Industrial Utility Efficiency

Technology

Safe Compressed Air Drying Systems for Class I, Division 1 Environments

By Jess Elley, Product Marketing Manager, Suburban Manufacturing Group – Tsunami Compressed Air Solutions

Learn how engineers can safely remove moisture from compressed air systems in hazardous environments by eliminating ignition risks through pneumatic controls. This article explores design considerations, performance characteristics and reliability factors for regenerative desiccant dryers operating in Class I, Division 1 locations.

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Fayetteville Wastewater Treatment Plant Lowers Operational Costs, Increases Efficiencies

By Mike Grennier, Compressed Air Best Practices® Magazine

The plant upgrades, in combination with a progressive management strategy, allows the plant to consume less energy and reduce its reliance on outside contractors for biosolids removal, resulting in total operational savings of approximately \$60,000 per year.  The plant is also positioned to efficiently manage the area’s wastewater for decades to come.
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Don’t Overlook Tubing Volume with Manifold-Mounted Pneumatic Valves To Conserve Energy

By John Martin, SMC Corporation of America

The advent of manifold-mounted, plug-in pneumatic valves has been a boon for machine builders. It allows them to mount complete valve packages in a safe and secure location on a machine. Using a D-sub connector, serial interface module, or similar single-point wiring system, all of the electrical control outputs can feed into one location on the manifold, greatly simplifying the wiring.
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The Hydraulic Air Compressor: An Old Idea Made New

By Ron Marshall, Marshall Compressed Air Consulting

The team is building on engineering concepts that were used to develop the first hydraulic air compressor at Dominion Cotton Mills, Magog, Quebec, Canada, over 100 years ago. The basic principles of the HAC were then used to produce compressed air at 17 locations worldwide, including the last at Ragged Chutes near Cobalt, Ontario, Canada, over 100 years ago.  This article discusses the development the HAC in this decade and the continuing work at Laurentian University, Ontario, to modernize the concept.
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Use Baseline Measurements to Improve Compressed Air Supply Performance

By Tom Taranto, Data Power Services, LLC.

Baseline measurements include flow, power, pressure, production output, and other relevant variables impacting compressed air use. These data evaluate trending averages to develop Key Performance Indicator (KPI) and Energy Performance Indicator (EnPI) parameters and establish base‑year performance. The focus of this article is the application, evaluation, and analysis of baseline measurements to provide information necessary to improve Compressed Air Supply Efficiency.
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How to Implement Aseptic Technique in Microbiological Compressed Air Testing

By Trace Analytics

In modern and industrial work settings, people spend more than 90% of their time in enclosed spaces, such as warehouses, office buildings and factories. In most indoor environments, the air contains a variety of chemical and microbial particles, commonly defined as indoor pollutants, which can severely affect human health and product quality (1). Industries like food and beverage, medical devices and pharmaceutical manufacturers rely on their scheduled compliance testing to confirm the presence or absence of issues in workflow pipelines that are detrimental to the daily output and safety of the product.
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Automaker Saves $600,000 Yearly In Energy Costs & Improves Compressed Air System Reliability

By Pascal van Putten, VPInstruments, and Tyler Costa, ALD, Inc.

The project, which also involved the addition of a booster air compressor and receiver tank – along with the installation of an important pressure control valve – gives the automaker the ability to run fewer centrifugal air compressors during peak production. In so doing, the plant saves nearly 6.1 million kWh and more than \$600,000 per year in energy costs. The project also qualified for a \$369,374 rebate from the local utility, resulting in a six-month project payback – all while improving system reliability.
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A Tale of Two Cities - Comparison of Fixed-speed and VSD Compressed Air Systems

By Ron Marshall, Marshall Compressed Air Consulting

The compressed air system at the mail sorting facility has been in service since the 90’s. Two older 50-horsepower (hp) air-cooled fixed-speed lubricated air compressors are housed in the equipment room of the facility. The air compressors duty cycle alternates between one another on a set schedule. A 240-gallon wet storage receiver is used to help with air compressor control, with the air flowing through the receiver to a non-cycling refrigerated air dryer and system filters before finally being passed to the plant.
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Chemical Packaging Plant Shaves 41% Off Annual Electric Bill with Compressed Air Energy-Saving Measures

By Ron Marshall, Marshall Compressed Air Consulting

A chemical packaging facility had done everything right when they last upgraded their compressed air system a few years ago. They installed a Variable Speed Drive (VSD) air compressor and implemented other energy efficiency measures, but plant expansions caused increased system demand, which exceeded the capacity of the system. The packaging lines were now seeing low pressure, causing shut downs in production. And projections showed plant demand would increase even further.
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Profile: Case Controls and Centrifugal Air Compressor Management

Compressed Air Best Practices® interviewed Lou York (Director), Devin Sullivan (Vice President of Engineering) of Case Controls.

By Mike Grennier, Compressed Air Best Practices® Magazine

Often, multiple centrifugal air compressors are set up to simply react to air demand, which requires the system to not only meet the new demand, but also make up for air depleted in the main header. This typically results in too much supply, which results in bypassing the air to atmosphere. The result is wasted energy use.
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Keeping Compressed Air Leaks to a Minimum at Petrochemical Plants

Compressed Air Best Practices® interviewed James Nipper, Vice President of Petro Chemical Energy, Inc.

By Mike Grennier, Compressed Air Best Practices® Magazine

In terms of compressed air systems, it’s not unusual to see a plant with 10 to 15 air compressors, each of which is rated to provide 3,000 to 4,000 scfm of air. The air is used for everything from moving product, to powering pneumatic tools, pumps, and fans, to cleaning. There are easily 1,500 pneumatic control valves at a single plant.
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Air Compressors

Best Practices 2024 EXPO & Conference Show Report
From October 29-31, 2024, professionals who operate, maintain and design industrial compressed air,
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Air Treatment/N2

Leland Brewing Adopts Modular Nitrogen Generation
A modular nitrogen generation system integrated with compressed air infrastructure enabled on-site
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Blowers

Fayetteville Wastewater Treatment Plant Lowers Operational Costs, Increases Efficiencies
The plant upgrades, in combination with a progressive management strategy, allows the plant to
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Compressor Controls

Hitting the Gas on Efficient Compressed Air Delivery at Hitachi Astemo
Hitachi Astemo’s efficiency gains will turn into significant cost savings. In this article we
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Instrumentation

Pressure Dew Point Monitoring: The Key to ISO 8573-1 Compliance
The ISO 8573-1 standard defines clear limits for various compressed air quality parameters. This
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Pneumatics

Improving the Efficiency of Pumping Systems through Pump System Optimization
The U.S. Department of Energy’s 2002 Motor Market Assessment established that pumping systems offer
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Vacuum

Advanced Vacuum Generation Reduces Maintenance
Industrial ceramics have been produced in Hermsdorf, near Jena, since 1890. In the past, high
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Cooling Systems

The AIM Act’s Impact on HFC Gases
The AIM (American Innovation and Manufacturing) Act was finalized by the US government at the end of
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