In 2021, Monument Brandenburg, Kentucky Site Leader Ken Babcock set a goal to reduce the plant’s Nitrogen usage.

“This was an important goal for the site, both from an economic standpoint but also from the perspective of managing our resources better,” said Ken.

Because the entire team felt a strong responsibility toward the large-scale impact of that goal, they didn’t just hit the target – they smashed it – reducing sitewide Nitrogen usage to historic lows in 2021. Since the effort began in March, the site decreased Tier 2 Nitrogen usage by 100% – a reduction of 60,067,845 SCF N2.

“If you can find a way to minimize excess costs in your utilities, you want to do it,” Will Mayberry, Utility Engineer - Initiative Owner at Brandenburg, explained. “But I know many of us were also driven by the environmental aspect. We believe reducing the impact we make day-to-day is part of a bigger responsibility we all have.”

The site had a targeted savings goal of $100,000 for the year, but the team was hoping to make as big of a reduction as they could. “We just went into the challenge with a fresh mindset — instead of thinking ‘this is how it's always been,’ we started asking `is there a way to do this better?’”

So in a highly unified, site-wide effort, Brandenburg Superintendents, Supervisors, Engineers, and Operators across all areas investigated every aspect of their operations with a “search and destroy” approach. This started with developing a comprehensive picture of the site-wide distribution network, including site-wide leak surveys. In addition, the team thoroughly investigated all areas of the plant – area by area – to better understand usage and to spark ideas for better managing this valuable resource.

“We did a lot of testing, and in one initiative, we relaxed our system a bit — from running 100% to 85%, then to 75% - and noticed we could keep functioning at the level we needed,” said Will.“We also looked at how often the valves were adjusting to reduce pressure swings in the system. What was previously 50-second intervals, we moved lower and lower to minimize the effort the valve had to exert and found that it was much more efficient at 5-10 seconds. All of these little details made a big difference - but they require the greatest attention to detail. It took a total team effort 24/7 to get the answers we needed.”

In the final 10 months of 2021, Brandenburg had “0” Tier 2 Nitrogen usage - a historic best. And a result, the site achieved a savings of ~$190k, nearly double the original goal.

“Being skeptical isn’t always a bad thing,” Will added. “It’s important to ask questions and keep an open mind. There’s always ways to improve how you do things and the impact you have on the world around you.”

Special Shoutout to all the Brandenburg Powerhouse Operators:

• Anthony Greco
• Kerry Kaufman
• Doug Totten
• Phillip Stith
• Kirk Staples
• Andy Givans