COMPRESSORS PETplanet Insider Vol. 25 No. 09/24 www.petpla.net 33 Applications to PET “This is the core principle. After more than seven years of learning experience with AirSmart, and after accomplishing the compression process at our R&D site, we understood that our liquid piston mechanism has a unique value proposition for industrial compressed air applications,” said Ido. “Our technology offers a number of energy consumption and operating cost advantages to PET bottle converters and filling operations. However, it is a larger scale system and it is not a cheap option for SME businesses.” “At the moment, we are competing with 25 to 42 bar oil-free compressors – of which 70% of applications are PET blowing,” he continued. “Our focus now is on PET applications between 2,000m3/h and 10,000m3/h. Based on the performance at our R&D site, a HydroAir system running at 4,000m3/h at 32 barg [33 bar absolute assuming atmospheric pressure of one bar] average consumption would be 526kW.” Augwind reckons that full ROI (return on investment) of the capital expenditure would be achieved within four years, based on electricity at €0.10 per kWh and €0.20 per cubic metre of water, through energy savings alone. Switching cost from Opex to Capex Augwind’s Water Compressor is claimed to be at least 20% better than the current best in class in terms of energy consumption, and that is before considering the elimination of need for cooling water. As the compressing medium is water, there are potential advantages in regulatory decarbonisation schemes, as well as lower operations and management costs; the entire system is claimed to be more efficient than conventional technology because correct pressure is always maintained and is constantly available. There are no losses from continual shutdowns, stops, idling and restarts. “These are the main advantages of our liquid-piston Water Compressor: lower electricity bills; no oil in the system; and no need for running cooling water,” said Ido. “We bring great ROI for any market that strives for carbon reduction and increased energy efficiency by accumulating long term energy savings. We are now seeking and looking forward to recruiting partners for demonstrator units and to work with us in developing the technology further.” www.aug-wind.com Cost structure (sources: Augwind)
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