Industrial Utility Efficiency

Pressure

High-Altitude Mining and Steel Production in Peru

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

Before CAGI data sheets were created, air compressor distributors and their customers could only go by the manufacturers’ claims. He found there wasn’t any uniformity to the numbers manufacturers put out, so making comparisons was challenging. Some compressed air manufacturers measured capacity from the bare airend, while others measured from the air compressor’s outlet.

Read Full Story

Instrument Air and Breathing Air at a Pharmaceutical Plant

By Ron Marshall, Marshall Compressed Air Consulting

A pharmaceutical plant, has had a compressed air assessment performed on two plant systems.  The studies uncovered poor compressed air production efficiency, high air dryer loss, and problems with high flow compressed air uses negatively affecting plant pressure. The plant implemented energy efficiency measures, on the two compressed air systems, saving 46 and 64 percent in energy costs respectively.
[ Read Full Story ]

Low-Pressure Air Compressors Deliver Savings for Lafarge Cement Distribution

By Ron Marshall, Marshall Compressed Air Consulting

The Lafarge Cement Distribution terminal located in Winnipeg, Canada has significantly reduced the site electrical demand and energy charges by changing the way they transport their cement.  Two new low-pressure rotary screw air compressors have replaced two large high-pressure air compressors that previously powered their dense phase transport system.  The resulting power reduction has saved the company 46 percent in transport operating costs.
[ Read Full Story ]

Four Principles for Sustaining Energy Savings

By Paul Edwards, Compressed Air Consultants

When Compressed Air Consultants was starting, in 2003, we were approached by a company experiencing significant problems with their compressed air system.  They had compressed air pressure problems causing production interruptions.  They had moisture issues causing all kinds of havoc throughout the facility and appeared to be using far too many air compressors for what they wanted to accomplish. 
[ Read Full Story ]

Managing Pressure Regulator Artificial Demand, Part 1

By Murray Nottle, Working Air System Engineer, The Carnot Group

Pressure regulators are everywhere compressed air is used. These simple devices, essential for safe and steady equipment operation, can be a big waster of compressed air. This article shows how with proper regulator selection, installation and setting management you can save compressed air and lower system pressures. This article looks at regulators on production equipment not central regulators or Process Flow Controllers.
[ Read Full Story ]

Systems Approach Cuts Fabric Mill Energy Costs

By Ron Marshall for the Compressed Air Challenge®

A large fabric mill has implemented an energy management system based on the ISO 50001 standard to track their compressed air system efficiency.  As a result of information gained from this system, and measures learned in some recent compressed air training, the company has reduced their compressed air system costs while at the same time achieving increased fabric production output. The savings were gained by not only optimizing the supply side of the system, but by also addressing the end uses.
[ Read Full Story ]

Oversized Dryer Causes Pressure Issues at a Chemical Plant

By Ron Marshall for the Compressed Air Challenge®

A Canadian chemical plant installed a large heated blower-purge style compressed air dryer, years ago, to condition the instrument air system against freezing temperatures.  The dryer selected was oversized for the connected air compressors and had unused on-board energy savings features.  A compressed air assessment revealed the site air compressors and compressed air dryers were running inefficiently and causing in-plant pressure problems.  Repairs to a compressed air dryer and the replacement of aging air compressors and dryers has reduced compressed air energy costs by 31 percent.
[ Read Full Story ]

Innovative Blow Molds Reduce Compressed Air Pressure in PET Blow Molding

By Vincent Duvernois, Partner – SKV Services, Stephane Larcade, President – SKV Services, and Jean Pilnard, Export Manager – COMEP

Technological trends in plastics manufacturing are driving the costs of production down. In industrial PET blow molding specifically, two innovative techniques have had major impacts over the last 15 years: “light weighting” the plastic bottles, and recirculating high-pressure compressed air. Both have helped to improve the energy efficiency of PET blow molding by reducing compressed air requirements dramatically.
[ Read Full Story ]

PET Power Containers and Compressors aiR Us Design Plant Expansion

By Compressed Air Best Practices® Magazine

PET Power Containers, a Canadian manufacturer of PET plastic containers, had plans for expanding its operations with the addition of more blow-molding equipment. Before the expansion could happen, however, the company needed to assess its compressed air system. Based in Vaughan, Ontario, PET Power provides a dizzying array of differently shaped and sized plastic bottles. Their operations run 24/7, and compressed air plays a key role in their primary manufacturing applications, including PET blow molding, PET preforming, and labeling bottles.
[ Read Full Story ]

Flow Metering Demand-Side Projects in Large Compressed Air Systems

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

As a reader of this journal, you are well aware that large compressed air systems often have significant wasted air — often from leaks — that represent tens of thousands of dollars of waste per year. However, it is our experience that the so-called “low-cost” measures identified often go un-repaired, while other more costly capital projects get funded. Why? With an ROI of a half year or less, they seem like IQ tests to many compressed air auditors.
[ Read Full Story ]

The Relationship Between Pressure and Flow in a Compressed Air System

Chris Downs, Regional Manager, Kaishan Compressor USA

After more than 25 years in the compressed air industry, it still amazes me that many plant personnel and even those who sell compressed air products for a living don’t fully understand the relationship between flow, or volume (cfm), and pressure (psig). Walk into many body shops or small manufacturing plants, and you will find the compressor operating at an elevated pressure to satisfy the “demand.” If a plant has low air pressure on the production floor, what is the first thing that the maintenance professional does? You guessed it: He or she “jacks” up the pressure on the compressor, not realizing that he or she made the problem worse.
[ Read Full Story ]