Have you suddenly noticed an increase in your operational costs at your chemical plant? Maybe the equipment you’re using could be doing more harm than good. A heated blower purge style compressed air dryer is a common sight in most chemical plants. It works by conditioning the air system in your chemical plants against freezing conditions.
But regardless of its impressive functionalities and powerful performance, it may unfortunately be costing you more than you think. Compressed air dryers—commonly referred to as desiccant units—generally use up a lot of power; almost four times more than a refrigerated dryer.
How it Works
These dryers are designed to strip water from compressed air with the goal of producing a very dry flow of air. They vary in style and you can either pick the simplest heatless or the more complex heated blower purge unit. Our focus today is on the latter.
This air dryer features two systems of outdoor compressed lines that are designed to feed instrument and general plant air to match various compressed air demands. Given the powerful nature of this unit, it’s ideally suited to use in large chemical plants. It’s worth explaining these two types of air to have a better understanding of how the unit works:
- Plant air: Generally, plant air is considered to be non-critical which basically translates to a non-sterile atmosphere.
- Instrument air: This is extremely clean air which is free from contaminants such as foreign particles as well as moisture.
This plant air is normally supplied via the back-pressure valve. These valves work by blocking off the plant air in the event that the instrument air happens to fall below critical levels.
Good to Know
When operating this air dryer it’s crucial to pick the right size depending on the number of connected air compressors on the plant. Picking one that’s too large will result in the unit producing a higher demand of heat in relation to the air compressors.
Seeing as this is a powerful unit, it will be using up a lot of electricity but operating below optimum. This will result in an increase in operational costs.
We Can Help
CDA systems can help improve your air dryer system so that it functions optimally. For more information don’t hesitate to contact us on 925.667.3400/sales@cdasystems.com.