System Assessments

The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that air compressors use as much as 10% of all electricity generated in the United States. Further, the DOE calculates that as much as 50% of this energy is wasted. Compressed air leaks alone account for 25-30% of compressed air use.

Why So Many Air Leaks - Even Today?!

Energy conservation has been much talked about lately, in the media, the government, and at the water cooler. Lean manufacturing is also a popular topic these days, as are any ways to increase productivity, reduce costs, and increase profitability.

Nitrogen, an inert gas comprising 79% of the atmosphere, can be distilled from ordinary air. However, companies that use this product in their everyday operations know that it’s not quite that simple and much more expensive than the stuff we breathe. The primary means of obtaining nitrogen for industrial use is to transport it onsite in liquid form, which must be shipped and stored at cryogenic temperatures. But, really, what’s the point of turning nitrogen into liquid for shipping, transporting it to where it’s used, and then turning it back into gas?

The object of this article is to look at some very typical industrial water treatment processes and various compressed air and energy savings projects that have worked well for our clients over the years. The basic fundamentals with regard to compressed air usage are similar to municipal water treatment – a good starting point.

This food container plant spends \$1,028,672 annually on energy to operate the compressed air system at their facility. This figure will increase as electric rates are projected to be raised from their current average of 6.2 cents per kWh. The set of projects identified in the compressed air system assessment could reduce these energy costs by \$616,000 per year (49%). Estimated costs for completing the supply and demand-side projects total \$525,000. These costs are offset by having qualified for utility company energy incentives of \$425,000. After the incentives, this project delivered a simple ROI of two (2) months.

Compressed air system refinements have cut operating costs at a Milk Plant located in Winnipeg Manitoba, Canada by 62%, for annual savings of nearly \$30 000. The improvements were made following a compressed air audit that recommended consolidating two compressed air systems into one, installing a variable speed drive compressor, and making a handful of additional basic improvements.

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.

The objective of a compressed air management system is to improve the Key Performance Indicator (KPI) of “Energy Intensity” as it relates to compressed air. This translates into improving the ratio between the volume of product shipped and the net electricity (kWh) consumed by the compressed air system. How many thousand bottles, per compressed air kWh consumed, were shipped this month?

This article describes a compressed air retrofit project implemented at Kellogg’s Eggo factory located in San Jose, California. Kellogg’s continues to realize both annual energy savings and quality improvements because of the upgrade. In addition, Kellogg’s received a substantial utility incentive from Pacific Gas and Electric Company, which was based on the achieved energy savings.

Power Smart® efficiency measures for compressed air systems at Tolko’s paper mill and sawmill at The Pas are saving the company more than \$125,000 a year.