Project Information
| Construction Date : January 2017 |
| Location : Ontario, Canada |
| Category : Energy Management |
| Firm : EOS |
Project Details
“Heat Recovery from compressed air system”
We had been working with our client on various Energy conservation measures including LED lighting and so on, when we learnt that they were adding a 200HP air compressor to cope with the demand of a new product line.
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This was our queue to get involved and to help them as early as the capex stage. We proposed a capital cost increase to have the new air compressor equip with an OEM oil-to-water heat exchanger.
We assisted with the payback calculations to ensure that the upper management was on-side and proposed using the waste heat for hot water heating. Our calculations included the cost of installation of the re-routed water lines and so on. Although the hot water demand is lower in the summer months the payback period was still reasonable at 16 months. The client is very satisfied with the installation and we are currently working with them on adding variable speed drives on at least two of their larger HVAC fans.
Rule of thumb: When operating at full load a 60KW (80 HP) air compressor is capable of suppling sufficient hot water for roughly 100 people in a typical factory setting. Quick Estimators for Energy Management- A 1hp electric motor costs an estimated $426 per year to run
Compressed air the necessary evil: the most inefficient utility in the plant.
- To get 1 hp work from an air motor requires approximately 30 SCFM inlet air at 90 psig
- Which requires 6-7 HP at the compressor shaft to produce this compressed air
- Bearing faults
- Assuming a 90% efficient motor, this translates into 7-8 hp of electrical power to deliver 1 hp of compressed air to the plant floor
- Net efficiency is >12.5% of the input energy is available for useful work energy
- But, on average half of the air is wasted