COMPRESSED AIR SYSTEM

USES OF COMPRESSED AIR

AS INSTRUMENT AIR (IA)
◼ To operate pneumatic instruments, valves / actuators

◼ To purge some control panels

This air has to be dry and free from oil & dust (particle size less than 3
micro meter)

Normal pressure – 4 to 7 kg/cm2g

 USES OF COMPRESSED AIR

AS PLANT AIR (PA)

◼ For pneumatic conveying, decoking, catalyst regeneration, ejectors
etc.
◼ Service air (air blowing, cleaning, operation of pneumatic tools)

◼ Normal pressure – 3 to 7 kg/cm2g

PA is not necessarily to be dry but should be reasonably free from

moisture & dust, even in some applications a small quantity of oil is
desirable

To prevent condensation in piping or instruments the dew point of air

at operating pressure shall always be at least 10 deg C lower than
lowest expected ambient temp.
 SYSTEM DESIGN

◼ Estimate the quantities of plant air and instrument air required

◼ (for plant air estimation 1- 3 hoses @ 170 Nm3/hr are considered to

operating simultaneously depending upon the size of plant.)

◼ Capacity of compressed air system :

Total compressed air (CA) requirement = IA + PA (normal process air

+ hose station requirement)
Compressed air system capacity = Total CA + 20% (to account for
leakage + design margin)
 SYSTEM DESIGN

◼ CA SYSTEM CONSISTS OF :

◼ Compressors – Both LP and HP compressors

◆ Reciprocating
◆ Centrifugal
◆ Screw

◼ Air receivers (plant air and instrument air)

◼ Air dryer

◼ Air trap
 COMPRESSOR SELECTION

◼ Common vs. separate compressor for IA & PA :

Steps for common vs. separate compressor decision -

Step 1) Check IA requirement -

a) IA requirement < 300 Nm3/hr go to step 4)
b) IA requirement 300-1000 Nm3/hr go to step 3)
c) IA requirement >1000 Nm3/hr go to step 2)

Step 2) Check PA requirement -

a) PA requirement > 40% of IA, provide separate compressor
b) PA requirement < 40% of IA, provide common compressor
 COMPRESSOR SELECTION

Step 3) Check PA requirement –

a) If PA >IA and IA + PA is > 1000 Nm3/hr provide separate
compressor
b) If PA < IA and IA +PA is < 1000 NM3/hr provide common
compressor

Step 4) Check PA requirement –

a) If PA < 300 Nm3/hr and IA + PA is < 500 Nm3/hr provide common
compressor
b) If PA > 300 Nm3/hr and IA + PA > 500 Nm3/hr provide separate
compressor
 COMPRESSOR SELECTION

◼ Type of compressor based on compressed air capacity:

COMPRESSOR DISCHARGE TYPE OF

CAPACITY, NM3/HR PRESSURE, KG/CM2A COMPRESSOR
1000 8 – 9.5 RECIPROCATING

1000 - 4000 8 – 9.5 OIL FREE SCREW

4000 - 6000 8 – 9.5 BOTH SCREW &

CENTRIFUGAL MAY
BE SPECIFIED
6000 & above 8 – 9.5 INTERNALLY GEARED
CENTRIFUGAL
 COMPRESSOR SELECTION
Compressor selection guidelines
Compressor/ Advantages Disadvantages Good application Poor application
control type
Reciprocating/unloadi Very good part-load Maintenance intensive Trim compressor Sterile air
ng efficiency

Rotary screw Minimum maintenance Poor unloading Base or continuous Trim compressor
(oil)/inlet throttling cost, low initial cost efficiency loading

Rotary screw Low maintenance cost Trim compressor Sterile air

(oil)/rotor shortening
or load-unload
Rotary screw Very good part-load High initial cost Trim compressor or Full or base loaded
(oil)/variable speed efficiency fluctuating load
drive
Rotary screw (oil- Very good part-load Not as efficient as oil- Trim compressor, Industrial uses
less)/load-unload efficiency, oil-free flooded sterile air

Centrifugal/inlet Inherently oil-less, low Poor part-load Base or continuous Trim compressor or
throttling maintenance costs efficiency load part-loaded
 COMPRESSOR SELECTION

◼ Reciprocating compressors if used have to be non lubricating type,

because presence of oil clogs capillary and lattice openings of the
desiccant in the drier

◼ Compressor selection is arguably the most important component in a

compressed air system and can dramatically influence equipment,
maintenance, and energy costs of the system.

◼ However Rotating department’s recommendation shall be final in this

regard.

◼ Capacity of each compressor is generally in the range of 1000-4000

Nm3/hr
 COMPRESSOR SELECTION

◼ Normal design conditions for determining the compressor capacity

are 50-70 RH and 40 deg C

◼ Compressor capacity = CA requirement / No. of compressors, Nm3/hr

◼ Nos. of compressors-

General guideline :

a) for total compressor power upto 100 kw, no. = one + one (standby)

b) for total compressor power > 100 kw, no. = Operating compressor
each of 33-50% capacity + one standby of same capacity
 COMPRESSOR SELECTION

c) Other criteria is compressor Capacity (max available capacity of a

compressor is ~4000 Nm3/hr)

◼ Spare - normally one as spare.

◼ Mostly compressors are common for both IA & PA

◼ In case of common compressors for IA & PA a pressure control

system is provided to preferentially ensure instrument air supply when
header pressure drops.
 COMPRESSION RATIO

◼ Compression ratio (CR)

P2/P1
P1 = Abs press at site; P2= Abs pressure at compressor discharge

◼ CR is not specified in PDS, decided by the equipment specialist

based on maximum permissible temperature, availability etc.

(General guideline: the maximum permissible temperature is ~ 160

deg C during compression in a stage due to limitation of compressor
casing material. After this inter cooling is done to about 40 deg C,
generally PA air compressors delivering at 9-10 kg/cm2g have two
stage compression)
 CAPACITY CONTROL

◼ Depending on CA demand compressors are provided with loading –

unloading mechanism to run compressors at 0-25-50-75-100%
capacity. The compressor discharge pressure should be mentioned at
100% capacity.

◼ An isolation and check valve is provided on discharge of each

compressor, a vent line is provided on the discharge of each
compressor for independent checking of each compressor during
start up and maintenance.
 COMMON COMPRESSOR WITH N2 PLANT

DEPENDS UPON –

◼ Flow rate of CA vis a vis air separation plant demand.

◼ Pressure requirement for CA vis a vis air separation plant demand.

◼ Nature of consumptions i. e. turn down, intermittent, start up , shut

down etc.

◼ It is necessary to have consistent pressure levels for both N2 and CA

 AIR RECEIVERS

◼ Usually separate receivers are provided for IA & PA

◼ Receiver functions :

a) acts as surge tank to dampen pulsations

b) acts as knock out drum to separate moisture

c) acts as reservoir to sustain air supply for the required minimum

duration
 RECEIVER SIZING

◼ PA RECEIVER
◼ Sizing for hold up :
normally 2-5 minutes hold up with pressure dropping down to about
4.5 kg/cm2a

Volume required = [CA requirement X (Optg temp + 273) X hold up

time ] / [(normal Pressure – minimum Pressure) X 273]

◼ Sizing for air water separation

Out of above two whichever size requirement comes high is finally

adopted.
 RECEIVER SIZING

◼ IA RECEIVER

◼ These are sized for hold up requirement :

a) Plants with no emergency power - 20 minutes hold up

b) Plants with emergency power with auto start provision - 2 minutes

hold up

c) Plants with diesel driven emergency air compressor – 5 minutes

hold up
 AIR DRYER
◼ FUNCTION – To remove moisture from IA

◼ Air dryer consists of :

a) Drying bed – consisting of desiccant bed ; two beds, usually one in
operation and one in regeneration interchanged after 8 hrs.

b)Air heater – electrical heater for heating the regeneration air from
ambient to final temp(170-260 deg C)

c) Air cooler – S/T exchanger to condense and remove moisture

regenerated from air.

d) Pre filter and after filters – to remove dust and other particles from
inlet and outlet air. The air from drier contains minute desiccant
particles which are removed in after filters.
 AIR DRYER

◼ Air dryer capacity should be about 20% higher than total max IA
requirement, Max available capacity ~ 4000 Nm3/hr.

◼ Desiccant type- silica gel or any other

◼ Allowable pr. drop in total drier package– not to exceed 0.5 kg/cm2

◼ Temp of outlet air – not to exceed 50 deg C (temp. of air increases

during drying due to heat of adsorption)
 AIR DRYER

◼ Procedure of Air drier design :

◆ Calculation of desiccant volume & bed size

◆ Calculation of heater duty
◆ Calculation of condenser duty

◼ Besides desiccant bed, air drying can be done through -

a) Refrigeration drying (use very limited, where chilled water or brine

is already available)
b) Absorption drying, normally not adopted
 AIR DRYER

◼ SELECTION OF DESICCANT FOR DRIER

◼ An ideal desiccant should have following characteristic –

◆ large surface area

◆ high activity for moisture
◆ high mass transfer rate
◆ easy and economic to regenerate
◆ high mechanical strength
◆ low resistance to air flow
◆ non corrosive, non toxic and chemically inert

◼ Some of most common desiccants are silica gel, activated alumina

and molecular sieve
 AIR DRYER

◼ COMPARISON OF VARIOUS DESICCANTS :

Adsorption Physical Regeneration Aging/ Indicative Cost
capacity strength temp. life type

Silica gel High low Low Low Yes Low

Activated low Higher High high No High

Alumina

Molecular Highest Higher high High No Highest

sieve

◼ Silica gel is the most common of above desiccants

 AIR TRAP & FILTERS
◼ AIR TRAP FUNCTION –
To drain out water from the compressed air in receiver , interstage /
after coolers

◼ FILTER FUNCTIONS -
Filters in a compressed air system have two functions:
1) to remove particulate from the system
2) to remove condensed water and oil from the system.

◼ In a compressed air system coalescing filters are used throughout to

capture condensed air and oil.
◼ It is important to monitor pressure drop across filters to determine
whether a filter element is in need of being replaced. Typically a max
pressure drop of 6-10 psi is allowed across a filter.
 CA DISTRIBUTION

◼ The Piping portion of the compressed air system serves a number of

purposes:
◆ The most obvious is to transport the air from the supply side of the
system to the downstream equipment.
◆ It also provides limited storage capacity and controls velocity to and from
various process parts of the system.
◆ An efficient distribution system is designed to limit the amount of pressure
drop as the air moves towards the end-use. This is accomplished through
adequate pipe sizing and limiting bends, elbows, and other flow
restrictions within the system.

◼ It is also important to avoid wasteful leakage in joints and couplings.

 EMERGENCY AIR SYSTEM

◼ General power supply failure is assumed to last for 1 hour at a time,

the CA requirement during this period consists of:

a) IA for safe shut down of plant

b) PA/ IA for running essential units / equipments till normal supply is

restored
 EMERGENCY AIR SYSTEM

◼ Ways for ensuring CA supply during this period :

a) Emergency consumers be connected to emergency power supply

such as CPP or diesel genset

b)Separate LP / HP compressor & receiver

c)N2 back up – plants having liquid N2 storage with vaporizer may be

used in place of IA during emergency.

Mostly we follow option b) of separate compressors for LP and HP

 UTILITIES FOR CA SYSTEM

◼ Cooling water requirement of 10 - 15 m3/hr for every 1000 Nm3/hr of

compressor capacity
◼ Service water – hose requirement
◼ LP steam – hose requirement

◼ Compressed air systems are one of the most expensive of all plant
utilities.
THANK YOU