Oil-Free Air and Energy Recovery in the Dairy Industry

When you woke up this morning and reached for a container of yogurt, did you pause to consider how many ways compressed air touched that seemingly insignificant yogurt container before it ended up on your refrigerator shelf?

Compressed air plays an essential role in Müller Dairy’s large-scale production operation, where nearly 160,000 gallons of raw milk are processed daily. The company’s yogurt and fruit processing operations use compressed air to supply air cylinders, fill machine and process valves and provide a sterile air barrier for end products. Oil-free air is used in a variety of critical manufacturing applications that demand the highest levels of purity, including the food, automotive, textile, packaging, electronics and chemical industries, among others.

While all reputable manufacturers employ strict quality control measures to ensure their products meet and exceed the highest standards, one way to help mitigate the chances of product contamination is to eliminate the variables that can contribute to contamination. Only ISO 8573-1 Class Zero oil-free compressors provide clean, 100 percent oil-free air, virtually eliminating any risk of oil contamination within the manufacturing infrastructure.

Müller Dairy’s compressed air installation also benefits from energy recovery. Heat is produced when air is compressed; this heat has to be removed from the air before the air can be used in the end process. Instead of diverting the heat into the atmosphere, Müller Dairy uses the heat byproduct to heat process water. Working in conjunction with ammonia compressors and the yogurt and fruit processes, the hot water is used to pre-heat yogurt bases, thus eliminating both the need to generate steam and the costs incurred from two gas-fired boilers.

Oil-free air touches many aspects of our daily lives. Check out the following video to learn more about everyday applications that use oil-free air:

If you’d like to discuss the quality, health and safety that oil-free air brings to critical manufacturing applications, contact us or leave a comment below.