Importance of Air Treatment For Your Compressed Air System
Clean, quality air is crucial to having a well-running compressed air system. However, since the source air comes from the surrounding ambient, it most likely contains contaminants and particles — which are not ideal to flow into the compressor system! How then should the air be cleaned? With proper air treatment, of course! Without this crucial system support, your system may experience a variety of problems.
Common Problems of Poor Air Treatment:
Contaminants are not compressible
Contaminants include environment particles such as dirt, chemical, and water vapor as well as contaminants from the compressor itself such as lubricant particles. In general, these contaminants cannot be compressed. The unfiltered air is then forced into a smaller space. The now concentrated contaminants cause buildup in piping, valves, and machinery.
Moisture can cause equipment damage.
Water vapor is one of the most common particles in ambient air. Compressing the air, reduces its ability to hold water vapor and the liquid water must drop out. This moisture can then move down line and cause problems at the point of use. Some common effects include rust and corrosion of lines and machinery, poor finishes of sprayed paints and coatings, and product contamination. Remove this moisture through a drying process to alleviate these issues.
Improper quality for application.
Each compressed air application is slightly different from the next. In order to have the best final system, knowing exactly what your system requires is useful. Each piece of air treatment adds costs in the form of equipment, maintenance, energy, and pressure drop. Sometimes a bit of contamination could be tolerable and the extra effort in installation air treatment equipment would complicate the system. Customizing a system to your needs is the best way to really build the necessary system. Know the specified class for particulate, humidity, and oil to determine proper air quality. This rating expressed as a number in the form X.Y.Z. can be found from most OEMs. Incorrect treatment adds extra processing costs and hassle to a system. Generally, you want to build a system matching the lowest common denominator of need. Add extra treatment to specific areas if necessary.
To ensure your system has high quality air, you’ll need to use proper air treatment methods. Depending on your system you may need refrigerated air dryers, desiccant dryers, or inline filtration. Luckily, CASCO USA stocks all of this equipment and more. To learn about this topic in more depth, be sure to visit our Compressed Air 101: Air Treatment page or contact us to discuss the specifics of your system. Don’t wait and suffer problems; protect your system today!