U.K. calcium-carbonate supplier now saves thousands with CompAir compressor system

CompAir helped British calcium-carbonate supplier Longcliffe Quarries save substantial energy and money.

CompAir has an impressive history of saving businesses money with its compressed-air solutions all over the world – including service by its local affiliate, CompAir Canada. One happy customer is Longcliffe Quarries, one of the United Kingdom’s leading suppliers of calcium carbonate. Several years ago, Longcliffe invested in a CompAir intelligent compressed air system, which now saves the company more than £4,200 per year.

Reducing greenhouse-gas emissions

Earlier this decade, Longcliffe was in the process of implementing a program for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases, including carbon. The company’s two 45-kilowatt compressors had been running five days a week for six years to provide air for pneumatic circuits, but after more than 45,000 hours of operation, they began to become unreliable, which was affecting energy and maintenance expenses. Because Longcliffe had installed these machines with no compressed-air control, they were running simultaneously and inefficiently to meet the air-pressure target. Machine failure could have resulted in expensive downtime, but air was required constantly.

The company turned to its local distributor for an alternative option. After conducting a thorough audit of the worksite’s air requirements, the distributor found that it would be more cost-efficient to replace these two machines with a new intelligent compressed air system. The solution: smaller, high-efficiency compressors from CompAir.

With the CompAir airINSITE air-auditing system, Longcliffe and the distributor determined that two smaller, 37-kilowatt units could meet the company’s air demands as well as the existing compressors. Usually, the minimum air demand fluctuated from 150 to 210 cfm, which a CompAir L37RS speed-regulated unit can deliver. In addition, a fixed-speed L37 compressor was chosen to handle busy periods, which could demand as much as 410 cfm; the L37 would be brought online automatically when air requirement increased.

Another advantage of this system was heat recovery. As 80 per cent of the energy powering a compressor is converted to heat, Longcliffe could reclaim and reuse much energy that would otherwise be wasted.

Longcliffe installed this intelligent compressed air system, which returned its investment within a year. The company continues to save money, thanks to CompAir.

To learn more, contact CompAir.

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