System Assessments

Thought Leaders on System Optimization Past & Future

Edited by Troy Dreier, Senior Editor, Compressed Air Best Practices® Magazine

We asked a hand-selected list of original equipment manufacturers, independent compressed air system sales and service companies, manufacturing plants and independent system auditors to share their thoughts, highlighting the changes they’ve seen over the past 20 years, then predicting what the next 20 years will bring.

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Maintenance Saves Energy: Automatic Leak Detection on OEM Machines

By Jon Jensen, Energy Conservation Manager, SMC Corporation of America

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.

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Nitrogen Solutions for the Food Industry Generated on Location

By Krista Ramsey

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?

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Compressed Air in Wastewater Treatment

By Scott Van Ormer and Hank Van Ormer for the Compressed Air Challenge®

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.

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Audit Improves Air Quality and Piping “Dead-Heads”

By Hank Van Ormer, Air Power USA

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.

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Energy-Savings at Milk, Cheese, and Ice Cream Plants

By Ron Marshall for the Compressed Air Challenge®

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.

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Compressed Air Efficiency Opportunities in the Plastics Industry

By Dean E. Smith, iZ Systems for the Compressed Air Challenge®

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.

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Automating Energy Efficiency in Compressed Air System Sub-Zones

By J. Ned Dempsey, P.E., Pneu-Logic Corporation

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?

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Kellogg’s Eggo Decreases Energy Consumption by over 675,000 kWh

By Patricia Boyd, Ecos Air

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.

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Tolko's Paper Mill and Sawmill Save $125,000 per Year

Ron Marshall, Marshall Compressed Air Consulting

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.

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Matching the Supply and Demand in a Compressed Air System

By Bob Wilson, PEMCO Services for the Compressed Air Challenge®

Production processes get their energy from the air stored at higher pressure in the piping distribution system. The air compressors simply replenish the air that is consumed. It is an important distinction to make. The energy input in compressing the air is supplied to the connecting pipes for delivery to the various demands throughout the facility.

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