Industrial Utility Efficiency

Industries

The current cost to operate the compressed air system is \$139,100 annually, and the proposed measures will reduce it by \$50,700 annually. The proposed cost to complete the measures is $47,600 providing a simple payback of 11 months. The cost included in the Action Plan includes engineering, project assistance, services to maintain the gains, and a 10% contingency.  

Compressed Air, Nitrogen Generation and Chiller Systems at Fabtech 2023

FABTECH 2023, a leading event for metal forming, fabricating, welding, and finishing, successfully wrapped up its four-day run at Chicago's McCormick Place, achieving significant milestones for attendance, exhibitors, and show floor size. The 2023 show floor, spanning an impressive 825,325 square feet across three exhibit halls, featured an extensive showcase of over 1,500 world-class suppliers. 

In the Spirit of Improvement - Nation’s oldest distiller takes practical approach to compressed air system upgrade

Laird & Company has been pioneering and perfecting Applejack brandy for 325 years. In 1698, William Laird immigrated from County Fyfe, Scotland to Monmouth County, New Jersey, bringing nothing but the distillation skills of his homeland with him. Keen to experiment with the ingredients of the New World, William began to dabble in the distillation of the most abundant crop in the area – apples. 

Food Processor Conserves Energy with Compressed Air System Audits

A focus on sustainable products and packaging, in combination with a passion for quality, has resulted in considerable growth for the firm. Plans to add production lines at facility #1, in turn, drove the need to address the plant’s faltering compressed air system.

Growing Dairy Product Processor Improves Uptime with Compressed Air Audit

There were two situations brought to our attention. The first was that production at times was having to slow down, or even stop, due to compressed air system pressure falling below the required levels. The second reason was due to reports, from plant personnel, of compressed air moisture problems negatively affecting the bag life of the dryer baghouses.

Compressed Air System Optimized at Cheese Packaging Plant

This assessment identifies a path to reduce the energy consumption from \$85,000 to \$51,000 per year. This can be done with little capital by fixing poppet-valve control problems on the air compressors and reducing flow and pressure requirements. Due to article space limitations, this article does not provide detail on the flow reduction projects. It focuses only on the impact these projects have on the air compressors and provides readers with a template on the information they should have on their units, by shift.

Air Compressor Control Lessons Learned at Metal Products Company

Their system was designed and built to achieve premium performance, yet in a recent compressed air assessment the numbers showed their system had surprisingly poor performance, and worse, their staff was unaware of the problems. This article discusses some of the challenges faced and some future solutions that could get their system back to higher performance levels.

Small Piston Air Motors Save Big Energy While Ensuring Safety

Vane motors can run at much higher speeds (2000 rpm and up), but piston motors tend to turn much slower – less than 1000 rpm. For slower speed applications, vane motors are mated with a gear reducer and called a gearmotor. The gearmotor can produce the higher torque and slower speed needed for some applications, but the gear reducer can add some drivetrain loss. While a piston air motor may not be able to replace a vane motor where high speed is needed, it can be a good choice for high torque/low speed applications.  

On-Premises Nitrogen Generation Addresses Carbon Dioxide Supply Concerns for Breweries

The initial cost of a nitrogen generation system may be greater than high-pressure cylinders and liquid nitrogen containers, but most companies will reach a return on investment within 12-18 months with proper sizing of the system based on process demands. Breweries typically experience savings associated with gases of 50-75% by switching to on-premises nitrogen generation. If a regular maintenance schedule is followed, PSA nitrogen generation systems can have a life expectancy of 15-20 years. 

PET Plants Using Boosters for High Pressure Air

The use of high performance boosters to raise low pressure air (100 psig) to high pressure air (500-600 psig) for blow molders is very power efficient and offers good operating performance and reliability when well applied. 

DOE Better Plants Partners Get Serious About Compressed Air Systems

Compressed air is used in all the company’s plants and is often the single largest energy end use within them. As a result, compressed air energy-saving measures are often replicable across the company and offer significant positive impacts. One area of focus is with compressed air leaks since they are “the best low hanging fruit to focus on and they always keep popping up and waste energy”.

Auto

Given that compressed air leak management programs are meant to save energy, reduce CO2 emissions,

Bulk

When the design capabilities of an installed compressed air system didn’t align with real-world

Food

There were two situations brought to our attention. The first was that production at times was

Medical

The air is delivered through a distribution piping system that ends with a medical air outlet

Metals

Vane motors can run at much higher speeds (2000 rpm and up), but piston motors tend to turn much

Paper

Detecting Compressed Air Leaks Can Lead to Reduced Energy Waste, Boosted Productivity, and Improved

Pharmaceutical

This article is intended to show the relationships between risks and specifications, opportunities

Plastics

Logoplaste, based in Cascais, Portugal, introduced its embedded wall-to-wall manufacturing model to

Power

A newly constructed ethanol plant experienced control gap issues shortly after comissioning. 

Printing

The Trinity Mirror Group print works on Oldham is one of the UK’s largest newspaper printers. The

Transit

In the absence of the control system, the air compressors were loading and unloading according to

Wastewater

When selecting a mixing technology, wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and their consultant