Industrial Utility Efficiency

Compressor Controls

Egger Modernizes Its Compressed Air System for the ESG Era

By Graham Coats, Director of Strategic Product and Business Development, CMC

Wood-based materials manufacturing plant transformed its compressed air system from an invisible utility into a data-driven energy asset by deploying a modern, multi-zone monitoring and control platform. The upgrade delivered real-time transparency, ISO 50001- and ESG-ready reporting, and verified annual savings of 1.43 GWh, \$166,500 and 889 tons of CO2.

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Chicago Heights Steel Saves $215,000 Annually in Energy Costs

By Mike Grennier, Contributing Editor, Compressed Air Best Practices® Magazine

Chicago Heights Steel, Chicago Heights, Ill., leveraged an advanced data monitoring system and adopted a demand-based compressor air management approach to save 2.5 million kWh and \$215,037 per year in energy costs. With an incentive of \$188, 714 from local utility ComEd, the project delivered a payback of 2.4 months.
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California Energy Commission and Lightapp Cloud-Based Software Begin Monitoring Study

By Ron Marshall, Marshall Compressed Air Consulting

As energy costs continue to rise it becomes increasingly important for industrial operations to reduce waste and inefficiencies wherever possible. It’s why an innovative company known as Lightapp has developed an intelligent resource management software platform to help manufacturers and other industrial users reduce energy consumption and save costs in the process.
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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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Poultry Plant Upgrades Compressed Air System for 44% Energy Savings

By Ron Marshall, Marshall Compressed Air Consulting

A Canadian poultry plant has upgraded their aging compressed air system for their new expansion, making it significantly more energy efficient and also solving ongoing pressure problems. The project has given the facility a much better system overall and increased system capacity enough to cover additional compressed air load. This article describes what was done to improve their compressed air system.
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Air Compressor Control at Remote Mining Complex

By Ron Marshall, Marshall Compressed Air Consulting

A large mining complex in a remote northern region of the world invited a compressed air auditor in to assess the efficiency of a problematic system. Site personnel and their air compressor supplier were concerned a system in one of the buildings was not running optimally, and wanted to know what size of compressor to install in the facility. The auditor found significant savings in this target system, but even larger potential savings were found in other ancillary systems in the complex, as part of an extra investigation conducted while at the site. Overall, the potential energy savings total more than half of a million dollars, if all recommendations are implemented.
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Great Plains and Air Capital Equipment Monitor Great Savings

By Nicolas De Deken, EnergAir

Great Plains has carved a global reputation for producing world-class seeding equipment since it first opened its doors in 1976. Great Plains manufactures a range of products from grain drills and planters, to compact drills and tillage equipment. They have established an international business built on expertise, knowledge and a commitment to producing products meeting the rigorous demands of the agricultural sector.
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Understanding Controls for Multiple Centrifugal Air Compressor Systems

By Tim Dugan, P.E. President, Compression Engineering Corporation

Load-sharing is an important part of a multiple centrifugal-compressor master control system. It minimizes blow-off based on the available turn-down. In addition, remote start-stop saves more energy if load floats between different ranges. Finally, adding a screw compressor and implementing a hybrid control system might save the most energy and provide the best back-up. In any case, a well-instrumented system allows engineers and operators to assess, optimize and tune the system.
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Master Controls for Multiple Air Compressor Systems with VFD Compressors

Tim Dugan, P.E. President, Compression Engineering Corporation

When a system has the right combination of VFD and base-load air compressors, how do you coordinate their control? What tells the air compressors to run and load, to have just enough (or no) base-load air compressors and a VFD running, all the time air is needed? Appropriate master controls are needed. These controls are often called “sequencers” or “master control systems”.
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Sizing VFD Compressors for Multiple Air Compressor Systems

Tim Dugan, P.E. President, Compression Engineering Corporation

It is becoming a “best practice” to install a variable frequency drive (VFD) air compressor whenever one is replacing an old air compressor.  As a result, real systems have fixed-speed and VFD air compressors, mixed.  I have observed several VFD compressor sizing methods.  In my last article, I referred to a common method: size one VFD compressor for the whole system.  This can work.  However, if it doesn’t meet a higher peak demand, one or more of the old compressors will be started, and a mixed system results.   Another method is to replace a compressor with the same size, but with a VFD.  If the compressor that was replaced is large, a big VFD is installed.  If small, a small one.
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