation of the utility.

The scheme comprises a 4.5MW gas turbine and a supplementary/auxiliary fired waste heat recovery boiler, which produces up to 25 tonnes of steam each hour. The boiler is supplementary fired to match the site demand without needing to operate the existing boilers (used as standby).

The plant is operated on a day-to-day basis by AH Marks' personnel whilst all major maintenance is the responsibility of E.ON UK CHP. This has reduced AH Marks' costs and provided an opportunity for staff to develop new skills in CHP utility management.

The £3.5 million CHP scheme is owned and maintained by E.ON UK Cogeneration for a contract period of 20 years.