One of our customers, a worldwide brewing company strives to produce products in the most environmentally responsible way while maintaining their commitment to quality.
The company is constantly working to achieve a high standard of sustainable performance throughout their organization. They are at the forefront of the wider sustainability drive among the industry, planning a fully Carbon Neutral company in the coming years. As a part of this effort they are evaluating all of their breweries’ technical solutions to reduce the waste in all parts of the process.
Hence, utilizing Tamturbo® Touch-Free™ air compressor technology in their operations was a beneficial step in their pursuit. As a first step in a brewery in Europe, replacing one of their existing “oil-free” screw compressors with a Tamturbo® VSD turbo compressor, they have been able to make substantial savings in both energy and maintenance costs, as well as significantly improve the sustainability of the brewery operation.
Ensuring the right amount of compressed air at all times
The brewing process utilizes compressed air in many parts of the operation. In fact, compressed air is used at almost every point in the brewing process from aerating yeast during fermentation to transferring beer to bottles ready for transport. In order to ensure efficient operation, the air compressor setup has to be able to quickly respond to the fluctuating needs of the processes, which can be substantial as the production equipment utilizing compressed air are starting and stopping periodically.
With Tamturbo® VSD technology, the specific needs of the processes can be met in a more energy efficient way. Tamturbo® turbo compressors are optimized for a wide capacity range, without having to use the energy-wasting blow-out of compressed air. The compressor reacts quickly to the fluctuating compressed air needs of the processes ensuring fluent operations.
Moreover, the high-quality end product of the customer demands the use of 100% oil-free compressors to produce compressed air. As Tamturbo® turbo compressors don’t have a single drop of oil (unlike the legacy “oil-free” technologies) there is absolutely no risk of oil or oil vapor entering the production. The customer doesn’t have to worry about oil in compressed air contaminating their end products or the air their employees breathe. They can also forget about oil changes, handling oily condensate water or disposing of waste oil.
Lasting high efficiency brings benefits on many levels
The efficiency benefits of the technology come in four levels. First of all, there’s the pure compression efficiency (kW/m³) where the Tamturbo® compressor exceeds its competitors by a wide margin. On top of this, the efficiency of the partial load operation reduces electrical consumption even more.
Secondly, there’s the overall efficiency due to the lower idle power consumption and idling speed of the Tamturbo® compressor. Thirdly, thanks to the steady pressure level of our turbo compressor, there’s the added benefit of being able to lower the pressure setpoint in the system. This reduces the need to over pressurize the compressed air to secure needed flow. Lower pressure means also lower energy consumption and additional savings in electric bill.
And finally, the market-leading heat recovery of the Tamturbo® air compressors offers the customer sizable savings in their production. Recovering up to 93% of the compressor package power at up to 90°C and re-using the heat instead of burning natural gas means not only monetary savings, but also a giant leap in their CO2 reduction and sustainability efforts. The existing “oil-free” screw compressors had in theory heat recovery available, but the portion of energy recovered as heat and the outlet water temperature of the cooling were low, making the utilization of the heat energy impractical.
Unlike “oil-free” compressors, the efficiency of Tamturbo compressors remains high throughout the life of the compressor. In “oil-free” screw compressors, the air is compressed through the screw units. During the years, the screw elements wear and the efficiency of the compressors deteriorates and costly overhaul or element replacement is required. Thanks to the Active Magnetic Bearings of Tamturbo Touch-Free™ technology the Tamturbo turbo compressors experience practically no wear.
After the Tamturbo ® air compressor had been operating as the main compressor in the brewery the customer evaluated the efficiency change in the compressed air production on a single unit and overall compressor room level. They found out that changing just that one compressor from an “oil-free” screw compressor to a Tamturbo® VSD turbo compressor they are able to save close to 75,000€ on electricity alone, even before calculating the heat recovery savings, which now became feasible.
Reduction in compressed air system maintenance costs
In addition to energy savings, there have been remarkable savings in maintenance costs. The core components of Tamturbo’s compressors are completely maintenance-free with no complications or risk. This is again due to their unique design that builds on high speed permanent magnetic motors and active magnetic bearings. As the rotating parts levitate in mid-air, they only touch air, and therefore there are no moving parts to wear, no oil to change, or components to replace. Additionally, thanks to remote monitoring, the compressor informs any possible service needs like intake air filter changes well in advance. This helps reduce unplanned downtime and labor hours while increasing throughput, and results in fewer operational costs on compressed air installation.
The customer opted for Tamturbo’s Care-Free Service Contract, where all service and maintenance as well as all spare and consumable parts as well as full Remote Monitoring are included in a fixed annual fee. And as the Tamturbo technology is practically maintenance-free, the cost of this solution was a fraction of the screw compressor annual realized maintenance cost.
Complete compressed air customer service
Along with the technological, process and sustainability benefits, the brewing company customer says they were especially impressed with the service attitude of the entire Tamturbo team during planning and commissioning of the compressor. The commissioning of the compressor and drier took place within an exceptionally short time span of four weeks with unparalleled quality of service and ease of cooperation.
Constant search for new and better technologies enables this reference customer better engagement with their stakeholders around the world. With top-of-the-line energy efficiency and virtually Touch-Free™ maintenance, Tamturbo® turbo compressors offer a great step in energy consumption reduction, as well as by far the lowest total cost of ownership (TCO).
