Heat from the air

Constantly expanding the range of products offered, ATMA supplies its customers, including representative offices of many foreign companies, banks, hotel complexes, airports, railway stations, restaurants, not only modern cleaning equipment (cleaning and service trolleys, brushes, mops, etc.) but also a wide range of paper towels, toilet paper, hygienic pads, along with other products for similar purposes.

As the only supplier of Tischapapier products in Ukraine, including paper towels, toilet paper, sheets, napkins and toilet seat covers, the company has created its own production facilities.

For this purpose, a modern production line was purchased and installed, using both raw materials imported from Italy and high-quality pulp produced in Ukraine. Since in most cases the operation of serious industrial equipment is unthinkable without a pneumatic drive, most modern enterprises have one or more compressors of appropriate capacity at their disposal.In 2013, the management of ATMA decided to expand its existing production facilities. At the same time, it turned out that the previous compressor station could no longer meet the increased requirements, so it was decided to buy a more powerful screw compressor – Tidy 50, manufactured by DALGAKIRAN. This high-performance screw compressor with a compact design provides a pressure of up to 7.5 bar and a capacity of up to 6400 l/min.

The relocation of production to new premises (which were not connected to centralized heating) occurred during the cold season (autumn-winter), and naturally the question of how to organize space heating immediately arose. When studying and analyzing various options for heating the workshop, a rational decision was made from an economic point of view – to use the recovery of heat energy released by the compressor, which is usually inefficiently lost during the operation of compressed air generation stations. It is known from theory that the process of air compression is accompanied by significant heat generation. In practice, more than 90% of the energy supplied to the compressor shaft is transformed into heat. In the case of the Tidy 50, we are talking about more than 30 kW or almost 26,000 Kcal/hour – enough energy not only to maintain a comfortable temperature in the production room, but also, if necessary, to organize the supply of warm water for hygienic needs.

In order to rationally use the energy consumed during the operation of industrial compressors, the compressor equipment manufacturer DALGAKIRAN has developed and actively offers modern heat recovery units, including for Tidy50 series screw compressors, on the market. Nowadays, when industrial enterprises of Ukraine are facing the issue of reducing the cost of heating production facilities as never before, equipping compressor stations with energy recovery devices is extremely economically justified.

In February 2014, ATMA commissioned a Tidy 50 screw compressor with a heat recovery unit based on a heat exchanger. The recovery unit ensures efficient heat transfer from compressor oil (compressor cooling system) to water (heating circuit). To ensure proper operation, the recuperator is additionally equipped with a thermostat.

When heat is removed from the screw elements of the compressor unit, the cooling oil is heated to an operating temperature of 70…900C, which in turn allows the water in the heat exchanger of the recuperator to be heated to 65…850C. The recuperator is optimally used as part of a heating system with an autonomous automatic boiler. In this case, the water heated in the heat exchanger of the recuperator enters the return circuit of the system and the boiler is powered by preheated water, consuming significantly less fuel or electricity to bring the water temperature in the system to the set parameters.

The experience of operating the DALGAKIRAN recuperator in combination with the Tidy 50 compressor has proven the high efficiency of such devices. Moreover, the payback of the costs of purchasing and operating additional thermal equipment depends on the intensity of compressor use and ranges from 3 to 6 months, allowing you to get additional heat, and therefore money, practically out of thin air.