Reducing Energy Consumption Using DOE and SPC on Cork Agglomeration Line

The industrial landscape has revealed two trends: increased competitiveness and a greater demand for sustainable solutions. Materials with cork in their composition are an appealing solution, since they guarantee the desired mechanical characteristics while contributing to the prevention of environm...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Hugo Silva, André S. Santos, Leonilde R. Varela
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2024-10-01
Series:Clean Technologies
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2571-8797/6/4/67
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850241164166299648
author Hugo Silva
André S. Santos
Leonilde R. Varela
author_facet Hugo Silva
André S. Santos
Leonilde R. Varela
author_sort Hugo Silva
collection DOAJ
description The industrial landscape has revealed two trends: increased competitiveness and a greater demand for sustainable solutions. Materials with cork in their composition are an appealing solution, since they guarantee the desired mechanical characteristics while contributing to the prevention of environmental degradation. Given the change in external factors, there has been a substantial rise in energy costs. Thus, it is essential to optimize processes, with the aim of reducing the consumption of resources, such as electricity. This project was developed at a company that manufactures cork blocks, sheets, and rolls. Regarding blocks, a critical operation of this line is the high-frequency heating, being the bottleneck of this work center. With the critical variables previously identified, planned experiments were conducted based on DOE’s full factorial methodology. Two out of four products revealed inputs with statistical significance. With these results, a reduction in parameters was implemented in the factors and interactions that showed no statistical significance. Finally, average and amplitude control charts, based on the SPC methodology, were applied to solidify and guarantee the quality of the agglomerated blocks, with the parameter changes already introduced. The company benefited from this study by having a significant reduction in its energy consumption.
format Article
id doaj-art-384996cc478d4b2b96a67eb794081bbe
institution OA Journals
issn 2571-8797
language English
publishDate 2024-10-01
publisher MDPI AG
record_format Article
series Clean Technologies
spelling doaj-art-384996cc478d4b2b96a67eb794081bbe2025-08-20T02:00:41ZengMDPI AGClean Technologies2571-87972024-10-01641407143010.3390/cleantechnol6040067Reducing Energy Consumption Using DOE and SPC on Cork Agglomeration LineHugo Silva0André S. Santos1Leonilde R. Varela2Institute of Engineering, Polytechnic Institute of Porto-ISEP/IPP, 4249-015 Porto, PortugalInterdisciplinary Studies Research Center (ISRC), Institute of Engineering, Polytechnic Institute of Porto-ISEP/IPP, 4249-015 Porto, PortugalAlgoritmi Research Centre, University of Minho, 4810-445 Guimaraes, PortugalThe industrial landscape has revealed two trends: increased competitiveness and a greater demand for sustainable solutions. Materials with cork in their composition are an appealing solution, since they guarantee the desired mechanical characteristics while contributing to the prevention of environmental degradation. Given the change in external factors, there has been a substantial rise in energy costs. Thus, it is essential to optimize processes, with the aim of reducing the consumption of resources, such as electricity. This project was developed at a company that manufactures cork blocks, sheets, and rolls. Regarding blocks, a critical operation of this line is the high-frequency heating, being the bottleneck of this work center. With the critical variables previously identified, planned experiments were conducted based on DOE’s full factorial methodology. Two out of four products revealed inputs with statistical significance. With these results, a reduction in parameters was implemented in the factors and interactions that showed no statistical significance. Finally, average and amplitude control charts, based on the SPC methodology, were applied to solidify and guarantee the quality of the agglomerated blocks, with the parameter changes already introduced. The company benefited from this study by having a significant reduction in its energy consumption.https://www.mdpi.com/2571-8797/6/4/67DOEcorkfull factorialSPCsustainabilityparameter optimization
spellingShingle Hugo Silva
André S. Santos
Leonilde R. Varela
Reducing Energy Consumption Using DOE and SPC on Cork Agglomeration Line
Clean Technologies
DOE
cork
full factorial
SPC
sustainability
parameter optimization
title Reducing Energy Consumption Using DOE and SPC on Cork Agglomeration Line
title_full Reducing Energy Consumption Using DOE and SPC on Cork Agglomeration Line
title_fullStr Reducing Energy Consumption Using DOE and SPC on Cork Agglomeration Line
title_full_unstemmed Reducing Energy Consumption Using DOE and SPC on Cork Agglomeration Line
title_short Reducing Energy Consumption Using DOE and SPC on Cork Agglomeration Line
title_sort reducing energy consumption using doe and spc on cork agglomeration line
topic DOE
cork
full factorial
SPC
sustainability
parameter optimization
url https://www.mdpi.com/2571-8797/6/4/67
work_keys_str_mv AT hugosilva reducingenergyconsumptionusingdoeandspconcorkagglomerationline
AT andressantos reducingenergyconsumptionusingdoeandspconcorkagglomerationline
AT leonildervarela reducingenergyconsumptionusingdoeandspconcorkagglomerationline