GSH Group Awarded the Gold Award of Excellence in FM 2020 by the Global FM Trade Organisation
GSH Group is pleased to announce it has been selected by Global FM – the global facilities management organisation – as its Gold Award of Excellence in Facilities Management for 2020 recipient. The award is in recognition of GSH Group’s innovative project to transform biomass-waste created in the extract production process into a burnable fuel and supplement to coal which is actively used in the manufacturing process.
Founded in May of 2006, Global FM’s mission is to foster collaboration between the many organizations that support the facilities management industry around the world. Their member organisations include IFMA (North America), ABRAFAC (Brasil), IWFM (British Isles), EUROFM (Europe), HFMS (Hungary), MEFMA (Middle East), SAFMA (South Africa), FMA (Australia), and FMANZ (New Zealand).
The Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management (IWFM) specifically nominated GSH Group as its representative for this year’s Global FM Awards and the company and organisation are mutually pleased with the decision. GSH Group’s CEO, Mark Thomas summarised the Team’s collective sentiments:
“As Energy and Facilities Management professionals, we realise industrial and commercial real estate are large consumers of energy and producers of greenhouse gases. We also realise, in our management and consulting roles, that we are in a unique position to assist our client-facilities in combatting waste and inefficiencies. Leveraging our 125-years’ experience in engineering, I am ever delighted to see our people using ingenuity and determination to transform waste to fuel and reduce the carbon footprint.”
The Project: Fuel Switch, Moving from Coal to Turmeric and Chilli
Beginning in 2015, GSH Group worked with Indian-based food processor Kaleesuwari to produce steam used in the extraction of oils from nuts, seeds, and other raw materials for sale into the food, beauty, and household markets in the country. In assessing the site and noticing an abundance of plant waste created in the refining and extraction processes, GSH Group’s astute Energy Department saw the opportunity to salvage and reuse this otherwise useless rubbish (that required routine carting and disposal services).
In November 2017, GSH Group started to mix biomass – including sawdust, wood charcoal powder, and turmeric and chilli – with coal as a fuel for the fluidized-bed combustion boilers in two power refineries in Palani and Chennai. Over the course of the following six months, the mixtures increased to 60% biomass in the Palani plant and 20% biomass in the Chennai plant. In burning less coal, GSH Group helped Kaleesuwari achieve a combined 60% reduction in CO2 emissions while also reducing steam costs by 15%. Further still, the Biomass ash content was lower when compared to coal, making for easier and more environmentally friendly disposal of the ash. In addition, by using waste as fuel, Kaleesuwari drastically reduced its need to cart the waste offsite and instead began stockpiling biomass as future energy.
Thomas goes on to describe the project, “Innovation is at the heart of the GSH approach, and this project epitomises the way we do business. I am thrilled that our engineers’ hard work and dedication to our clients and the environment has been recognised by Global FM.”
In total, Global FM made four awards this year including;
- Platinum Award of Excellence in FM 2020 to Citi (IFMA, nominated)
- Gold Award of Excellence in FM 2020 to GSH Group (IWFM, nominated)
- Silver Award of Excellence in FM 2020 to Imdadd (MEFMA, nominated)
- Highly Commended Award of Excellence in FM 2020 to Blue IoT (FMA, nominated)
Duncan Waddell, Chairman of Global FM summed up this year’s ceremonies aptly. “Global FM would like to thank all nominees for the time and effort in their respective applications. The quality and demonstration of benefits and output is testament to how the delivery of FM services continues to positively impact many sectors around the world.”
In reflecting one final time on the accomplishment, Mark Thomas went on to say “It is with great pride and appreciation we accept this award, but we also realise there is much more work to be done with relation to facilities management, the environment, and energy consumption. Our people ‘Always On’ -poised and ready to deliver innovative projects at client-facilities around the world. Thank you to Global FM and congratulations to our fellow awardees.”