Power Quality & Utilisation Guide

Section 7: Energy Efficiency

www.leonardo-energy.org
February 2007

Compressed Air
Jean Timmermans, Laborelec

1 Introduction.................................................................................................... 2
2 Technical aspects of compressed air ....................................................... 3
2.1 Production of compressed air........................................................................... 3
2.2 Dealing with variable demands......................................................................... 3
3 Energy savings techniques ........................................................................ 5
3.1 System Master Controls ..................................................................................... 5
3.2 Improving the specific consumption with Variable Speed drives ........... 6
3.3 Improving the production efficiency by reducing the air inlet
temperature....................................................................................................................... 7
3.4 Energy-efficient distribution of compressed air .......................................... 7
3.5 Enhancing the system performance by using dryers................................. 8
3.6 Appropriate use of compressed air can save a lot of energy................... 8
3.7 Leaks cost a lot of money, but they can be reduced .................................. 8
3.8 Lower outlet pressure results in high savings ............................................. 9
3.9 Heat recovery systems can have pay-backs of less than two years .... 10
4 Conclusions ................................................................................................. 11
5 References.................................................................................................... 11
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1 Introduction
Compressed air is a well-known and proven technology and has many applications in
industry. It is used in extrusion processes, paint spraying, blow moulding but also in more
generic processes as vacuum production, manipulation processes, and for controlling and
transportation applications.
But delivering compressed air to a manufacturing facility is an expensive operation. Delivery
requires costly equipment that consumes significant amounts of electricity and needs
frequent maintenance.
The following table shows the different components of the total cost of compressed air:
Absolute price:
Production: 4,45 … 8,90 € / kNm3
Driers: 0,45 … 1,60 € / kNm3
Investment: 0,75 … 1,00 € / kNm3
Maintenance: 0,60 … 1,00 € / kNm3
Supplementary costs:
3
Distribution 0,25 … 0,75 € / kNm
3
Leaks 0,75 … 2,25 € / kNm
Total Cost: 7,25 … 15,50 € / kNm3

The energy consumption represents between 60 and 90% of the total cost related to
compressed air and is far more dominant than the investment and maintenance cost.

investment water
1%
maintenance12%
11%

energy
76%

Figure 1: Cost breakdown for compressed air production

In general, the energy cost related to a compressed air system represents about 10 tot 15%
of the electricity bill of an industrial consumer. This application guide gives an overview of
technical and organizational solutions that will maximize the energetical efficiency of the
complete system. Implementation of these measures can save up to 25% of the electricity
costs related to compressed air systems.

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2 Technical aspects of compressed air

2. 1 P ro du ct io n o f co mp r es s ed a ir

For the production of compressed air 3 main types of compressors are used:
• Reciprocating or piston compressors
• Rotary Screw compressors
• Rotary centrifugal compressors

Reciprocating compressors are positive displacement machines: they increase the pressure
of the air by reducing its volume. This means they are taking in successive volumes of air,
which is confined within a closed space, and elevating the air to a higher pressure. The
reciprocating compressor accomplishes this by a piston within a cylinder as the compressing
and displacing element. The compressors are available in a single-stage or multi-stage
configuration, depending on the pressure level. Piston compressors have a high efficiency
(75%) but require considerable maintenance, due to the piston-valves.
Rotary screw compressors are positive displacement compressors as well. This type of
compressors consists of two rotors within a casing where the rotors compress the air
internally. Since there are no valves, maintenance is less intensive. These units are basically
oil cooled (with air cooled or water cooled oil coolers), where the oil seals the internal
clearances. The efficiency is about 71%.
Oil free screw compressors utilize specially designed air ends to compress air without oil in
the compression chamber yielding true oil free air. The efficiency of this type of compressors
is about 73%
The centrifugal compressor is a dynamic compressor, which depends on transfer of energy
from a rotating impeller tot the air. Centrifugal compressors produce high-pressure discharge
by converting angular momentum imparted by the rotating impeller. These types of
compressors are designed for higher capacity because flow through the compressor is
continuous. The efficiency is about 75%.

2. 2 De al ing w i th var i abl e d ema n d s

The air demand changes continuously in an industrial factory. Therefore, system controls
need to mach the compressed air supply with the system demand and are one of the most
important determinants in the overall system energy efficiency. The classic control is the
load/unload control. The system pressure is monitored and unloads the compressor when
the discharge pressure is adequate. When the system pressure reaches a predetermined
minimum level, the compressor is loaded, and pressure will rise. As the motor runs
continuously, an unloaded rotary screw compressor will consume 15 to 35% of full load
power, while delivering no useful work. When the demand is volatile, there are many
switches between load and unload, resulting in a consumption during unload periods of 40%
or even higher.
When changing from load to unload, the minimal unload power is not reached immediately.
Fast changes from load to unload results in a higher average unload power. Storage can be
used to control demand variability in a compressed air system. Receiver tanks store
compressed air, that can satisfy temporary demands for compressed air without large
pressure drops in the system. This enables smaller compressors to satisfy the variable
loads. Because smaller compressor run more continuously tan large compressors, this can
result in significant energy savings.

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Working with more than one compressor

When the air demand is varying between high and low volume flows, the unload time can
become very high. The unload time, and useless energy consumption can be reduced by
installing more than one compressor with a smaller nominal capacity, so that unneeded
compressors are turned off when not needed. To stage multiple compressors, the lower
activation pressure of the baseload compressor is set a bit higher than the lower activation
pressure of the lag compressors. This alone, will not result in energy savings since the lag
compressors will continue to run unloaded while drawing a significant fraction of full-load
power. However, most compressors have a “sleep” or “automatic” mode in which the
compressor will turn off if it runs unloaded for 5 or 10 minutes.

The effect of staging multiple compressors is illustrated by following simulated example:

Suppose we have a linear growing air demand resulting in following consumption profile
(from 5 to 27 Nm³/min):

7.25 60

6.75 50
Pressure (bar(e))

6.25 40

Flow (m³/min)
5.75 30

5.25 20

4.75 10

4.25 0
0
60
120
180
240
300
360
420
480
540
600
660
720
780
840
900
960
1020
1080
1140
1200
1260
1320
1380
1440
1500
1560
1620
1680
1740
1800
seconds

Figure 2: Demand profile

3 compressors with the same nominal capacity (10 Nm3/min) work in a load/unload regime
in order to deliver the required compressed air. The compressors are staged as followed:

Compressor Load pressure (pLow) Unload pressure (pHigh)

Comp. 1 6.5 bar 7 bar
Comp. 2 6.25 bar 6.75 bar
Comp. 3 6 bar 6.5 bar

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When we simulate the produced flow (the bottom toothed line) and resulting air pressure (the
upper toothed line) we have following results:

7.25 60

6.75 50
Pressure (bar(e))
6.25 40

Flow (m³/min)
5.75 30

5.25 20

4.75 10

4.25 0
0
60
120
180
240
300
360
420
480
540
600
660
720
780
840
900
960
1020
1080
1140
1200
1260
1320
1380
1440
1500
1560
1620
1680
1740
1800
seconds

Figure 3: Resulting air pressure and produced flow (1)

This simulation shows us a rather high variation of the system pressure, due to the cascade
of pressure set points needed in order to prioritise the compressors. Also the unload period
is fairly high. This results in a high specific average consumption (113 Wh/Nm3)

3 Energy saving techniques

3. 1 S yst e m Ma st e r Con t r ols

As shown in the previous example, a system master control is required to coordinate all of
the functions necessary to optimise compressed air. System master controls interface with
all brands and types of air compressors, and can coordinate the operation of satellite
compressor rooms spread around the facility, or in different buildings across an industrial
campus.
A properly configured system master control can determine the best and most energy-
efficient response to events that occur in the system.
Such a central controlled compressor fleet normally consists of several load/unload
compressors. De Master Control selects the compressors to produce for the required
demand, avoiding compressors to work in unload regime.
Simulation of the effect of a centralised control system on the previous example shows
following system pressure (the upper toothed line) and production flow (the bottom toothed
line):

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7.25 60

6.75 50

Pressure (bar(e))
6.25 40

Flow (m³/min)
5.75 30

5.25 20

4.75 10

4.25 0
0
60
120
180
240
300
360
420
480
540
600
660
720
780
840
900
960
1020
1080
1140
1200
1260
1320
1380
1440
1500
1560
1620
1680
1740
1800
seconds

Figure 4: Resulting air pressure and produced flow (2)

The resulting discharge pressure has a lower variability resulting in a more stable system
pressure and a lower specific consumption (111 Wh/Nm3)

3. 2 I mp ro vi ng t he spe c ifi c co n su mp t ion w it h V ari abl e S pe ed d ri ve s

Variable speed is accepted as an efficient means of rotary compressor capacity control,

using integrated variable frequency AC drives. The speed of the compressor is raised when
the discharge pressure drops and vice versa. With this type of control, the compressor
discharge pressure can be held within narrow limits, resulting in a lower average discharge
pressure. Also there is no or few unload consumption. Measurements at Laborelec show
significant energy savings are possible and are bigger as the variability of the demand profile
raises. Savings up to 40% are no exception.

Integration of a VSD compressor in a central control system will further reduce the specific
consumption of the compressed air by improving the stability of the system pressure and
avoiding unload running of the base compressors. This is shown in following simulation:

7.25 60

6.75 50
Pressure (bar(e))

6.25 40
Flow (m³/min)

5.75 30

5.25 20

4.75 10

4.25 0
0
60
120
180
240
300
360
420
480
540
600
660
720
780
840
900
960
1020
1080
1140
1200
1260
1320
1380
1440
1500
1560
1620
1680
1740
1800

seconds

Figure 5: Resulting air pressure and produced flow (3)

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In this case, a variable speed compressor with a nominal capacity of 15 Nm3/min is added tot
the previous system. As a result the specific consumption is reduced tot 103 Wh/Nm3.

In order to obtain the best results it is important that the capacity of the variable speed
compressor is higher than the flow variation. Otherwise, so called regulation gaps will occur.
For these certain demands of flow, the regulation system has no optimal answer and unload
running of a compressor will occur.

3. 3 I mp ro vi ng t h e p ro d u ct io n ef f i c ie nc y b y r edu cin g th e ai r i nle t

t e mp e rat u re .

Thermodynamics teaches us that for compression of a perfect gas the mechanical power
can be calculated as follows:

n -1
n p2 n
Pad = M x R x xT x -1 with
(n - 1) 1 p1

( n - 1)
=
( - 1)
x
1
n
ad

Pad Mechanical power

M Air mass flow
R Ideal gas constant
γ 1,4
ηad Adiabatic efficiency
T1 Air Inlet temperature
p1 Air inlet pressure
p2 Air outlet pressure

Our thermodynamical model shows that higher inlet temperatures result in a higher
mechanical power needed to drive the compressor. The energy consumption rises with
about 0.3% per degree Celsius. Well designed installations use outside air, have their air
intake on the north side of the building, far away from heat sources like steam conducts,
burners, ovens etc. This can result in a reduction of the inlet temperature by 10°C, saving
about 3.5% of energy.

3. 4 E n e rg y- ef f i ci en t di st rib ut io n o f co mp re sse d a i r

In order to distribute the produced compressed air to the application, a piping system is
used. Any type of obstruction, restriction or roughness in the system will cause resistance to
air flow and cause pressure drop, resulting in energy efficiency loss. Therefore, using ring-
shaped air networks will result in lower pressure drops as antenna networks.
As the air of the compressor needs to be free of particles, dirt and raindrops, the intake air is
filtered. Also air/lubricant separators, after coolers, moisture separators and dryers are often
integrated in the supply side of the system, causing a significant pressure drop.

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Therefore, these components need regular maintenance and cleaning, in order to reduce de
discharge losses. A reduction of 0.05 bars on discharge losses, results in an energy saving
of 1%. Also the design of the system is extremely important. The intake air path needs to be
as short as possible, installed with large sections and minimal sharp turns, avoiding pressure
drops. Specifications on regulators and lubricators need to have the best performance
characteristics at the lowest pressure differential. These components must be sized based
upon the actual rate of flow and not the average rate of flow.

3. 5 E nh an cin g t h e syst em p e rf o r man ce b y us in g d rye rs

Compressed air system performance is typically enhanced by the use of dryers, but since
they require added capital and operating costs (including energy), drying should only be
performed tot the degree that is needed for the proper functioning of the equipment and the
end use.
The selection of a compressed air dryer should be based upon the required pressure dew
point and the estimated cost of operation.
Refrigerant-type dryers are the most common and provide pressure dew point of 2°C, which
is acceptable for many applications.
Twin tower, desiccant-type dryers are the most effective in the removal of moisture from the
air and are typically rated at a de point of –20°C. The regeneration of the desiccant is done
either by purged air or by heat. Special types are the regenerative dryers, which use the heat
generated during compression to accomplish desiccant regeneration.

3. 6 Ap p r op riat e us e of c o mp re s se d ai r c an s a ve a lo t o f en e rg y

As already discussed above, compressed air is a very expensive form of energy. To

illustrate; of the total energy consumption for the production of compressed air, 10% is
converted into useful energy and 90% is converted into heat. But compressed air is also
clean, readily available and simple to use. As a result, compressed air is often chosen for
applications for which other energy sources are more economical. Users should therefore
always consider more cost-effective forms of power before considering compressed air.
Examples of potentially inappropriate uses of compressed air include open blowing,
aspirating, vacuum generation and cabinet cooling. Alternatives are often found using other
technologies like blowers, ventilators or vacuum pumps. Also the use of electrical tooling
instead of pneumatical tooling can be considered, as this saves about 90% of electricity.

3. 7 L e ak s co st a l ot of mo ne y, bu t t h e y ca n b e red u ce d

Air leaks are not avoidable in a compressed air system. Often, they represent a significant
source of wasted energy in an industrial compressed air system. A typical plant that has not
been well maintained will likely have a leak rate of 20% or higher. Proactive leak detection
and repair can reduce leaks to less than 10% of the compressor output.

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4000

10 bar
3500

3000
8 bar

cost (EURO) 2500

6 bar
2000

1500
4 bar

1000

500

0
0 0,5 1 1,5 2 2,5 3
diameter leakage (mm)

Figure 6: Annual cost of air leakage

An easy way to estimate the leak rate is to determine the average load and unload time of
the compressor, when there is no demand on the system. The leakage can be estimated
dividing the on-load time by the total cycle time.
While leakages can come from any part of the system, the most common problem areas are:
• couplings, hoses, tubes and fittings
• pressure regulators
• open condensate traps and shut-off traps
• non-operating equipment

Since air leaks are almost impossible to see, and cannot always be heard, other methods
must be used to locate them. The best way to detect leaks is to use an ultrasonic acoustic
detector, which can recognize the high-frequency hissing sounds associated with air leaks.
An alternative for the “seek and repair” method for reducing the leaks can be found in the
“leak-tag method”. With this method, the identified leaks are tagged with a two-part tag. One
part stays at the leak and the other part is turned to the maintenance department, identifying
the location, size, and description of the leak to be repaired.

3. 8 L ow er o ut let p r es su r e res ult s in hig h s a vi n gs

Air that is compressed to a higher pressure than necessary is a waste of energy. Our
thermodynamical model shows that higher outlet pressure demands higher compressor
power for the same amount of compressed air.
The consumer who needs the highest pressure often determines the outlet pressure. In
many cases, it is useful to split the network in a low pressure net and a high pressure net,
which are each fed by a different compressor.
A calculation example shows the saving potential: A shop requires compressed air at 11 bar
and at 6 bar. De required flows are 10m3/s each. In order to provide the 20 m3/s at 11 bar, a
mechanical power of 10162 kW is needed. In a separated system, the high pressure net
needs 5081 kW, and the low pressure net needs 3720 kW, generating an energy saving of
13.4%

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The distribution piping system often is diagnosed as having excess pressure drop, resulting
in too high outlet pressure of the compressor. A properly designed system should have a
pressure loss of much less than 10% of the compressor discharge pressure.
There is also another penalty for higher than needed pressure. Raising the compressor
discharge pressure increases the demand of every unregulated usage, including leaks, open
blowing etc.
Following graph shows the impact of reducing the outlet pressure on the specific
consumption of compressed air:

160

140
leakage air
used air
120

100
cost (%)

80

60

40

20

0
4 5 6 7 8 9 10
pressure (bar)

Figure 6: Influence of system pressure on compressed air cost

3. 9 He at re co ve ry s yst e ms c an h a ve pa y- b ac ks o f le ss t h an t w o
yea r s

An important part of the mechanical power is converted into heat. A large part of this can be
recovered under the form of hot air or hot water.

Hot air can be used for:

• Direct heating of neighbouring rooms
• Preheating of combustion air of boilers
• Hot air for drying applications

Heat recovery through hot water can produce heat at a temperature of 90°C in a closed
circuit. Possible applications are:
• heating of sanitary water via a heat exchanger
• central building heating
• direct use of the cooling water as feeding water for steam boilers.

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The amount of heat that can be recovered is depending on the air demand en the type of
control. It is obvious that variable speed driven compressors will have a lower heat recovery
potential than load/unload compressor control.

4 Conclusions
Improving and maintaining peak compressed air system performance requires not only
addressing individual components, but also analysing both the supply and demand sides of
the system and how they interact.
This system approach demands following action plan in order to improve overall energy
efficiency:
• Analyse the compressed air needs
• Avoid inappropriate use of compressed air
• Reduce Air system leaks
• Analyse operating data and working regime of the production system
• Check for opportunities at the component level
• Check for opportunities at the system control level
• When an optimisation is implemented, continue to monitor the performance
• Continue to monitor and optimise the system

5 References

[1] E. M. Talbott, Compressed Air Systems (second edition), The Fairmont press Inc.,
Georgia (USA), 1992.

[2] J.P. Rollins (Compressed Air and Gas Institute), Compressed Air and Gas
Handbook, Prentice Hall PTR, New Jersey (USA), 1989..

[3] http://www.energystar.gov/, accessed in December 2006

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