Industrial Utility Efficiency

Plastics

Rotary Screw Booster Advances for Blow Molding

By Manoj Purohit, Product Marketing Manager (High Pressure Air/Gases), Atlas Copco Compressors

Compressed air boosters are engineered to amplify medium-pressure air (90–150 psig) to high-pressure ranges up to 435 psig (30 barg) using oil-free rotary screw technology, IE5 permanent magnet motors and advanced VSD+ drivetrains for improved turndown and energy efficiency. By combining Class 0 oil-free air quality, synchronous PM motor performance (up to 97% efficiency) and intelligent controls, next-generation booster systems deliver higher flow stability, reduced specific energy consumption and seamless integration into existing compressed air networks.

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Making an Impact at Berry Global

By Roderick Smith, Compressed Air Best Practices® Magazine

Berry Global was established in 1967 as a small hometown company, based in Evansville, Indiana. Today it is still headquartered in Evansville but has grown to 48,000+ global employees and more than 295 locations. Generating \$12.6 billion in 2019 pro forma net sales, Berry Global creates innovative packaging and protection solutions.
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Schoeneck Containers Leaves No Stone Unturned with Compressed Air

By Mike Grennier, Compressed Air Best Practices® Magazine

When compressed air is essential to the production of up to one million plastic containers per day there’s little room for error. That’s why Schoeneck Containers, Inc. (SCI) leaves no stone unturned to ensure its compressed air systems run smoothly at all times and without fail at its bustling facilities in Wisconsin.
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Sustainability Pillars at Intertape Polymer Group Inc.

By Roderick M. Smith, Compressed Air Best Practices® Magazine

In February 2021, Compressed Air Best Practices® Magazine interviewed members of the Intertape Polymer Group Inc. (IPG) Sustainability Pillars team to gain an understanding of the work being done to improve energy efficiency. The team members interviewed were Michael Jones (Director of Corporate Energy), Michael Deitering (Senior Project Engineer), Jarrod Knapp (Maintenance Manager) and Mark Secord (Engineering Group Leader).  
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Winpak Reduces Demand by 33% and Switches to Oil-Free Air Compressors

By Ron Marshall, Marshall Compressed Air Consulting

By making changes primarily focused on compressed air uses, Winpak, an international plastics products manufacturer based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, increased compressed air production capacity and reduced annual energy consumption by 33%. These benefits have been accomplished while the company was making the switch to lubricant-free compressed air to support product quality goals. This article discusses some of these changes and addresses measures that could be implemented in any compressed air system.
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Pneumatics Boost Productivity of Doroti Pack Thermoforming Machine

By Daniel Math, Aventics

For more than 20 years, Hungarian-based Doroti Pack Ltd. has specialized in the production and servicing of state-of-the-art packaging machines. Their focus is on developing, manufacturing, producing and selling premium-quality packaging equipment, including their line of DorPack thermoforming machines which are often used for food products such as fresh meat, fish, dairy products, bakery ware, confectionery and ready-cooked foods. Dorati Pack chose to incorporate Aventics pneumatic components in latest thermoforming machine for optimal productivity and machine longevity.
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Plastics Plant Saves 55% in Energy with VSD Air Compressor and Sequencer

By Ron Marshall, Marshall Compressed Air Consulting

The plant produces both molded and blow molded plastic parts on a 5 day per week, three shift schedule. Production and maintenance sometimes occurs on weekends, occasionally requiring the air compressors to run on a 24 x 7 basis so the practice was to leave the compressed air system always pressurized. The system consisted of three modulating lubricated screw compressors one sized at 150 hp and the others 125 hp (3 units), each controlled with their local compressor controllers.
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Pepsi Bottling Plant Upgrades Oil-Free Compressed Air Systems

By Ron Marshall, Marshall Compressed Air Consulting

The Pepsi bottling plant in Winnipeg, Manitoba has upgraded both their main 100 psi compressed air system and their 600 psi PET bottling system in two separate projects. The system improvements have saved the company both maintenance and electrical operating costs, and even reduced some winter heating demand.
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Plastic Extruder Reduces Compressed Air Use by 367 cfm

By Don van Ormer, Air Power USA

A plastic product manufacturer spends an estimated \$245,000 annually on electricity to operate the air compressors in a compressed air system at its plant located in a midwestern U.S. state.  The main manufacturing process is plastic extruding. The current average electric rate, at this plant, is 7 cents per kWh. The compressed air system operates 8,760 hours per year and the load profile of this system is relatively stable during all shifts.
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Plastic Extruder Optimizes Blow-Offs for Cooling

By Hank van Ormer, Air Power USA

At a Midwest window manufacturing plant, the cooling process for the plastic frame pieces, after leaving the extruder, was critical to process productivity and quality. Too much cooling air (or not enough cooling air) would generate scrap and rejected product. The plants’ 17 extruders and 55 separate blow-offs in these lines had similar cooling stations at the cooling boxes. They consisted of about three hoses at each exit frame angled down to the extruded piece moving past it. The compressed air flow was controlled by a manual control valve set by an operator. The operator used his experience to control the flow delivered and thereby control the product quality.
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