Whilst generating compressed air in the most efficient cost effective manner it is also worth considering ways to recuperate the wasted energy consumed from the compressed air process.
This can be achieved from either a simple air curtain utilising the waste heat to form space heating of an adjacent building, or recovering the heat from the oil in the form of hot water.
Up to 94% of the energy can be recovered with temperatures of up to 90 Deg C.
Energy Recovery, reinventing warm water
The way to achieve the highest energy savings is to recover wasted energy through radiation losses by the use of heat recovery systems.
As much as 94% of the electrical energy used by an industrial air compressor is converted into heat and loss through radiation in the compression process. The remaining 6% is converted into compressed air heat losses. Therefore, a properly designed heat recovery unit can recover anywhere from 50-94% of this available thermal energy
(as low-grade heat) to heat air or water (up to 90°C or 140°F).
Pre-heated water can be used in the application process to reduce the use of traditional energy sources reducing the amount of CO2 emissions.
