How to Achieve ROI on a Compressed Air System in Less than a Year

Have you ever wondered if it’s possible to upgrade your compressed air system and achieve a return on investment in a year or less? It’s possible if you know where to look for savings. By innovating operations, upgrading to new technology and taking advantage of utility incentives, a bottling company in New Hampshire was able to save energy and reduce their environmental impact to reach sustainability goals.

Innovating Operations Leads to Increased Sustainability

The bottling company fills one hundred and fifty million bottles of soda per year at their facility. The company determined they could reduce the cost per bottle by manufacturing the bottles instead of shipping them in; to bring operations in-house they would need specialized compressed air equipment – a PET blow molder and a high-pressure air compressor.

An equipment evaluation resulted in the recommendation of two new compressors for the project – a low pressure base compressor and a high pressure booster for the PET operation. Other opportunities revealed themselves during the facility tour and equipment evaluation, including the proposed replacement of outdated technology found in 23 year-old equipment.

Equipment Upgrades

The following equipment was chosen during the upgrade:

• A high pressure oil-free base compressor with variable speed drive provides low pressure air plant-wide, feeding both the bottle blowing operation and the house air requirement. The ZR 315 VSD-FF unit featuring energy efficient variable speed drive matches the air consumption to demand and includes an integrated MD dryer with very low operational cost.
• A DX 110 high pressure booster compressor generates the 600 psig air pressure required for PET bottle blowing.

Incentives Provided by Utility Yields ROI in Less than a Year

The company’s utility provider became an enthusiastic partner during the project, contributing $60,000 toward the project. According to the company’s plant manager, the utility incentives combined with projected energy savings from the equipment would allow the system to pay for itself in less than a year.

Additional tactics, such as the recapture of high pressure exhaust air from the blowing process, reduced the volume of low pressure air needed for the PET operation and contributed to reduced electrical consumption. The low noise levels of the ZR 315 VSD-FF also contributed to savings by eliminating the need for a separate compressor room.

Are you ready for an upgrade?

Upgrading your compressed air system to the latest technology can help you meet the energy, quality and sustainability demands of the future.