Your compressed air systemis agold minein energy savings | Energy Manager

http://www.energy-manager.ca/feature-articles/your-compressed-air-system-is-a-gold-mine-in-energy-savings.html[5/16/2014 12:25:30 PM]

Follow 540 followers 2 Like
Share
11
Your compressed air system is a gold mine in energy
savings
Featured
Written by Menno Verbeek
Thursday, 24 April 2014 23:08
font size Print E-mail Image Gallery Add new comment
It is incomprehensible that production
companies leave financial reserves
unused in their bank accountand at
miserably low credit interest rates
while with just a part of this money
they could realize returns of a few
100%. How is this possible? By
investing in sustainable energy-saving
measures, which begin with the
acquisition of measurement and
analysis tools.
With these, compressed air losses can
quickly be rendered visible, which subsequently enables you to make purposeful savings on
energy use. It turns out that the costs of generating compressed air can be structurally reduced in
many companies... in practice, by as much as 20% to 50%.
Not only is it financially interesting to take a critical look at the compressed air system, but this also
fits in very well with energy efficiency obligations in the coming years. The European Energy
Featured Video
VIDEO: There are unknown unknowns...
but not with energy management
October 15, 2013 - According to the David Suzuki
Foundation, scientists are more certain than ever
that human activity, the burning of fossil fuels
and deforestation in particular, is causing
More Videos...
View Video...
Home Industry News Articles & Columns Products Videos Newsletters Contacts Calendar
SEARCH
Your compressed air systemis agold minein energy savings | Energy Manager
http://www.energy-manager.ca/feature-articles/your-compressed-air-system-is-a-gold-mine-in-energy-savings.html[5/16/2014 12:25:30 PM]
Efficiency Directive, for example, goes into force on J une 5, 2014, which means that large energy
customers will be obliged to cut their energy use by 1.5% annually. This measure is supposed to
ensure that, in Europe, ambitious energy-saving plans for 2020 will actually be realized.
Compressed air is expensive... very expensive!
Compressed air is used in virtually every production company to drive machinery, move product,
clean off packaging material, etc. Compression is an expensive affair: despite improvements over
recent decades, 75% of the (electrical) energy consumed is still lost to heat.
Compressed air is one of the most expensive energy carriers10x to 20x more expensive than
electricitywhich makes it such a tremendous contender for successful energy savings. This is
particularly true in the case of large factories, where there are often five or more compressors but,
even when there are only two compressors, the costs are already appreciable... often much higher
than many CFOs suspect!
Of the total life cycle cost of a compressed air system, the energy costs account for as much as
75%. The other 25% are the costs of acquisition and maintenance. Worldwide, about 5% of all
electrical energy is converted into compressed air. Within industry, this even amounts to 10%. But
that can be severely reduced, sometimes by as much as 50%. To achieve this, a systematic
approach is required. In this process, we distinguish three phases with compressed air systems,
namely: permanent monitoring, leakage management and system optimization.
Monitoring and analysis
Before you can save you must first uncover the savings potential. With a modern energy
management system focused on compressed air systems, the system is mapped out and
automatic reports can be generated. In the report, the efficiency, total costs and consumption per
department are displayed. Subsequently, one can go to work proactively in the order of savings
potential, and the results tracked in follow-up reporting.
Staff awareness plays an important role, too. By sharing results with them, their awareness grows
and waste decreases. Permanent monitoring and analysis is the first step toward identifying
savings and, when possible, maintaining them, so as to ensure those savings are realized year
after year.
Leakage management
Leakage management goes beyond tracing leaks and fixing them. It involves a systematic
approach with a permanent monitoring system as the starting point. By tracing and repairing leaks,
energy savings in the order of dozens of percentage points are often realized.
It is unbelievably simple and, consequently, incomprehensible that nothing is done about this in
many companies. It is, sadly, quite normal for the compressor to continue running even when all
machinery is switched off. (Many compressed air leaks can simply be heard [hissing sound], but
there are also leaks that are more difficult to detect. For those, there is special detection
equipment, and there are specialized companies that can trace those tricky leaks.)
System optimization
Over time, there can and will be important changes in compressed air usage. Leakage has
decreased, production may fluctuate or machinery inventory may have been altered through
expansion/modification. Thanks to permanent monitoring, changes are indicated in a timely
manner. Subsequently, optimizations can be carried out. In this context, think in terms of changes
in the number of compressors or the type of compressor; or maybe reducing the working pressure,
because high-pressure machinery may have been replaceda further energy saving.
One can also think in terms of heat recovery through the exploitation of compression heat for the
central heating system. In collaboration with specialists, supplementary improvements can be
Upcoming events
BOMA 2014 Every Building Conference & Expo
(J un 22, 2014)
Construct 2014 (Sep 09, 2014)
The Buildings Show (Dec 03, 2014)
ASHRAE Winter Conference 2015 (J an 24, 2015)
Your compressed air systemis agold minein energy savings | Energy Manager
http://www.energy-manager.ca/feature-articles/your-compressed-air-system-is-a-gold-mine-in-energy-savings.html[5/16/2014 12:25:30 PM]
carried out, resulting in an optimal, cost-effective compressed air system.
Recoupment period and yield
There are few situations in which investments in energy-saving measures are so quickly recouped
as with the optimization of compressed air systems. As a case study, we shall discuss a modestly-
sized compressed air system with two compressors:
one 125kW compressor runs 7000/year
one 75kW compressor runs 5000/year
Assuming 10 cents per kWh, the energy costs of this compressor station amount to 125,000 Euros
per year. Thanks to the compressed air monitoring system, a large number of leaks became
visible, and the maintenance schedule was adjusted.
Savings =15% or 18,750 Euros per year
Investment: a few new hose fittings and two hours of repair time
Subsequently, it was observed that a number of production lines continuously used air during still
periods. By turning off the machines during change of product (closing valve), another 5% was
additionally saved, or 6250 Euros. The total savings in this example are 25,000 Euro annually. The
investment in the measuring and analysis system (about 12,500 Euros) had been recouped within
roughly half a year, and there remained more than sufficient budget to invest in repair materials.
Photo 1: The larger the compressed air system, the higher the savings percentages that are
achievable. The flow in these pipes is measured with plug-in flow meters. In practice, leakage
management and monitoring of compressed air quickly yield tens of thousands of Euros in savings
per year.
Photo 2: Via web browser, this app displays the complete compressed air system, from
compressor system to end users. Among other things, the system shows when and how much
compressed air is used, from which concrete savings possibilities can be distilled.
Photo 3: These compressed air system flow meters are available in various implementations,
including plug-in versions and recently introduced in-line versions for mounting between the
compressed air or gas pipeline.
AUTHOR
Menno Verbeek is the marketing & sales manager with VPInstruments, and can be reached at
menno@vpinstruments.com .
Like this? Tweet it to your followers!
Image Gallery
Click to open image! Click to open image!

Your compressed air systemis agold minein energy savings | Energy Manager
http://www.energy-manager.ca/feature-articles/your-compressed-air-system-is-a-gold-mine-in-energy-savings.html[5/16/2014 12:25:30 PM]
1000 symbols left
Send
JComments

Add comment
Name (required)
E-mail (required, but will not display)
Notify me of follow-up comments
Refresh
back to top
Click to open image!
Your compressed air systemis agold minein energy savings | Energy Manager
http://www.energy-manager.ca/feature-articles/your-compressed-air-system-is-a-gold-mine-in-energy-savings.html[5/16/2014 12:25:30 PM]
Site Map
Copyright 2014 Annex Business Media | Annex North
Privacy Policy/Terms & Conditions