Industrial Utility Efficiency

Air Treatment/N2

Leland Brewing Adopts Modular Nitrogen Generation

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

A modular nitrogen generation system integrated with compressed air infrastructure enabled on-site nitrogen production, reducing reliance on delivered CO₂ and improving process efficiency. Adjustable nitrogen purity levels (e.g., 99.99%) optimized flow rate and demand matching while maintaining product quality in brewing applications. The implementation demonstrates how scalable nitrogen generation technology can lower operating costs and support growth in small to mid-sized industrial operations.

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Pneumatech® Biogas Dryers and ConservAir® Flow Controllers

By Richard Stukey

Energy efficiency and sustainability solutions are often associated with more obvious initiatives--such as installing compact fluorescent bulbs—but those solutions fail to dig deeper for the “hidden gems” that can have a much greater impact. For manufacturing and building engineers or anyone else dealing with high potential energy consumption and inrush current demands, compressed air systems are one of the first places to look for significant energy savings and greater sustainability.
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How’s the Weather in Your Pipes

By Ron Marshall for the Compressed Air Challenge®

What are the conditions inside your pipes, is it cloudy and hot with showers or cool and dry? Could there be snow and blowing snow and excessive icing conditions? Are there smog and dust storm conditions or is the air as fresh as a mountain breeze. All these conditions are commonly experienced inside compressed air systems. What you get is determined by your selection of system equipment, ambient conditions and how well your system is maintained.
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Oil Exploration . . . In the Food & Beverage Industry

By Chris Kelsey, Geosynthetica

In the 1970s, the use of filtration in air quality management in pharmaceutical production, hospitals, and medical device manufacturing facilities became increasingly important and increasingly of interest to regulatory agencies. The air quality field was growing. From the air moving into and out of clean rooms to the protection of surgical environments to the expansion of the global medical drug industry, compressed air began to play a larger role—a role that continues undiminished (and, in fact, has increased substantially) today.
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The Importance of Condensate Drains on Air System Efficiency

By Ross Orr, Scales Industrial Technologies, for the Compressed Air Challenge®

Condensate drains are possibly the least glamorous and most ignored component of a compressed air system but nevertheless, a most important part. No matter how much you spend on that fancy new compressed air system, VFD’S pin-stripes and flashing lights notwithstanding, not spending a little effort with your drain choice could cause you no end of headaches and increased operating costs for years to come. Contaminants can enter a system at the compressor intake or be introduced into the airstream by the system itself. Lubricant, metal particles, rust, and pipe scale are all separated and filtered out, but it’s the drains that have to operate properly for the filters and separators to be successful in completing their task.  
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The Energy Costs Associated with Nitrogen Specifications

By Mike Flowe, Flowe Nitrogen Systems

So you need nitrogen in your plant! In a high percentage of cases, generating your own nitrogen using commercially available equipment is a very cost effective alternative to purchasing liquid nitrogen or cylinder nitrogen from traditional supply sources like the industrial gas companies. In some cases, the return on investment (ROI) ranges from six months to 2 years, but ROI can range, depending on several factors, to several years while still being a good investment. With rising fuel and energy costs, the cost of liquid nitrogen is going up and is making it much easier to justify the purchase of a nitrogen generator in a wide range of purities and pressures.
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Cycling Refrigerated Air Dryers – Are Savings Significant?

By Ron Marshall for the Compressed Air Challenge®

One of the many tasks in assessing a compressed air system supply side is to analyze the air treatment system for appropriateness and efficiency. Most compressed air systems have one or more air dryers in place to remove the water vapor contained in the compressed air produced by the system air compressors. If there is no air dryer, the normally hot saturated air produced by the air compressors will cool in downstream system components, and condensed water will form in pressurized system pipework.  
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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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BEKO Hydrocarbon Removal and Measurement Systems

Compressed Air Best Practices® interviewed Tilo Fruth, President, of BEKO Technologies Corporation.

Production and quality engineers in industries like the food & beverage, pharmaceutical, semiconductor, and chemical sectors have established internal specifications for oil-free compressed air. The product spoilage and safety issues at risk make oil-free compressed air an absolute necessity in certain processes.
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The Benefits of On-site Nitrogen Generation

By Paul Humphreys, Atlas Copco Compressors

Nitrogen gas provides a number of diverse uses for a wide variety of manufacturers. As a sister function of compressed air, on-site nitrogen generation can provide additional opportunities for cost savings and other efficiencies for manufacturers who shift from delivered liquid nitrogen service.
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Talking Dewpoint

Compressed Air Best Practices® discussed dewpoint with Steve Jiroutek (Application Engineer) of Vaisala Inc.

Dewpoint is defined as the temperature to which a gas (e.g. air) must be cooled, at constant pressure, for water vapor to begin to condense to liquid water. In other words, when the dewpoint temperature has been reached, the gas is fully saturated with water vapor.
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