Attendees learned about air compressor control strategies at the Industrial Sustainability Best Practices EXPO & Conference.
Compressed Air Best Practices® Magazine launched its first event in Europe, the Industrial Sustainability Best Practices EXPO & Conference, in June 2025 in Barcelona, Spain. Designed to educate and connect factories and specifying engineers on the optimization of industrial compressed air, vacuum and cooling water systems, the event featured 12 hours of conference sessions, exhibits and the first Compressed Air Challenge training to take place in Europe.
Compressed Air Challenge instructor Juan Londono presented Level 1 Fundamentals of Compressed Air Systems training.
“In Europe, an estimated 87 TWh of all industrial electricity is used for the generation of compressed air, emitting around 84,000 kt of CO2 annually,” said Andrew Still, Industry Projects Manager – Energy, SMC Corporation of America.
This report recaps the conference and shares updates from event sponsors (listed alphabetically).
Industrial Sustainability Best Practices EXPO & Conference Sessions
The first third of the conference dove deep into advanced air compressor control and monitoring with presentations from four global air compressor manufacturers. The Energy and Environmental Lead for Nestlé Waters & Premium Beverages, Carlos Capilla Camacho, shared his organization’s four pillars of compressed air management: process optimization, competency, standardization and digitalization. Alberto Saiz Galbadon, General Manager of TEAM INDUSTRIAL, gave perspective on modern industrial vacuum system optimization.
Carlos Capilla Camacho, Energy and Environmental Lead, Nestlé Waters & Premium Beverages, presented on compressed air management.
Topics in the second third of the conference included cooling tower thermal certification, compressed air redundancy strategies, pipe sizing and system design, compressed air quality for food and beverage, residual oil content monitoring and nitrogen generation. The final two sessions explored reducing compressed air use on the demand side, reducing air pressures plant-wide, remote auditing technology and chiller energy savings. See the sessions' lineup.
Alberto Sáiz Galbadón, General Manager, TEAM INDUSTRIAL, presented on modern industrial vacuum system optimization.
Networking Exhibits at the Industrial Sustainability Best Practices EXPO & Conference
Airmatic is a comprehensive solutions provider for compressed air, vacuum and industrial refrigeration systems in northeastern Spain. “Looking towards the future, we believe that compressed air is no longer just a simple utility, but a strategic pillar of industrial energy efficiency and sustainability,” said Carles Gamito, Commercial Director, Airmatic. “More and more, plants are asking us for solutions with interconnected VSD air compressors, heat recovery systems and intelligent control. The continuous measurement of flow rates, performance and quality parameters is already the standard for projects we carry out.” Airmatic complements its services with leak audits and compressed air quality audits.
Carles Gamito, Miquel Burgués and Joel Martínez of Airmatic (left to right).
Carles Gamito of Airmatic presenting on VSD air compressor integration.
The Analysts, co-founded by Josh Wamser and Menno Verbeek, held a ribbon cutting to introduce its new organization dedicated to helping compressed air users around the world optimize their systems.
“Our goal is to break down boundaries that have been built over the years, and show how we can support compressed air users better if we work together,” said Josh Wamser. The company’s slogan is “More Minds, Better Results.” Menno Verbeek spoke about a project where a local distributor served as customer liaison, while other collaborators played roles in plant pneumatics, gap study data collection, instrumentation, leak detection and remote data review. “We can’t replace the local distributors and service companies. In fact, they play a huge role in our success,” said Wamser. “We use alignment and realignment throughout the process to ensure we’re delivering optimal savings, with frequent peer review to ensure we’ve identified the appropriate solutions.”
Josh Wamser (left) and Menno Verbeek (middle) of The Analysts and Nina Bizjak (right) of ERLIK at The Analysts’ ribbon cutting ceremony in the exhibit hall.
BEKO Technologies displayed its portable METPOINT mobile measurement unit for dew point, pressure, volume flow, oil content and data logging with local and cloud monitoring capabilities. Also on display was the BEKOKAT hydrocarbon removal system (18-12,000 m3/h) for oil-free compressed air systems. Sarah Deckers, Focus Industry Manager, presented “Compressed Air Quality for the Food & Beverage Industry,” and provided air quality recommendations for indirect, incidental and direct contact with food products.
Sara Deckers, Mario Comella and Rainer Stützel of BEKO Technologies (left to right) with the BEKOKAT hydrocarbon removal system.
BOGE Compresores Ibérica displayed an IMT PN LASER pressure swing adsorption nitrogen generator with an H2Kat hydrogen catalyst, which introduces tiny amounts of hydrogen to remove remaining oxygen molecules, boosting nitrogen purity from 99.9% to 99.999% purity. In Europe, BOGE is launching T Series low-pressure turbo and high-pressure turbo oil-free direct coupled air compressors with airfoil bearings.
Pablo Moya, Francisco Ortiz and Victor Atienza of BOGE Compresores Ibérica (left to right).
Compresores JOSVAL, a Spanish air compressor manufacturer since 1958, displayed a 15 hp (11 kW) IBERUS Series (7.5-60 hp) VSD rotary screw air compressor. Features of the IBERUS Series include a soft starter to prevent intensity peaks during start-up and prolong the useful life of transmission elements, and a dual plug system that enables the air compressor to continue operation in on/off mode in the event of a drive failure.
Enrique Fernandez of Compresores Josval with the IBERUS Series air compressor.
Ian Butler, Business Partnerships Manager for Eurovent Certification, presented “Sizing Equipment for Reliability: Certifying Cooling Tower Thermal Performance” to demonstrate how cooling towers that don’t meet thermal performance needs can negatively impact customers and manufacturing processes.
Ian Butler, Mustafa Dilsen, Japhet Habimana, Taha Ouilali and Jennifer Preston of Eurovent Certification (left to right).
ELGi Compressors Europe displayed its EG Series oil-flooded rotary screw air compressor with a 10-year airend warranty with no limitation on running hours, a permanent magnet motor and intelligent thermostatic valve. The EG Series is available in 11-250 kW in both fixed speed and VSD models. ELGi has also developed an OSBIC process (oil separation by impact and centrifugal action) to separate air and oil with minimum pressure drop.
Jose Maria Moreno, Niccolo Casini and Victor Escolano of ELGi Compressors (left to right) with the EG Series air compressor.
Ingersoll Rand energy and control engineer Mario Baena Simón presented “Compressed Air Systems: Integral Management and Artificial Demand.” Mario shared that reducing pressure by 1 bar (14.5 psi) saves 7% in electricity consumption. He recommends compressed air users maintain a maximum pressure drop of no more than 10% of generated pressure. He also recommends using enough air storage for at least 20% of the generated flow.
Leandro Huertas Lopez, David Sanchez, Mario Baena Simón, Isidoro Galera and Luis Pérez Almeida of Ingersoll Rand (left to right).
According to Ignacio García, General Manager, Kaeser Compresores España, the company is developing new features for its CSG oil-free screw air compressors, its MOBILAIR portable air compressors and the SIGMA CONTROL local intelligence controller. Key Account Manager Mariluz Acevedo Rocha presented “Practical Ideas for Reducing Air Compressor Room Energy Consumption,” which offered advanced insights on managing plant pressure and pressure drop, deploying variable frequency drives and heat recovery.
Karina Gómez, Ignacio García, Jaime Casanova and Mariano Lausin of Kaeser Compresores España (left to right).
Many attendees shared that they had not experienced an event before where industrial sustainability experts gathered to share best practices with design engineers and system operators.
“This is a really interesting event for us. It serves as a great forum for factories, equipment companies and engineering companies to share thoughts and solutions to common issues in industrial compressed air, vacuum and cooling systems,” said Alfred Roca, Sales Director, TEAM INDUSTRIAL.
Alfred Roca, TEAM INDUSTRIAL, presented “Key Elements to Ensure Efficient and Reliable Nitrogen Generation.”
To learn more about the upcoming Best Practices 2025 EXPO & Conference in Kansas City, visit https://cabpexpo.com.
To read similar Compressed Air System articles, visit https://www.airbestpractices.com/technology/air-compressors.
