So many experts write about the subject Carbon Footprint and how they will bring energy savings to your compressed air installations. They will do an audit in your production site and measure the real air demand. Then, they will promote their products and convince you that the saving will be over 10-20-30%. However, the problem is not solved by measuring the air-consumption. The measurement of the air consumption is of course a correct way to analyse how you are using the compressed air.  Based on the air consumption profile, a good combination of the right compressors to compose the compressor room can be defined.

Whether you will save the promised reduction in energy, is another story. For users, it is very hard to compare, because there are so many variables, that endless discussions occur. The air-demand of one week, is not the demand of the next week demand. The power consumption of the compressor you acquired, witnessed today, can be worse in two months because of the deteroriation of a compressor screw air-end.

When selecting a Turbo compressor, the off-load consumption will be so high that the full load energy reduction is fully eliminated by partial load.

The golden rules remains:

For large flows above 50M3/min, to obtain the best energetic efficiency, combine an efficient Turbo compressor as base load with an efficient volumetric compressor to handle the partial load. Selection of the right sizing of the compressor and the number of compressors to handle the flow are crucial to get the optimal saving. It is not an easy task but the savings are the result of the right combination !

For flows below 50m3/min, an efficient volumetric compressor(s), at full load and at part load is the better option. Depending of the redundancy wanted on the equipment, multiple volumetric compressors can be installed.