Air Treatment/N2

Leland Brewing Adopts Modular Nitrogen Generation

By Troy Dreier, Senior Editor, Compressed Air Best Practices® Magazine 

A modular nitrogen generation system integrated with compressed air infrastructure enabled on-site nitrogen production, reducing reliance on delivered CO₂ and improving process efficiency. Adjustable nitrogen purity levels (e.g., 99.99%) optimized flow rate and demand matching while maintaining product quality in brewing applications. The implementation demonstrates how scalable nitrogen generation technology can lower operating costs and support growth in small to mid-sized industrial operations.

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Managing the Energy Cost of On-Site Nitrogen Generators

By Hank Van Ormer, Technical Director, APenergy

Do you know and track the annual generated nitrogen energy cost per SCFM? Do you know what factors drive this value and what action you can take to control the optimum lower levels? In this article we intend to illustrate the magnitude of potential wasted energy dollars when the compressed air system and the on-site nitrogen generation system are not properly monitored and controlled.
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Boost Performance with On-Site Oxygen and Nitrogen Generation

By Jatinder Tiwana, CEO, Specialty Gas Canada

The impact of compressed air on industries globally is undeniable, spanning from small tire shops to vast oil and gas sectors, as well as specialized domains like laboratories and pharmaceuticals. Amid this industrial transformation, many have taken control by employing in-house air compressors, air dryers, and related equipment to autonomously generate compressed air. In-house compressed air generation eliminates the need for relying on external sources, whether through cylinder bulk packs, Dewars, or tankers delivering compressed air.
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Compressed Air, Nitrogen Generation and Chiller Systems at Fabtech 2023

By Roderick M. Smith, Editor, Compressed Air Best Practices® Magazine

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. 
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Facility Evaluates Air Compressors to Increase Nitrogen Purity with Nitrogen Generators

By Hank Van Ormer, Technical Director, APenergy

Over the last two decades, there has been a significant increase of manufacturing facilities deciding to produce their own nitrogen on-site, using compressed air systems and nitrogen generators. They are choosing on-site nitrogen generation, instead of purchasing and receiving deliveries of nitrogen by the cylinder or having a “Nitrogen Over the Fence” supplier.  
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The 2023 AICD Show Report

By Bill Smith and Roderick Smith, Compressed Air Best Practices® Magazine 

“The AICD enjoyed a record turnout of exhibitors,” said Jeff Brennan, President, AICD. “We’ve added over 20 member companies this year and our membership again has delivered a strong turnout at this year’s event.” Participating distributor members and guests enjoyed a few days of networking events, trade show, speakers, the AICD Golf Tournament and more.
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On-Premises Nitrogen Generation Addresses Carbon Dioxide Supply Concerns for Breweries

By Garrett Rinker, Senior Project Engineer, South-Tek Systems

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. 
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Air Compressor and Dryer Innovation Unveiled at Best Practices 2022 EXPO & Conference

By Bill Smith, Compressed Air Best Practices® Magazine 

In early October 2022, professionals from around the world gathered at the Best Practices 2022 EXPO & Conference in Atlanta to source and learn about the latest on-site utilities powering modern plant automation including compressed air, blowers, vacuum, pneumatics, motors and cooling water systems. This report recaps a fraction of the event’s education curriculum and provides an editorial tour of sponsoring exhibitors’ machinery displays and product introductions.
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Moisture: the Assassin in Compressed Air Installations

By Pascal van Putten, CEO, VPInstruments and Frank Moskowitz, Instructor, Compressed Air Challenge

Moisture can freeze in compressed air systems and cause rust and pitting in pipes and components. It can also flush out the lubricant resulting in accelerated tool wear and damage to valves and cylinders. Moist air is also a rewarding breeding ground for bacteria, which especially in the food and pharmaceutical industries can lead to product rejection and costly production downtime. It is therefore strange that many companies limit themselves to measuring only basic quantities such as pressure, flow and (absorbed) power.
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Metal Fabricator Measures Nitrogen Use, Receives a Surprise

By Ron Marshall, Marshall Compressed Air Consulting

Nitrogen is used in many facilities for a variety of purposes. The most common source of N2 is through the use of bulk liquid storage. A plant owner was recently surprised to learn that a large portion of his N2 was disappearing, without ever being used by his production process. This article discusses where it went and what we could do about it.
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Compressed Air Dryer Key Performance Indicators

By Chris Beals, President, Air System Management

The purpose of this article is to point out the key performance indicators (KPI’s) that can assist in maintaining the performance and troubleshooting of compressed air dryers. The most important KPI to monitor is the pressure dew point (PDP) of the compressed air exiting the dryer(s). The PDP of the compressed air should be monitored at the discharge of each dryer and downstream of where the compressed air from multiple dryers converges. 
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Sterile Compressed Air Filters Remove Bacteria

By Peter Gray, Air Solutions Canada

When compressed air comes into direct contact with a product, many applications believe their “standard” particulate and coalescing oil-removing filters, installed either side of a compressed air dryer, are sufficient to protect the downstream processes. Strangely enough, the removal of bacteria is often overlooked, despite this level of filtration being readily available, easy to procure, install and maintain.
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Nitrogen Characteristics and Benefits of On-Site Generation

By the Compressed Air & Gas Institute

Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) accounts for a significant amount of nitrogen usage in the food and beverage industry. MAP involves injecting nitrogen into beverage or food packaging to purge and displace any oxygen-containing air with nitrogen. Oxidation of lipids in food products causes rancidity. Since oxygen is replaced with dry, inert nitrogen in MAP packaging, no product oxidation will occur. The result is maximized product shelf life. 
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Designing Efficient PSA Nitrogen Generation Systems for Food & Beverage Production

By Alan Hopkins, Purity Gas Inc.

This article is for you if your company is purchasing nitrogen gas at 99.999% purity and you’re not sure why.  While there are many applications which do require nitrogen gas concentrated to 99.999%, they are significantly outweighed by the applications that don’t. Rather than relying on a delivery of bulk liquid or pressurized cylinders, many nitrogen users are choosing to produce a custom supply of nitrogen within their facility, and they are doing it at a fraction of the cost. Over the past decade we’ve seen a mass industry shift from delivered nitrogen supply, to nitrogen generation.
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Troubleshooting Heatless Desiccant Dryer Proves Challenging Yet Successful

By Chris E. Beals, Air System Management, Inc.

One of the most satisfying parts of being a compressed air system auditor is resolving compressed air system reliability issues. This article exposes a seldom, if ever, mentioned problem that can occur when air dryers are dedicated to air compressors. It examines a real-world application and discusses the action taken to remedy the situation.
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Nitrogen Generation System Helps Death Wish Coffee Gain Production Efficiencies

By Tony Hergert, nano-purification solutions

As founding members of a startup company in the compressed air and gas purification and separation industry, nano-purification solutions felt a kinship with the owners, employees and mission of Death Wish Coffee Co. The kinship and nano-purification solutions’ expertise in onsite nitrogen generation led to the installation of a nitrogen generation system that contributes to the overall efficiencies and operational costs savings at the coffee roaster’s production operation in Round Lake, New York.
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Utilizing Smaller Point-of-Use Desiccant Dryers to Minimize Purge Energy Consumption

By Jim DiMaiolo, Altec AIR

For many installations of industrial air dryers, a dilemma can occur when trying to achieve the correct balance between desired specifications and efficiency in the applications. Sometimes there is no way around a requirement to achieve ultra-dry dew points, but are we always considering the point-of-use needs when implementing a dry air solution? Often the dry air system is configured with one end goal in mind which is dry air but doing so without accounting for the point-of-use factors that can lead to added expenses and wasted energy.  
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Maintaining Compressed Air Filters and the Purpose of Differential Pressure Monitoring Devices

By Mark White, Parker Hannifin

The foundation of any purification system is its filtration and of the ten main contaminants found in a compressed air system, filtration is responsible for the treatment of nine of them. Coalescing filters are the most important piece of purification equipment as they reduce six of the ten contaminants and a look in any air compressor room will find a pair of coalescing filters (backed up with dry particulate and oil vapor removal filters).
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Adsorbents for Heat Reactivated Compressed Air Dryers

By Artem Vityuk, Adsorbent Solutions, BASF Corporation

In the field of externally heated adsorption dryers there is a large variety of different systems on the market offering substantial flexibility in terms of process flows, dew points and energy demand. Often, economic parameters and project-specific requirements ultimately define the individual user-specific solution. This article discusses the basic types of desiccants used in compressed air dryers.
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Lubricant Chemistry and Oil/Water Separator Performance

By SA Performance

Air compressors can produce a lot of water. Humidity in ambient air, once compressed, results in much of this water falling out, which we know as condensate. On a warm and humid summer day with inlet air temperatures of 80°F, a 75-horsepower (hp) air compressor running fully loaded can produce over 25 gallons of condensate in just one eight-hour shift, with another five gallons being produced once the compressed air is sent through a dryer. The compression process allows for the air, water vapor, and lubricating fluids to mix. Once the condensate leaves the system, trace amounts of lubricant travel with it. This condensate should be processed through an oil-water separator before being discharged to groundwater or wastewater treatment plants.
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Heat of Compression: A Major Energy Recovery Opportunity Often Ignored

By Hank van Ormer, APenergy

Often when you mention heat of compression the first thought generally relates to HOC desiccant dryers, which are also an under-applied opportunity for heat recovery. However, there are many other heat of compression recoverable energy savings opportunities in all compressed air and gas systems. This article reviews many opportunities in energy heat recovery and provides answer to commonly asked question.
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SHOW REPORT EXTRA Part 2 – Blower, Vacuum, Measurement, Air Purification and Piping at the 2019 BEST PRACTICES EXPO & Conference

By Bill Smith, Compressed Air Best Practices® Magazine

The Best Practices EXPO & Conference held from October 13-16, 2019 in Nashville, Tennessee, saw a significant increase in attendance growing by 15 percent to 850 attendees from 20 countries. End user (factory personnel) attendance grew by 60 percent! The EXPO was also truly international showcasing 115 exhibitors from 16 countries and EXPO attendance was free for qualified industry personnel. This SHOW REPORT EXTRA Part 2 complements our 2019 Best Practices EXPO & Conference Show Report and the Show Extra Part 1 Report. 
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SHOW REPORT: The 2019 Best Practices EXPO & Conference – Another Success!

By Mike Grennier, Compressed Air Best Practices® Magazine

The event brought together technology experts, systems assessment professionals, and manufacturing leaders – all of whom shared best practices and ideas manufacturing plants can use to save energy, improve sustainability initiatives and increase the overall reliability and quality of on-site utilities.
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Keep Contaminants Out of Food and Beverage Processing Air Supplies

By Brandon Brownlee, Motion Industries

According to the United States Department of Agriculture, more than 30,000 food and beverage processing plants across the United States employ more than 1.5 million workers.1 Each of those plants applies a wide range of processes to raw agricultural goods to produce consumable food and beverage products.
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How to Implement Aseptic Technique in Microbiological Compressed Air Testing

By Trace Analytics

In modern and industrial work settings, people spend more than 90% of their time in enclosed spaces, such as warehouses, office buildings and factories. In most indoor environments, the air contains a variety of chemical and microbial particles, commonly defined as indoor pollutants, which can severely affect human health and product quality (1). Industries like food and beverage, medical devices and pharmaceutical manufacturers rely on their scheduled compliance testing to confirm the presence or absence of issues in workflow pipelines that are detrimental to the daily output and safety of the product.
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