Energy Recovery in Air Compressors: Harnessing Efficiency for Sustainability
In
today’s world of increasing environmental awareness and the drive for sustainable practices, industries are actively seeking innovative
solutions to reduce energy consumption and minimize their carbon footprint. If your business uses air compressors, focusing on energy
recovery in air compressors is one area to pay attention too.
Understanding Energy Recovery in Air Compressors:
While air compressors play a vital role in various industrial applications, generating compressed air for powering tools, equipment, and
processes. However, using compressed air typically involves a significant amount of energy consumption, leading to substantial energy costs
and environmental impact. Energy recovery in air compressors aims to alleviate these challenges by capturing and using the waste heat and
kinetic energy generated during compression.
Heat Recovery:
During the compression process, air compressors generate a significant amount of heat as a byproduct. Instead of allowing this heat to
dissipate, it can be captured and repurposed for other applications within your facility. Energy Recovery systems can be employed to
transfer the excess heat to water or air systems for space heating, preheating process fluids, or even domestic hot water. By using this
recovered heat, companies can significantly reduce their reliance on conventional heating systems, resulting in substantial energy savings
and reduced greenhouse gas emissions.
Adding energy recovery systems in air compressors offers a range of benefits, both economically and environmentally. These benefits include:
Energy Efficiency – by capturing wasted heat and kinetic energy, energy recovery systems improve the overall
efficiency of air compressor operations. This reduces the need for additional energy inputs and lowers energy costs.
Cost savings – Energy recovery systems can lead to substantial cost savings through reduced energy consumption,
decreased reliance on external heating or power sources, and potentially even revenue generation through excess electricity generation.
Environmental sustainability – Energy recovery in air compressors contributes to sustainability goals by reducing
greenhouse gas emissions, lowering the overall carbon footprint of the facility, and promoting a environmentally friendly operation.
Regulatory compliance – Many industries are facing stringent regulations and emissions standards. Implementing energy
recovery systems demonstrates a commitment to sustainable practices and can help companies comply with environmental regulations.
Enhanced system reliability – Adding in an Energy Recovery system can improve the reliability and performance of air
compressor systems, as they reduce the load on the compressor, minimizing wear and tear and extending the equipment’s lifespan.
Energy recovery in air compressors presents a promising opportunity for industries to optimize energy usage, reduce costs, and contribute to
a greener future. As the demand for energy-efficient practices continues to grow, integrating energy recovery systems into air compressors
is a proactive step towards a more sustainable future.
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Who we are and how Ash Air can help your business!
Ash Air has been around in New Zealand since 1979, and we’ve grown into a nationwide company with international support and a
reputation for quality and reliability.We look after all things compressed air for your business!
Rotary Screw and Piston Air Compressors
Vacuum Pumps and Blowers
Nitrogen Generation
An extensive line of Air Treatment components
AIRnet Piping System and Filtration
Mobile Compressors, Generators, and Light Towers
Ash Air's range of Chicago Pneumatic, ALUP, Pneumatech, and Atlas Copco products are used extensively around the world in
industries ranging from oil and gas to food, automotive and farming, and we bring you these world-class compressors here in the land of
the long white cloud.Our technicians are compressed air equipment experts and are dedicated to addressing customer needs. Supported with
nationwide coverage, Ash Air offers one of the widest selections of compressed air, vacuum pump, and industrial gas equipment and parts
available today in New Zealand.
Reliability and Efficiency
With Ash Air, you can count on reliability and high performance for even the most demanding applications. We focus our efforts
on the following:
Increasing uptime
Reducing unexpected repairs
Reducing energy consumption and meeting our sustainability goals
Air compressors come in many types, rotary screw, piston, scroll, reciprocating, some are oil-free and other air compressors require oil
lubrication. Like many businesses, an efficient air compressor is at the heart of their operations. So, which type of compressor should you
choose? What makes a compressor, like a rotary screw, unique? Here are some clear cut benefits of equipping your business with a rotary
screw compressor.
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In the world of compressors, there are often significant and unutilized energy-saving possibilities including energy recovery, pressure
reduction, leakage reduction and optimization of operations through correct choice of a control and regulation system as well as the choice
of compressor size.We are going to take a look at some of the opportunities for minimizing the compressor’s operating costs.
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Many installations that produce compressed air offer significant and frequently unutilized energy
saving possibilities in
the form of waste energy recovery. In large industries, energy costs can amount to 80% of the total cost of compressed
air production.
However, a lot of this energy can be recovered, which in turn will save you a lot of money.
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Liquid water in compressed-air systems can lead to rusted equipment and unresponsive controls. Anyone who uses compressed air will, at some
point, find liquid water in the air distribution system. This can be anything from a nuisance to a serious problem, depending on the
application. If water might corrode equipment or introduce bacteria, removing it is critical.
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Liquid water in compressed-air systems can lead to rusted equipment and unresponsive controls. Anyone who uses compressed air will, at some
point, find liquid water in the air distribution system. This can be anything from a nuisance to a serious problem, depending on the
application. If water might corrode equipment or introduce bacteria, removing it is critical.
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Whenever most people think about a compressor, they probably have a piston compressor in mind. You might already know there are two basic
principles of air compression. One of those is the principle of displacement compression. There are a lot of compressor types that classify
as a displacement compressor. The piston compressor is one of them, oil-lubricated or oil-free.
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Once you have the size and type of
compressor figured out, one last question remains, should I go with an oil lubricated or oil-free air compressor. To not overcomplicate the
answer, your choice should be based on the application and process that the compressed air will be utilized in.
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Like all compressor types, rotary screw models do require periodic maintenance. Thanks to the simplicity of the internal components,
maintenance is relatively easy on most rotary air compressors. As long as you stick to a rotary screw compressor maintenance schedule, you
will likely be rewarded with many, many years of optimal productivity from your machine.
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Did you know, the biggest part of the air we breathe is nitrogen? Everyone needs oxygen to survive, however air is made up of 78% nitrogen,
only 21% oxygen and tiny amounts of other gases. Although, the human body does not use this nitrogen, it is very helpful in various
industrial applications. There is an unlimited source of nitrogen readily available, allowing you to achieve needed purity at a fraction of
your current annual nitrogen cost.
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If you notice that your compressor is getting hot and bothered, there may be heating issues affecting your air compressors performance. Did
you know that an overheating compressor is top of the pops for being the most common cause of compressor failure.
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A rotary-screw compressor is an air compressor that uses a rotary-type positive-displacement mechanism, typically used replace piston
compressors where large volumes of high-pressure air are needed, either for large industrial applications or to operate high-power air
tools.
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Have a look around and what do you see? What are you thinking about? Your next holiday to Queenstown maybe? You might go snowboarding with
the kids or have some alone time at the Day Spa. Whatever holiday you choose, compressed air is involved in some way, without you even
realising it!
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There are crucial reasons why you should service and maintain your compressor regularly, with the most common issues being piston failure
caused by wear of components, increased friction, corrosion, reduced cooling, overheating bearings and components, clogging of air filters.
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Our passion for energy efficiency and cost saving derives from the concern for our children’s future. Analysing the efficiency of your
system is a brilliant way to start saving.
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Compressed air is all around us, from the air in a balloon to pumping up tires on your bicycle. In this article we will explain what
compressed air is and how it is created. Whether you know it or not, compressed air is involved in every aspect of our lives, from the
balloons at your birthday party to the air in the tires of our cars and bicycles. It was probably even used when making the phone, tablet or
computer you’re viewing this on.
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One of the biggest challenges is to correctly size your new air compressor. Similarly to everything else, new compressors available on the
market are more efficient and employ better technology, therefore you have to understand the application and usage to size the machine
correctly. Choosing the wrong air compressor for your facility can lead to problems with production and or increased costs due to wasted
energy.
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Once you have the size of the air compressor figured out, the
next thing to do is to decide on the type of compresor you will need for your application - piston, rotary screw compressor etc. Let us take
a look at two of the most popular options available. When choosing the right type of compressor, you should ask yourself the following
questions:
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Which vacuum pump do I need? - this is one of the most frequent questions we receive and this is understandable, because there are number
of technologies which can provide the same vacuum level and pumping speed. Here is quick advice on how to choose the best vacuum pump for
your needs.
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You may be asking, why does my air compressor start, then stop? Allow us to take the guessing out of it. We understand your pain. We know
that a compressor problem can quickly result in hours (if not days) of production downtime and loss of revenue. When your compressor
continuously shuts off from on, we refer that as a short cycle. There are a few reasons that a short cycle may be happening with your
compressor.
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Air compressor leaks are very common in all applications, but can be very costly and difficult to find. On average, 20-30% of the compressed
air used in a manufacturing plant is wasted as leaked air. Finding and fixing these leaks can save your business thousands of wasted dollars
a year.
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When installing a compressed air system into a business, people often look to PVC piping as an option to build a piping system because it is
cheap, versatile and easy to install. However, using PVC pipe in any compressed air application is extremely dangerous and NOT recommended
by multiple associations and manufacturers.
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Changing the oil and oil filters on your compressor is one of the most common routine maintenance tasks to perform to keep your compressor
running efficiently. After you remove your old oil and oil filter, you may find yourself wondering, “Where do I dispose of these?”, or “Can I
just throw them in the trash?”. Because oil is toxic and a pollutant, disposing of your old oil and filters is not as simple as just tossing
them in the trash.
Read More…
In
today’s world of increasing environmental awareness and the drive for sustainable practices, industries are actively seeking innovative
solutions to reduce energy consumption and minimize their carbon footprint. If your business uses air compressors, focusing on energy
recovery in air compressors is one area to pay attention too.
