Compressed Air and Water :: science

Compressed Air and Water The goal of the following research is to demonstrate that Carlton & United Breweries (CUB) reduced energy and water consumption will not only protect their environment, but also earn and save them extra income. Brewing used to require about 25 litres of water per litre of beer, nowadays it requires only 4 to 5 litres*, on the other hand, compressed air accounts about 10% of electricity consumption in the industry*. CUB needs to use cutting edge technologies, more preventive maintenance programs and â€Å"very simple ways in which the procedure can become cleaner†* in order to reach and overcome these requirements. And let’s not forget that every litre of water and watt of energy saved will be reflected as a profit. Water Issue CUB has taken the water issue in consideration, reducing its consumption by 7-9%, only by installing a recycling system which is capable of distributing re-used water for the cooling towers of the engine room, boiler house, floor wash-down and pasteurisation*. However, there is a lot that can be done in order to reduce even more this percentage; cisterns on the roof collect rainwater that can be used for the toilets and landscape irrigation, saving 3.9 million litres of potable water a year*, and also, can be purified and used as the re-used water if necessary*. Cascade Brewery, also from Australia, is saving an average of 5,812 KL per month*, some of their main water reduction actions are: replacement of heat exchange equipment with more efficient units, steam condensate return to the boilers, The installation of a 32 KL tank at to collect water from the carbon dioxide and air compressors for use as boiler feedwater, among others*. Compressed Air Issue Not much has been done in order to make a significative reduction in the compressed air issue. Actually, it has reduced 1%, only by applying air knives instead of compressed air in order to dry the bottles before labelling and a leak identification program. There is wide range of possibilities CUB could work on in order to reduce its compressed air consumption, which it’s translated into less energy consumption from the air compressors and blowers. Switch to state of the art air compressors, these can really mean a huge difference regarding energy consumption*. Variable Speed compressors (VS), can match the air demand by adjusting the motors RPMs and energy consumption, however, VS are most efficient at low to mid capacity ranges (20-60% full load), and are designed only to intermittent operation at 100% capacity*.