If you are a regular reader, you frequently see post’s discussing the extreme cost of compressed air.  We spend a lot of time posting of various ways to reduce the cost of producing compressed air for your applications and how to optimize your compressors to reduce the cost of electricity. 

Following up on last weeks article discussing gas turbine drivers, This week I wanted to discuss the benefits of utilizing a steam turbine driver for your centrifugal compressor.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could run your air compressors for FREE!  Of course it would but how could that be possible?  Certain large industrial clients use a tremendous amount of steam for plant applications.  The steam is often produced at a higher than use pressure and therefore the plant will incorporate steam pressure reduction valves (PRV’s) in the plant where the steam pressure is reduced from it’s output pressure from the boiler or steam generator to the required use pressure in the plant.

Rather than incorporate a PRV, a better use would be to incorporate a steam turbine which can drive the air compressor and put the reduced pressure steam back into a lower pressure steam system.  I have a particular client that takes in 575 pounds of steam pressure to their steam turbine which is driving their centrifugal compressor and then downstream of the turbine, the steam is directed to their low pressure plant steam system at 110 pounds of pressure.

I’m sure when most people think of a steam turbine, the initial thought is a huge piece of equipment that perhaps drives a generator at a power plant.  However, from the picture above you can see that small turbines can be incorporated into plant use for a variety of applications.  Another great feature of using steam turbines is you incorporate a large amount of horsepower from a very small footprint.  A 2000 horsepower steam turbine has a much small footprint than a 2000 horsepower electric motor.

If you have excess steam in your facility and feel that driving your air compressor with steam is a viable alternative, feel free to contact me to discuss your particular requirements.