Green Solutions
Installing a new Atlas Copco ring main and variable speed driven (VSD) compressor with ancillaries is calculated to result in an annual carbon reduction of approximately 48 tonnes of CO2 for Buxton Press –along with close to £7,500 per annum savings in compressed air energy costs.
Based in the Derbyshire market town of Buxton, family owned business Buxton Press is one of the UK’s leading independent litho sheetfed printing companies. It specialises in printing paginated magazine and catalogue work. The company’s production plant features multi B1 long perfecting CutStar supported printing presses. Annually it is responsible for printing some 54 million publications, equivalent to 23 million four colour A4 pages a day, for more than 600 publishers.
Such a throughput necessitates operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week to meet the requirements of new and established business opportunities. This exerts a corresponding increased demand on the company’s production infrastructure and, subsequently, on the essential compressed air requirements of its three daily production shifts.
Environmental considerations underpin the Buxton Press business ethos. As such, it called in Atlas Copco to run an iiTraksurvey to audit its air generation efficiencies and measure the load profiles of the ring main linking the two existing fixed speed compressors. The results indicated that the level of air leakage from the existing pipework was high. Coupled with excessive pressure drop this was contributing to an annual compressed air bill exceeding £30,000 a year.
The recommended course of action was to completely re-route a new 2½ inch AirNet ring main and add an energy efficient 7 bar GA 75 VSD FF full feature rotary screw variable speed drive compressor, complete with integrated refrigerant drying and air quality ancillaries. The VSD compressor would continually match the variable compressed air pressure requirements throughout all shifts; with the two existing fixed speed compressors to be retained for back up supply generation. The compressed air supplied via this ring main runs the smaller printing presses, the gluers, binders and stapler machines.
The new re-routed ring main system allowed the generated air pressure to be lowered by 2 bar, with a constant energy saving in the region of 12%. Based on the company’s average day shift and night shift rates, it was calculated that the recommended installation would achieve an overall 25% saving in Buxton Press’s annual air generation costs.
Commenting on the success and benefits of the installation project, factory manager Chris South said: ‘The Atlas Copco led project was carried out with professionalism, full flexibility and a high level of technical skill. The team worked around our tight production schedules without a single interruption to our delivery programmes. The whole installation was designed to give us a reliable and efficient air supply system, both for our present needs and to provide additional compressed air capacity to fully cater for our forward growth plans. Following project completion, system performance tests confirmed Atlas Copco’s predicted performance figures were fully met in every instance.’
