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Compressed Air

Best Practice Guide


for Industry

“Compressed air at the correct pressure and quality is essential


to our processes and the well being of the plant”
Compressed Air Facts

•10% of UK industrial electricity is used to


produce compressed air

•This equates to around £400,000,000


•On average 30% can be saved some at
little or no cost this equates to 1.16
MTonne CO2 or 316,800 Tonnes of Carbon

•Compressed Air is NOT free - it’s an


expensive resource - don’t waste it
Compressed Air is expensive

Due to inefficiencies in
the production of power
(only 34% efficient) and
the subsequent use of
electricity to drive
compressors. Only 4%
of the initial energy is
converted to useable
energy in the
compressed air

Over the Lifespan of a


compressor the costs are
broken down as shown in
the diagram to the right
Getting It Right First Time
A little knowledge can go a long way. If you choose the right
compressor configuration to start with, you’ll be well on the
way to an energy efficient system.

The next section will explain a little about compressors and


dryers, enough to help you choose the right equipment when
the time arises.
Choosing the Right Compressor
Can you answer these questions?

•What pressure do you need?


•How much compressed air do you need?
•What Quality of air do you need?
•What`s the shape of your demand profile?
If yes, then you can start thinking about what type of
compressor you need, you can choose from the following:

Compressors

Positive displacement Dynamic

Rotary Reciprocating Centrifugal Axial

Screw Sliding Vane Oil Free Oil Injected

Oil Free Oil Injected

If no, then you need to carry out a system wide survey to


determine the answers to the questions.
Choosing the Right Compressor
The most common types of compressor are shown here

Rotary Screws

Reciprocating

Centrifugal
Choosing the Right Compressor
Compressor Type, Efficiencies and Sizes

Specific power
Part load
Type Range, cfm consumption,
efficiency
kW-100 cfm
2-25 24-26 Good
Lubricated piston 25-250 18-22 Good
250-2500 16-19 Excellent
2-25 24-26 Poor
Oil injected screw 25-250 18-22 Fair
250-2500 17-19 Fair
25-250 20-25 Good
Oil free screw
250-2500 16-20 Good
500-2500 18-22 Excellent*
Centrifugal
>2500 16-18 Excellent*
* Within turndown range
Choosing the Right Compressor
The type of compressor you choose will depend on your system pressure,
capacity, quality requirements and the shape of the demand pattern.

Systems with steady, high demands might opt for a series of centrifugal
machines.

Systems requiring extremely high quality air should opt for Oil-free designs

Systems with extremely variable demands might opt for a VSD


How to Reduce your
Compressed Air Costs

Improve Compressor Running strategy


•Use the most efficient machine you have to Base load
•Use only the number of machine you actually need
“Running a compressor unloaded uses
around 30% of the loaded running power”

“A ZR5-A compressor is rated at 400kW, the


unloaded power demand is 135kW”

“Running a ZR5-A unloaded for a year will


cost around £35,400”
AIR DEMAND

System Start-up High Demand Low Demand


How to Reduce your
Compressed Air Costs

Reduce Leakage
•Compressed Air leaks can account for the majority of a sites usage
•Simple measures can increase pressure to the end user
How to Reduce your
Compressed Air Costs

Reduce System Pressure


•A reduction of 1barg will typically save around 6-7% of the generation costs
•Reducing system pressure also reduces the system leakage
How to Reduce your
Compressed Air Costs
Correct Pipe Sizing
• The maximum design velocity for
main distribution pipework is 6m/s
• For short branch lines the velocity
can be up to 15m/s
• Pressure drop across distribution
system should be less than 0.2 bar
• Consider low friction aluminium or
plastic piping systems

Pipe size, Recommended flow rate at 7


inches barg, 25°C, scfm
1.5 140
2 220
2.5 360
3 500
4 875
6 1900
8 3400
10 5350
How to Reduce your
Compressed Air Costs
Heat Recovery
Compressed Air Treatment

• Treatment is essential to reduce


water, dust and oil in the delivered
air

• Treat the main supply of air to


minimum quality then upgrade at
point of use where required

• Use ISO8573.1 air quality


specification

Compressor

Compression concentrates impurities


In atmospheric air there are around 150 million dust particles/m3
At 7 barg there are 1.2 billion dust particles/m3
Compressed Air Treatment

Water In Compressed Air

The Effects of Untreated Compressed Air


Choosing the Right Treatment
Use the minimum amount of treatment that you can, this
usually involves a receiver, a water filter, prefilters, a
refrigerant dryer, and afterfilters.

A Typical Treatment System

Water
separator Afterfilters
Dryer
Compressor Prefilter
Receiver

In general users with no particular demand for high quality


air will use oil-injected machinery and refrigerant dryers.
Whereas, users that require a very high quality of air will opt
for oil-free compressors, desiccant dryers with pre- and
afterfilters all duplexed to ensure system integrity.
Compressed Air Treatment
The Standard – ISO8573:2001
Strict standards have been adopted to govern the quality of compressed air
systems. ISO8573:2001 defines the class intervals that must be achieved with
respect to Particulate burden, Moisture content (Dewpoint), and Oil Content
(hydrocarbon carryover).

Particulates:
Class Maximum number of partic les per m
3 Particle size Concentration
Particle size
≤0.1um 0.1<d≤0.5um 0.5<d≤1.0um 1.0<d≤5.0um mm Mg/m
3

0 As specified by the equipment user or supplier and more stringent


1 than
Notclass 1
specified 100 1 0
2 Not specified 100,000 1,000 10
3 Not specified Not specified 10,000 500 Not applicable Not applicable

4 Not specified Not specified Not specified 1,000


5 Not specified Not specified Not specified 20,000

6 Not applicable <=5 <=5


7 Not applicable <=40 <=10

Water & Oil:


Class Pressure Oil carry over,
dewpoint, mg/m
3

°C
0 As specified by the
equipment user or supplier
and more stringent than
1 <= -70 class 1<=0.01
2 <= -40 <=0.1
3 <= -20 <=1
4 <= +3 <=5
5 <= +7
6 <= +10
Choosing the Right Treatment
Different Dryers for Different System Dewpoints

Pressure Dryer type Filtration Additional cost


dewpoint, C

+3 Refrigerant General 3%
purpose

-20 Waste heat regenerated None 3%

-40 Air regenerated Pre & After 8-15%

-40 Heat regenerated Pre & After 10-15%

-70 Air regenerated Pre & After 15-21%


Choosing the Right Treatment
Different Dryers for Different System Dewpoints

§Refrigerant
–Low energy and capital cost
provide pressure dewpoints to
+3oC

§Waste heat recovery chemical


dryers
–Can be used on oil free
compressors, low energy cost
can produce dewpoints to -25oC

§Desiccant dryers
–Essential for lower dewpoints,
expensive to operate. Look for
alternative regeneration methods
such as steam and external
blowers.
Choosing the Right Treatment
System Filtration

§Dust/water separators
–Mechanical cyclonic separators

§General purpose filters


–Replaceable element, typical
filtration to 1um, oil to 0.1 mg/m3

§High efficiency filters


–Replaceable element, typical
filtration to 0.01um, oil to 0.01
mg/m3

§Activated carbon filters


–Designed for oil removal to
<0.01 mg/m3
Choosing the Right Treatment
Dealing with Condensate

§ Oil water separation


required on oil lubricated
systems

§ Condensate is too
contaminated for direct
discharge to drain
Results of Previous Work
The Main Causes of Loss are:
§Inefficient Generation & Treatment
–Poor compressor control
–Poor efficiency
–Incorrect sizing
§Pressure drops in treatment and distribution systems
§Leaks
§Misuse of air - cooling, product ejection & ventilation
§Waste heat not recovered
Breakdown of Savings Identified During Carbon Trust Surveys in Northern Ireland

distribution improvements
1.5% treatment improvemenst
0.5%
new compressors
1.8%
etraps other
vsd 2.9% 1.5%
5.7%
Pressure reduction Leakage reduction
6.0% 32.4%

compressor control
7.0%

heat recovery
12.6%
compressor efficiency
misuse reductions improvemnts
13.7% 14.4%

Total generation and treatment cost £7,571,046


Potential Savings £1,466,673
% savings 19.4%
Carbon Savings (Tonnes/Annum) 7,095

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