A new version of this article was first published on silvent.com
The key to optimising compressed air usage is to identify all blowing applications. They are not only the applications that use the most compressed air, they are also the applications with biggest saving possibilities. If the compressed air is used in the correct way, it is possible to lower the compressed air consumption by 35 percent.
Compressed air usage in manufacturing industry
In Europe, approximately ten percentage of the industries energy usage is used for creating compressed air. 20 percent of compressed air is used by actuators and about five percent is used by compressed air driven tools. 15 percent is lost due to leakage. The biggest use of compressed air, utilizing 50%, is blowing with compressed air. If you think about it it’s not so strange. A cylinder doesn’t use nearly as much compressed air as a blowing application.
Optimise blowing with compressed air
One simple way to optimise the usage of compressed air is to install an air nozzle. This will not only optimise usage, it also makes it possible to use the surrounding air, halving the sound level and minimising the risk of occupational accidents. This is possible thanks to a special blowing technique. If the compressed air is used in the correct way, it is possible to lower the compressed air consumption by 35%.
Compressed air cost is often overlooked, but is crucial for long term sustainability targets, as the reduction of compressed air can save not only money but reduces overall energy consumption on the whole, as energy is required to generate this costly air, which in turn is used more economically, as a natural consequence compressed air safety is also considered when using nozzles specifically designed for these applications.
