Atlas Copco Compressors reduce heating costs through energy recovery

This is particularly true in the company’s yoghurt and fruit process operations, where compressed air is used in supplying air cylinders, filling machine and process valves, as well as providing a sterile air barrier for end products.

Müller Dairy’s compressed air installation comprises a purpose-built ZR315VSDFF oil-free compressor together with two fixed-speed ZR200s. The heat recovery capability of the two water-cooled ZR200s is utilised in the form of recovered hot water. Working in conjunction with ammonia compressors and the yoghurt and fruit processes, this hot water is used to pre-heat yoghurt bases, thus eliminating the need to generate steam and the running costs of two gas-fired boilers that used to be incurred in the process.

The new compressors supplement the original Atlas Copco installation, which consists of four ZR3-58 machines. These older machines are maintained by Müller Dairy as standby compressors and employed on a rotational basis when there is a high production demand for compressed air.

Compressed air users who, like Müller Dairy, integrate the flow of hot water into their plant processes are able to recover 90-95% of a compressor’s electrical energy input as hot water. This is achieved successfully with Atlas Copco’s ZR series of water-cooled, oil-free, 55-750 kW compressors, which have been certified by TÜV, the independent testing and accreditation organisation, as capable of recovering up to 100% of electrical input energy as hot water under specific design conditions.

Over 45% of industrial applications use hot water in their process operations. The highest degree of thermal efficiency is generally obtained when a compressor’s hot water outlet is connected to a continuous heating demand, such as a heating boiler’s return circuit.

With energy consumption representing over 80% of a compressor’s lifecycle cost, across a wide spectrum of manufacturing industries, energy savings in compressed air systems have a significant impact not only towards preserving the environment through the reduction of CO2 emissions but also on the end users’ bottom line. In the Atlas Copco ZR oil-free screw compressor range with energy recovery control, the energy savings potential equates annually to 200 to 2500 tons of CO2 or £35,000 to £480,000 of electricity, gas or heating oil.

Because of the vital requirement within Müller’s production operations for pure, uncontaminated process air that comes in contact with the finished products, guaranteed 100% oil-free air was a mandatory feature of the installation. This requirement has been assured with the installation of Atlas Copco compressors that have been tested Class Zero and certified by TÜV according to the ISO 8573-1- Class 0 standard.

In Müller’s Market Drayton plant, Atlas Copco compressors were not only the solution of choice for their energy recovery potential but also helped to ensure the quality of consumer products and the reputation of the company.