Industrial Utility Efficiency

Blowers

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.

Hoffman Revolution Blower Continues Tradition of Innovative Design

The Hoffman U.S. Machinery Division was established in 1905 outside of East Syracuse, New York. The initial product was an exhauster for the dry cleaning industry — pulling a steam vacuum across the garments. The Company grew and soon after began discovering industrial applications for their technologies. After the war period, during which Hoffman manufactured ball bearings and operated it’s own foundry, the company began discovering new industrial markets for it’s products. A significant part of their business was in the wastewater treatment industry.

Energy Saving Opportunities in Blowoff Applications

Assessing payback on engineered air nozzle and blower upgrades

There are a variety of means factories can use to remove or “blowoff” moisture from a package. Open tubes or drilled pipe are often viewed as simple low-cost methods. However, there are considerable drawbacks to these approaches, most notably – increased operating expense. While they may be convenient and inexpensive in the short term, these approaches often cost 5-7 times more to operate than preferred alternatives.

A Kroger Company Bakery Saves Energy

Recently, The Kroger Company’s Indianapolis bakery identified the use of compressed air in a blow-off and conveyor gap transfer as a major source of energy loss and cost waste. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, “inappropriate use” of compressed air like blow-off produces high pressure atmosphere bleed leading to significant energy loss and unnecessary operational costs. Carrying a 10-15% efficiency return (according to the Department of Energy), compressed air applications can often be achieved more effectively, efficiently and less expensively with alternative solutions using a high flow rate and moderate pressure.

Blower Advancements for the Wastewater Industry

"The Numbers Don’t Lie". It’s a popular saying everyone has heard before, applied to a variety of situations – political statistics, figures backing up an athlete’s performance and budget data.

Thirty percent is a big number. Applied to the above scenarios, it could entail a landslide victory or a hitter gaining entry into the Baseball Hall of Fame. But just imagine, if the manager of a wastewater treatment facility were to trim 30 percent from their operating costs, he or she might also consider that a landslide victory of their own.

 

Protection Against Water Hammer Damage

One major problem that causes severe damage or system failure for any water treatment station is water hammer shock waves. “Water Hammer” or “Hydraulic Shock” is a pressure surge or shockwave resulting when a fluid (usually a liquid but sometimes also a gas) in motion is forced to stop or change direction suddenly (momentum change). The reversed momentum then continues to multiply the further it travels before being stopped.

Water Treatment Plant Receives $1.7 million Energy Grant

A new cogeneration system installed at the Budd Inlet Treatment Plant by the LOTT (Lacey, Olympia, Tumwater, and Thurston County) Clean Water Alliance late last year uses treatment by-products as fuel to generate electricity and heat energy. This renewable energy system, combined with an aeration blower retrofit currently underway at the Budd Inlet Treatment Plant, is expected to save LOTT more than \$228,000 per year in utility costs.

Soft Drink Bottler Saves Energy With Blowers

A leading soft drink bottling manufacturer’s compressed air needs were threatening to exceed its Michigan plant’s compressed air capacity. Faced with the cost of buying a new compressor, the soft drink bottling manufacturer re-assessed their compressed air use to identify compressor and energy savings opportunities. In the audit, the soft drink bottling manufacturer identified the use of compressed air in a gap transfer as a source of compressed air and energy inefficiency.

Large Designs – Small Compressors at Hycomp, Inc.

There are many applications which require a low horsepower compressor built with the technology that has been proven in larger compressors. Often these situations are not addressed well by the general compressor industry.

 

Boiler Soot-Blowing in Power Plants

Utilities have been cleaning their boilers for many years using either steam or high-pressure air.  In the past, when air was used, due to the size of the boilers and the reasonable quality of fuel used, a relatively small amount of cleaning was required.