Sustainability Projects

Texas Recycling Plant Saves Water with Air-Cooled Air Compressors

By Troy Dreier, Senior Editor, Compressed Air Best Practices® Magazine

There are multiple compressed air applications in a waste management facility. This new recycling center uses laser-guided optical sorters to divide waste, with no human involvement on the sorting line. Laser optics determine what type of material each scrap is, then compressed air jets maneuver each piece to its collection area. Compressed air also powers handheld blow guns used for cleaning, as well as the bundling and packaging system.

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Why Do Steam Traps Fail?

By Bruce Gorelick, Enercheck Systems and Alan Bandes, UE Systems, Inc.

Properly functioning steam traps open to release condensate and automatically close when steam is present. Failed traps waste fuel, reduce efficiency, increase production costs and compromise the overall integrity of the steam and condensate systems. Traps should be tested on a regular basis -- or the neglect may be quite costly.

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Seven Sustainability Projects: Project Implementation

By Thomas Mort, CEM

This article reviews the 7th of the key elements for Low Cost – High Value energy savings. Each of the previous articles reviewed types of projects which are applicable at many facilities. The projects ranged from simple procedural actions such as turning off equipment when it is not making a product to more complex, like adding a water to air heat exchanger and extracting heat from the coolant loops to provide warmed make-up air.

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Heat-Reclaim Economics of Air and Water-Cooled Air Compressors

By Mike Wlodarski, HydroThrift Corporation

It is widely recognized that compressed air systems account for ten percent of all electricity and roughly sixteen percent of U.S. industrial motor system energy use. Seventy percent of all manufacturing facilities in the United States use compressed air to drive a variety of process equipment.

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New Trend in Outdoor Area Lighting

Ted Stouch, President/CEO, Stouch Lighting

Outdoor area lighting can be defined as streets, roadways, parking lots and pedestrian walkways. These applications have been subjected by conventional lighting technologies such as high-intensity discharge (HID) lamps and fixtures. HID lighting has been utilized for many years in outdoor area lighting applications and have well-documented performance attributes. Today’s advancements in Light Emitting Diode (LED) technology have resulted in a new alternative for outdoor area lighting, which has several advantages over existing conventional lighting.

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Carbon Zero Air Compressors

Compressed Air Best Practices

Compressed Air Best Practices spoke with Peter Kyriacopoulos. Mr. Kyriacopoulos is the General Manager/VP USA Region East for Atlas Copco Compressors.

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Printing Facility Reduces Air Demand

Ron Marshall, CET, CIM, Manitoba Hydro

This article will focus on a compressed air system assessment done at a printing facility in Canada. The energy costs at the time, in Manitoba, were \$0.025 per kWh and the installation was of just 65 horsepower of air compressors.

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Seven Sustainability Projects: Heat Recovery

By Thomas Mort CEM

Reducing energy costs and pollution emissions involves many areas within an industrial facility. My studies have found seven (7) key (or common) areas where low cost practical projects can be implemented. Combined, these projects provide savings exceeding 10% of the annual energy spend with an average payback of less than one year. This article will focus on the opportunities for using waste heat sources to supplement winter building heat.

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Sustainability at RR Donnelley

Compressed Air Best Practices interviewed Michael D. Manzella. Mr. Manzella is a Senior Vice President, Environmental, Health, Safety and Quality (EH&S), and also the Chief Sustainability Officer for RR Donnelley (RRD).

Sustainability at RRD starts with a philosophy. It is then executed through a global policy and objectives. RRD’s philosophy does not see sustainability as making a choice between being cost-effective and improving environmental impacts. On the contrary, sustainability represents integrating these two factors. This philosophy guides our sustainability objectives and strategies.

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Seven Sustainability Projects: Metering

By Thomas Mort CEM

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Assessment Improves Electroplater Production

By Paul Shaw, Scales Industrial Technologies

Faced with rising energy costs, a large electroplating company sought to improve the efficiency and reliability of its compressed air system. After getting a quote from their vendor on a new 300-hp compressor to replace an existing unit, the company sought a comparison quote due to the significant investment the new compressor represented. Based on a recommendation from one of their customers, they turned to Scales Industrial Technologies.

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