Following leakage, wasteful usage is probably the second largest waste of compressed air.
Compressed air is generally accepted as being the most expensive utility used in industrial plants. It takes approximately 8hp of electrical input to create 1hp of compressed air.
Following leakage, wasteful usage is probably the second largest waste of compressed air.
The Office of Industrial Technologies, part of the US Department of Energy has released a list of compressed air applications that can be replaced with more efficient solutions.
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Wasteful Uses
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Suggested Alternatives
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Clean-up, Drying, Process cooling
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Low pressure blowers, electric fans, brooms, nozzles
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Sparging
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Low pressure blowers and mixers
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Aspirating, Atomizing
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Low pressure blowers
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Padding
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Low to medium pressure blowers
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Vacuum generator
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Dedicated vacuum pump or central vacuum system
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Personnel cooling
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Electric fans
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Compressed air-operated cabinet coolers
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Air-to-air heat exchanger or air conditioner
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Air motor-driven mixer
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Electric motor driven mixer
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Air-operated diaphragm pumps
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Proper regulator and speed control; electric pump
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Idle equipment*
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Put an air-stop valve at the compressed air inlet
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Abandoned equipment**
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Disconnect air supply to equipment
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*Equipment that is temporarily not-in-use.
**Equipment that is no longer used.
Information courtesy of BestPractices, a program of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Industrial Technologies (OIT).
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