What energy-saving potential can be explored for the air compressor system?

As is well known, air compressors play an important role in production. As a preparation device for compressed air, air compressors consume a huge amount of electrical energy. In the full lifecycle cost of an air compressor, energy consumption accounts for up to 75%, which is several times the cost of purchasing an air compressor. Therefore, improving the energy efficiency of air compressors, reducing energy consumption, and saving operating costs are urgent matters. So, what are the energy-saving potential of air compressor systems that can be explored?
1. Air compressor
1) Old equipment: After multiple rounds of technological upgrades, some companies have outdated air compressors configured in the early years, with energy efficiency levels lower than Level 1. Furthermore, the long service life leads to equipment loss and the operating efficiency of the air compressor is not ideal.
2) Overcapacity: Some enterprises lack planning when configuring air compressors, and the matching between air compressors and end equipment is unreasonable. While meeting basic production needs, there is a phenomenon of overcapacity and energy waste.
3) Waste heat: During the operation of the air compressor, the electrical energy consumed to increase the potential energy of the air only accounts for a small proportion of the total electricity consumption. About 85% of the electrical energy is converted into heat and discharged into the air through air or water cooling.
2. Air compression station
1) Disordered allocation and operation: Many enterprises' air compressors can only start and stop in multiples, and react slowly when the gas load changes frequently, and cannot perform displacement fine adjustment, resulting in the air compressor being unloaded and wasting energy up to 40% to 70% of the full load operation.
2) Single allocation method: Currently, many enterprises rely on manual allocation of air compressors, and the allocation method is too single. Although some enterprises have control systems, they have not fully utilized them.
3. Air compressor pipeline leakage
During operation, the pipeline system of the air compressor often experiences leaks, resulting in significant waste. Usually, the leakage rate of the air compressor pipeline is between 20% and 30%. In some poorly managed enterprises, the leakage rate of air compressor pipelines even reaches over 40%.
4. Gas terminal equipment
Low efficiency: Some enterprises have problems with unreasonable gas usage methods and low gas efficiency in their end use equipment, resulting in obvious gas waste.