Oil-Free Air and Energy Recovery: A Must for Food Manufacturers

This is an excerpt from the article, Oil-Free Air and Energy Recovery: A Must for Food Manufacturers, written for Food Manufacturing magazine in June by Atlas Copco’s Bob Baker, Training Manager and Trey Ragsdale, Product Marketing Manager:

Oil-free air is one of the top priorities in the successful operation of a food manufacturing plant. If contamination were to occur, the operation would have to be slowed or stopped altogether, resulting in downtime, product waste, loss of productivity and a damaged reputation if product recalls become necessary. Food manufacturers largely have realized the benefit of eliminating the risk of oil contamination and many now operate Class 0 air compressors [that meet the ISO 8573-1 Class 0 2010 edition standards that define air quality levels and methods for determining contaminants in the air system.]

But switching to an oil-free compressor does not guarantee that one food manufacturing plant will operate more efficiently than another. Other advancements in design and packaging help make today’s air compressors more efficient than ever before. Additionally, improved maintenance procedures, state-of-the-art monitoring equipment and increased attention to air usage have all contributed to lower operating costs while increasing productivity.

For a food manufacturer to remain competitive, energy efficiency and energy savings must be a top priority. Considering that the cost of electricity to power compressors can be as high as 40 percent of a plant’s electricity bill, reducing energy consumption is a simple way to contribute to the bottom line with positive results.

An innovative way to reduce energy consumption is to capitalize on the heat by-product of air compression to defray the costs of other necessary food manufacturing processes. By using energy recovered from heat, manufacturers can save typically 95 percent (with potential savings up to 100 percent) of the original electrical input energy used to power the air compressor.

You can read the full article by following this link.