Industrial Utility Efficiency

Air Compressors

Best Practices 2024 EXPO & Conference Show Report

By Troy Dreier, Senior Editor, and Brooke Jones, Digital Content Editor, Compressed Air Best Practices® Magazine 

From October 29-31, 2024, professionals who operate, maintain and design industrial compressed air, vacuum, blower, nitrogen generation, process cooling and HVAC systems gathered at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta, GA, for the 6th annual Best Practices 2024 EXPO & Conference. The event featured two tracks of conference presentations and panels.

Read Full Story

Compressed Air System Commissioning Part 3: Testing

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

This article will talk about testing.  I will assume a “typical” system, a screw air compressor mix with regenerative dryers. Testing has to be done at several stages and locations, due to the cobbled-together nature of a compressed air system.
[ Read Full Story ]

Fine Tuning Oil-Free Air Compressors and Purification at a Pharmaceutical Plant

By Don van Ormer, APenergy

A pharmaceutical product manufacturer spends an estimated \$137,443 annually on electricity to operate the oil-free air compressors in its compressed air system. The compressed air system operates well and is providing the level of purification required.  Our team visited the plant and identified a group of projects which could reduce compressed air demand and reduce energy costs by \$42,248 – or 31% of current use.
[ Read Full Story ]

Low-Pressure Air Compressors Deliver Savings for Lafarge Cement Distribution

By Ron Marshall, Marshall Compressed Air Consulting

The Lafarge Cement Distribution terminal located in Winnipeg, Canada has significantly reduced the site electrical demand and energy charges by changing the way they transport their cement.  Two new low-pressure rotary screw air compressors have replaced two large high-pressure air compressors that previously powered their dense phase transport system.  The resulting power reduction has saved the company 46 percent in transport operating costs.
[ Read Full Story ]

Centrifugal Air Compressor Basics Part II - Understanding the Basic Performance Curve

By Don van Ormer, ap energy

A centrifugal air compressor operates over a range of flows and discharge pressures. The operating performance curve is shaped by the selected individual internal components and affected by operating conditions such as inlet pressure, inlet temperature, and cooling water temperature. The process of dynamic compression, as applied in a centrifugal compressor operating stage, is velocity and kinetic energy converted to pressure and temperature as the flow is restricted. Another term for this process is mass flow – the power requirement to deliver the rated cfm of flow at the rated pressure (psig) is determined by the weight of the air.
[ Read Full Story ]

Compressed Air Central Controller Delivers 5 KPI’s

By Don van Ormer, AP Energy

Quite often the typical variability in compressed air flow demand does not proportionately translate into power reductions at the air compressors. This can be a result of numerous problems with the compressed air supply system. It is important to understand the supply-side’s ability to respond to the demand-side of the compressed air system. If the air compressors, on the supply-side, are not able to translate flow reductions into energy savings, implementation of demand reduction projects should be re-evaluated.  
[ Read Full Story ]

German Lab Relies upon Water-injected Oil-free Air Compressor

By Martina Bopp

Rotary screw air compressor that makes its own lubricant from the surrounding air delivers oil-free compressed air to an environmental laboratory in Stuttgart, Germany - Many sensitive sectors of industry require oil-free compressed air. However, meeting this demand is often not as simple as it sounds. One way is to use oil-injected air compressors with downstream air treatment to meet the demand. A second option is oil-free air compressors, which operate without lubricants. Both versions have their own advantages as well as risks. Another alternative is to use rotary screw air compressors that use water as a lubricant.
[ Read Full Story ]

The Benefits of Regular Air Compressor Cleaning

By Jared Kantar, CLS, Product Support Engineer, Isel, Inc.

When some people think about compressed air, they imagine the big, loud, dirty, unreliable machine in the back corner of their facility. Many businesses around the world rely on compressed air, and an unreliable air compressor can mean stopping an entire facility, costing thousands of dollars in lost productivity and repair labor. Additionally, that loud machine in the back corner is also a major energy consumer. So much so that many industry professionals refer to it as the “fourth utility.”
[ Read Full Story ]

Aggreko Assists Refineries with Fluctuating Demand

By Roderick Smith, Compressed Air Best Practices® Magazine

Compressed Air Best Practices® Magazine spoke with Mark Shedd, Head of Oil-free Air, Aggreko Rental Solutions - There are two distinct compressed air systems in a refinery or petrochemical environment: plant air and instrument air systems. Instrument air systems are almost always 100% oil-free air compressors on both the permanent and temporary systems. The demand for compressed air purity, in instrument air systems, is so high that the permanent install back-up system is usually nitrogen.
[ Read Full Story ]

Study Proves Potential Energy Savings of AODD Pump Controls

By Compressed Air Best Practices® Magazine

Air-operated double diaphragm (AODD) pumps are common to many manufacturing facilities. As estimated by veteran compressed air auditor Hank van Ormer of Air Power USA, approximately 85 to 90 percent of plants in the United States have AODD pumps. They are used for all kinds of liquid transfer applications, like those found in chemical manufacturing, wastewater removal, and pumping viscous food products.
[ Read Full Story ]