Industrial Utility Efficiency

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Best Practices for Acoustic Inspections in the Pulp and Paper Industry

By Rob Milner, FLIR, a Teledyne Company

Detecting Compressed Air Leaks Can Lead to Reduced Energy Waste, Boosted Productivity, and Improved Profits for Paper Mills

Many manufacturing industries including food and beverage, chemical, mining and pulp and paper are heavily reliant on the use of compressed air within their production processes. Paper mills are major industrial facilities that rely on compressed air throughout the entire process as it is used to separate and clean the raw pulp fiber, operate pneumatic tools, and even control valves.

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20 Years of Case Studies: Plants Sharing Best Practices

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

For 20 years, Compressed Air Best Practices® Magazine has published articles focused on helping manufacturers reduce power demand, lower water consumption, and improve the performance of compressed air, cooling, blower and industrial vacuum systems. In this article, we highlight a sampling of those stories across the following industries: Plastics and Packaging Food and Beverage Automotive and Transportation Cement, Building Materials, and Mining Metals, Pulp, and Paper Pharmaceuticals, Healthcare, and Research Wastewater Treatment
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Cartiera Confalone Tissue Paper Line Cuts the Cost of Compressed Air

By Ilari Pakkala, Area Sales Manager, Sulzer

The pulp and paper industry depends on reliable sources of energy, water and compressed air; maintaining cost-effective supplies of these utilities is important to every successful business. Within paper making processes, a clean, oil-free air supply is essential for the reliable operation of pneumatic equipment and a high-quality end product. For one manufacturer in Italy, the selection of an oil-free turbocompressor enabled both operational and maintenance costs to be reduced.
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Paper Products Plant Stands to Save with Compressed Air System Upgrades

By Ron Marshall, Marshall Compressed Air Consulting

The facility has a compressed air system consisting of four, 200-horsepower (hp) two-stage water-cooled lubricant-free reciprocating air compressors. The air compressors are controlled individually with local pressure switch controls connected to a common pressure sensing point. These air compressors have been operating since the mid-1960s and are very difficult and expensive to maintain because parts are scarce and service companies with experience servicing this type of air compressor are difficult to find.
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Lessons Learned: Saving Energy Costs with Heated Blower Desiccant Dryers

By Ron Marshall, Marshall Compressed Air Consulting

Experienced auditors become wary when they see desiccant dryers installed in customers’ plants. These dryers are required when a plant needs instrument-quality compressed air, or when compressed air piping is exposed to freezing temperatures. However, while desiccant dryers can gain this level of quality, the energy cost of stepping up from a dewpoint of 35°F to a level of -40°F increases quite considerably. To attempt to reduce the energy costs of drying to these low levels, heated blower desiccant styles may be used. This article describes three common desiccant dryer types, as well as some experiences, good and bad, with heated blower types.
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A Systems Approach Helps Rockline Industries Retrofit a Compressed Air System

By Andrew Chase Harding, P.E., CEM, and Darin Nutter, Ph.D., P.E., Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Arkansas

Rockline Industries is one of the largest global producers of consumer products, specializing in wet wipes and coffee filters. The company contacted the Arkansas Industrial Energy Clearinghouse after identifying that the compressed air system in their Springdale, Arkansas facility was a potential source of significant savings. Experts from the Clearinghouse then began working with Rockline Industries, representatives of the electric utility, and a local compressed air vendor to perform a complete evaluation of the system.
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Establishing the Baseline in an Old Paper Mill

By Hank van Ormer, Air Power USA

This paper mill currently spends $1,747,000 annually on energy to operate the compressed air system at their plant located in the southwestern region of the U.S. The set of projects recommended, in this system assessment, could reduce these energy costs by $369,000 or twenty-one percent (21%). Estimated costs for completing the projects total $767,900, representing a simple payback of 25 months. More importantly, these projects will improve productivity, quality and maintenance costs - many associated with poor compressed air quality.
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Paper Plant Saves $171,000 in Energy Costs

By Don van Ormer, Air Power USA

Based on the air system operating 8,760 hours per year, the group of projects recommended below could reduce these energy costs by an estimated $170,718 or 56% of current use. In addition, these projects will allow the plant to have a back-up compressor and help eliminate the rental expenditure for compressor maintenance or downtime.
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Three Energy Efficiency Measures for a Pulp & Paper Mill

By Tim Dugan, P.E., Compression Engineering Corporation

Recently, this major pulp & paper mill made compressed air optimization a mill-wide priority. At the request of the utility company providing energy to the mill, Compression Energy Services performed a comprehensive energy analysis that outlined the following four energy efficiency measures (EEM’s) for the mill to consider.
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Paper Mill Upgrades Air Dryer and Cooling System

By Rich Whitmore

This article reviews two major processes in paper mills: compressed air quality and air compressor cooling. The central air compressor room was expanded and relocated at the largest privately owned paper mill in Canada. The compressor space was required by a plant expansion, which would occupy the original compressor space for increased production.
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Inappropriate-Use Assessment Saves 1,881 scfm

By Hank Van Ormer, Air Power USA

This factory currently spends $735,757 annually on the electricity required to operate the compressed air system at its plant. The group of projects recommended in the system assessment will reduce these energy costs by an estimated $364,211 (49% of current use). Estimated costs for completing the recommended projects total $435,800. This figure represents a simple payback period of 14.4 months.
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