Industrial Utility Efficiency
Logoplaste, based in Cascais, Portugal, introduced its embedded wall-to-wall manufacturing model to reduce waste and increase efficiency. The model also results in a more economically and environmentally sustainable method of production of rigid plastic packaging since it eliminates the need for a separate secondary packaging plant and the logistics associated with transporting empty bottles.
Bottling companies and breweries, in California, are benefiting from a three-step system assessment process aimed at reducing the electrical consumption of their compressed air systems. The three-step process reduces compressed air demand in bottling lines by focusing on open blowing and idle equipment, and then improves the speci c power (reducing the energy consumption) of the air compressors.
Worldwide, Tesco, a global grocery and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Cheshunt, U.K., initiated the demand for modified atmosphere packaging technology in the early 70s. It became one of the first grocers to move away from employing an onsite butcher to using a central processing/distribution system.
As in most industrial categories, compressed air is critical to the operations of a plastics plant whether it is blow molding, injection molding, or other processes. The opportunities to improve supply side (compressor room) efficiency are similar to all industrial compressed air systems, but are even more prevalent in some plastics facilities, especially blow molding.
Most P.E.T. bottle-blowing machines require anywhere from 550 psig (38 barg) to 580 psig (40 barg) and an air flow of 247 cfm FAD (420 m3/hr) to 3700 cfm FAD (6290 m3/hr). The air compressor technology used most prevalently for this application is the double-acting, oil-free, water-cooled, reciprocating air compressor. With the higher pressures and air flows that are required, the P.E.T. bottle blowing market is a strong niche market for the double-acting oil-free reciprocating (piston) compressors.
The NPE2009 international plastics showcase was held June 22-26 in Chicago’s McCormick Place. While attendance was down from NPE2006, the preliminary total of visitor registrations numbered 44,000. Sustainability and energy efficiency was a prominent topic in the booths of exhibitors. Manufacturers of compressed air and injection molding equipment had many developments with Sustainability to show the visitors to NPE2009.
Resin drying is a critical step in the manufacturing process of injection molding, extrusion molding and stretch blow molding. Compressed air resin dryers are one of the most commonly used dryers in the plastics molding industry. Recent advancements in compressed air membrane-type resin dryers, have reduced the associated energy costs significantly.
The facility is a plastics injection blowmolder and is a division of a large corporation. The following information was produced from a compressed air system assessment done over seven days.
Over the last several decades, Air Power USA has reviewed many various types of plastic injection molding operations throughout the U.S.
Compressed Air Best Practices interviewed Paul Lukitsch. Mr. Lukitsch is the Regional Facilities & Energy Manager for Millipore Corporation.
