Nasser Karimzadeh offers utility master planning services for food and beverage facilities. An integrated master planning approach considers all utility systems holistically to identify optimization opportunities between systems. Key aspects of the utility master planning process include conducting energy audits to assess current energy usage and identify savings opportunities, and planning studies for compressed air, steam, refrigeration, and process heat recovery systems to minimize costs and improve reliability. Investment in a utility master plan can reduce operating expenses and capitalize on efficiency opportunities to gain a competitive advantage.

1. Nasser Karimzadeh, P.E. CEM., LEED AP 1
UTILITY
MASTER
PLANNING
 Dallas, Texas and Irvine, California
 949-836-3632
DO ALL
ENGINEERING
FIRSMS OFFER
THE SAME
SEVICES?
WHAT IS THE
GOAL OF MASTER
PLANNING
WHAT IS OUR
INTEGRATED
MASTER
PLANNING
APPROACH?
WHAY INVEST IN
UTILITY MASTER
PLANNING?
NASSER KARIMZADEH, P.E.
 BSME & MSME
IN THEMAL
ENGINEERING
 CERTIFIED ENERGY
MANAGER BY
ASSOCIATION OF
ENRGEY ENGINEERS

2. Nasser Karimzadeh, P.E. CEM., LEED AP 2
DO ALL ENGINEERING FIRMS OFFER THE SAME SERVICES?
Our team members have operated food facilities, designed utility systems, and managed the utilities
for top fortune 100 Food & Beverage companies in United States. In fact, our in-house master
planning team has worked in all phases of the utilities life cycle in the food & beverage industry. We
consider ourselves a leader in this field, because we have been focused on master planning even
before efficient, sustainable, reliable and Green solutions were in demand.
WHAT IS THE GOAL OF MASTER PLANNING?
Our utility master planning team specializes in developing cost effective strategies for utility systems,
infrastructure, growth, and energy. Our goal is to always minimize operating cost and offer our
customers a competitive advantage. We do this by focusing on the synergy of opportunities between
utilities, efficiencies, sustainability, and integrating of the utility systems we provide you.
With an Integrated Master Planning Approach as our core focus, the traditional engineering
methodologies are being challenged. Our years of experience in design and operation of ammonia
refrigeration, boilers, compressed air and other mechanical utilities will allow us to provide you with an
Integrated Approach to Utility Master Planning which will in turn minimize energy consumption &
maintenance cost, and improve system reliability and ease of operation.
WHAT IS AN INTEGRATED MASTER PLANNING APPROACH?
Integrated Master Planning Approach is a holistic approach to all the utilities in a Food and Beverage
facility. We specialize in all aspects of a Food & Beverage facility and understand the traditional
utilities such as process waste, heat recovery, refrigeration, boiler & steam, compressed air, and
process support utilities (CO2, N2, CO, and more). Often, plant utilities are designed on an ad hoc
basis and the opportunities of the entire spectrum of utilities are not fully used by the design
engineers.
For example: it is common in the Food & Beverage Industry to outsource the refrigeration to a
specialty refrigeration firm, boilers to another firm, and process system to a completely different firm.
Therefore, the designs are compartmentalized and the potential opportunity of using one utility to
optimize the other utility is not captured.
WHY INVEST IN UTILITY MASTER PLANNING?
In today’s competitive economy, planning for the future is the decisive way to get an advantage over
competitors. When it comes to utilities and infrastructure the preparation of a Utility Master Plan is
essential. Early decision making can pay big dividends on capital projects and speed to mark for new
product delivery. This is evident when only minimal infrastructure changes are required. Through this
process, we streamline the details on future utilities (Process Heat recovery, refrigeration capacity,
regulatory limitations such as PSM & RMP, etc.) which save on capital and long term operational
costs. Knowing these details in advance is the key and we are prepared to deliver.

3. Nasser Karimzadeh, P.E. CEM., LEED AP 3
CONTINUE-WHY INVEST IN UTILITY MASTER PLANNING?
The success of many process facilities depends on the performance of the utility system. Utility Master
Planning will allow owners to benefit from:
 Assured performance of utility systems in line with design specification
 System available capacity for expansion or lack of capacity
 Maintain ROI of efficiency investment
 Less production downtime
 Reduced energy cost
 Lower maintenance cost
 Improved worker safety
 Bottom-line increase in productivity, with lower operating cost
 Identify system problems in advance
 Meeting Business Goals

4. Nasser Karimzadeh, P.E. CEM., LEED AP 4
ENERGY AUIDTS/SURVEY FOR UTILTIY MASTER PALNNING
An Energy audit is key to developing a Utility Master Planning. Although energy audits have various
degrees of complexity and can vary widely from one industry to another, every audit typically
involves:
 Data collection and review of system design documents & utility bills
 Plant surveys and utility systems measurements
 Observation and review of operating practices
 Data analysis
 Determination of system capacities and deficiencies
 Identification of energy saving opportunities
In short, the audit is designed to determine where, when, why, and how energy is being used, how
efficiently is used, and how the system operates. The energy audit is a systematic assessment of
Current energy-use practices, from point of purchase to point of end use. The audit identifies how
energy is handled and consumed. The key steps in an energy audit are as follows:
 Conduct condition report- Asses general condition of equipment, operational practices and
impact on utility usage.
 Establish audit mandate- Define expectation and outcome of the audit.
 Establish scope- Define the energy –consuming utilities to be planned and audited.
 Determine energy performance- Determine energy use indices and compare them internally
from one period to another and to best practices.
 Profile energy use patterns-Determine the time relationships of energy use, such as the
electricity demand profile.
 Inventory energy use- Prepare a list of all energy consuming loads, measure their
consumption, and demand characteristics.
 Identify Energy management opportunities- Include operation and technological measures to
reduce energy cost.
 Asses the benefits- Measure energy cost saving, cost to implement, and ROI.

5. Nasser Karimzadeh, P.E. CEM., LEED AP 5
 Identify utility system capacities- Outline utility system capacities and deficiencies.
 Report for action- Report finding, align with client, and plan for implementation.

6. Nasser Karimzadeh, P.E. CEM., LEED AP 6
COMPRESSED AIR SYSTEM PLANNIG
Compressed air one of the principal forms of energy used in industrial processes. It is often the most
expensive when evaluated on a per unit energy delivered basis, and yet it is often inadequately
designed, compressors poorly located, and operation requirements neglected. In addition, compressed
air systems typically develop operational issues and air leaks as they age. For example, 22% of all
compressed air generated in United States is typically lost through leaks, according to U.S. Department
of Energy studies. Utility Master Planning will benefit the compressed air system as follows:
 Survey of the air system equipment and piping
 Identifying system capacity
 Identifying system efficiency
 Identifying energy saving opportunities
 Potentially identifying system leaks


7. Nasser Karimzadeh, P.E. CEM., LEED AP 7
BOILER & STEAM SYSTEM PLANNIG
A steam audit can take several days to complete, depending on the size of the facility. A facility need
not shut down for the procedure; it’s actually better that it continue as usual so the auditor can easily
spot steam leaks and other anomalies during daily operations.
During a boiler room audit, an auditor will check the boiler controls, the boiler, blowdown and feed
water conditioning to identify inefficiency issues. Auditors do an inventory of key equipment, looking
for:
 Energy-saving methods
 Areas to implement better engineering practices
 Health and safety concerns
Check equipment in the boiler room with focuses on potential improvements throughout the energy-
using facility. The evaluator inspects the boiler, steam flow, pressures, temperatures, air handling,
 Steam trapping, piping ancillaries including valving and insulation, condensate handling.
 Identifying steam leaks
 Heat recovery
 Utilization of flash steam

8. Nasser Karimzadeh, P.E. CEM., LEED AP 8
 Return of condensate
INDUSTRIAL REFRIGERATION SYSTEM PLANNIG
Refrigeration is a major consumer of electricity in an industrial facility. For example, refrigeration is the
largest electrical load and is accounted for the bulk of energy related cost in most food processing and
distribution facilities. Typically, industrial refrigeration systems are large vapor compression systems
that mostly utilize ammonia or CO2 and R-507. These systems are prime candidates for targeted
programs to improve their performance and efficiency.
Industrial refrigeration systems are generally field-erected custom engineered refrigeration systems
comprised of separate components provided by different original equipment manufacturers. The
individual components for each system must be carefully selected and integrated by both the
refrigeration design engineer and mechanical contractor to achieve the desired performance and
efficiency.
Our refrigeration system audit and planning will allow the facility owners to better understand the current
state of their equipment and offer the following benefits:
 Decrease energy use and cost
 Increase production
 Improve product quality
 Maximizes equipment life and capital utilization
 Minimizes environmental impact (EPA)
 Reduces accidents (OSHA PSM)

9. Nasser Karimzadeh, P.E. CEM., LEED AP 9
Process Heat Recovery and GREEN INTITATIVES
It doesn’t make sense to waste more heat than necessary, yet this is exactly what happens on many process plants.
Waste heat is energy which ends up in the environment rather than the product. Some process plants have a
considerable number of waste heat flows such as:
 Boiler plant stacks
 Cooling towers
 Dryer exhausts
 Flash steam from condensate tanks
 Process heater, fryers. Ovens, and etc.
There are many other examples. In most cases the heat originates from fuel which has been paid for – reducing the waste
reduces both fuel cost and CO2 emissions.
Reducing waste heat
Broadly speaking there are three main aspects of waste heat reduction.
 Operate the process on a right first time basis
o it is very wasteful to make off-specification product or to process the same material
more than once, especially for energy intensive operations such as drying
 Minimize heat demand of the underlying process
o Maximize the efficiency of thermal utility systems, Example: optimize burners, boilers,
steam systems etc.
o More fundamentally and longer term, develop less energy intensive ways of making the
product and/or less energy intensive products to meet the same customer needs.
 Heat recovery
o reuse waste heat instead of steam or fuel to carry out other heating duties
A focus on heat recovery
In an age of increasing fuel prices and growing concern about the environment, process industries
can no

10. Nasser Karimzadeh, P.E. CEM., LEED AP 10
longer afford not to optimize heat recovery on their sites.
Key heat recovery questions for all process plants
 How much heat recovery is possible?
 Is there use for the recovered heat?
 What are the best heat sources and sinks to use?
 What types of heat exchangers are most appropriate?
 Will the heat recovery make the process harder to control?
 How will heat recovery affect the site CHP system?
 How much will it cost?
HOW DO OUR FOOD CLIENTS BENEFIT FROM A UTILITY MASTER PLANNING?
 Awareness on total utility usage and cost
 Offers data & information for utility system capacity assessment, expansion, and capital
expenditure.
 Identifies compliance to regulatory requirements or lack of it.
 Increases bottom line by making informed decision!