Industrial Utility Efficiency
A metal producer, in the Midwest, spends an estimated $2.4 million annually on electricity to operate their compressed air system. The current average electric rate, at this plant, is 5.5 cents per kWh, and the compressed air system operates 8,760 hours per year. This system assessment recommended a group of “near-term” compressed air demand reduction projects and then a group of separate “longer-term” projects focused on optimizing the air compressors, the controls and the heated desiccant compressed air dryers. The near term demand-reduction projects...
This factory currently spends \$735,757 annually on the electricity required to operate the compressed air system at its plant. The group of projects recommended in the system assessment will reduce these energy costs by an estimated \$364,211 (49% of current use). Estimated costs for completing the recommended projects total \$435,800. This figure represents a simple payback period of 14.4 months.
The snack food facility is running with two normally separated compressed air production systems: the main plant system and the nitrogen system.
Over the last several decades, Air Power USA has reviewed many various types of plastic injection molding operations throughout the U.S.
Relatively few people realize that for a variety of industrial manufacturing applications, from air knife drying to simple blow-off nozzles, the use of high pressure compressed air that bleeds into the atmosphere represents a significant waste of energy.
