Compressed Air Condensate
Compressed air is an essential power source that is widely used throughout
industry. This safe, powerful and reliable utility can be the most important
part of your production process. However, your compressed air contains water,
dirt, wear particles and degraded lubricating oil, which all mix together to
form an unwanted condensate. This condensate, often acidic, rapidly wears tools
and pneumatic machinery, blocks valves and orifices and corrodes piping, resulting
in high maintenance costs and product spoilage which can bring your production
process to an extremely expensive standstill!
Separation, filtration and drying products are employed to remove this problematic
and costly condensate; however the oily mix discharged now creates other problems.
Oil can seriously affect the efficient operation of sewage purification, as
well as killing plants and animals.
For this reason, very low oil in water discharge limits are permitted and rigid
legislation exists in most countries to protect the environment against contamination.
International standards such as ISO14001 also require the compressed air user
to comply with local environmental legislation and show use of protective systems
and procedures.
Efficient on-site disposal of compressed air condensate Parker domnick
hunter ES2000 Series oil/water separators
After the oily condensate has been efficiently removed from the compressed
air system it cannot be discharged directly to the foul sewer without first
having the oil content reduced to within legal disposal limits. Parker domnick
hunter ES2000 Series Oil / Water Separators are a simple, economical and environmental
solution.
ES2000 Series Oil / water separators are installed as part of the compressed
air system and simply reduce the oil concentration in the collected condensate
to a level permitted, for discharge. This allows the larger volume of clean
water, up to 99.9% of the total condensate, to be discharged safely into the
foul sewer and the relatively small amount of concentrated oil to be disposed
of legitimately and economically.
What Is ISO 14001?
Compliance with the ISO 9000 series of quality standards is now common practice
and as a progression, the ISO 14000 series of standards has now been introduced,
covering the environmental aspects of a company’s operations. ISO 14001
accreditation requires an organisation to monitor and measure the environmental
performance of it's activities, products and services in order to continually
improve such performance.
This includes the introduction of an environmental policy, planning and implementation
of environmental objectives (including measurable targets), the monitoring of
environmental systems (with corrective actions where necessary) and reduction
of waste energy. This is accomplished by the introduction of an Environmental
Management System (EMS), which is similar to the Quality Management System (QMS)
required under ISO 9001 with benefits including reductions in the cost of waste
management, savings in energy consumption and raw materials. An increasing number
of companies are now demanding conformance to ISO 14001 by their suppliers.
Implications of ISO 14001 on the Compressed Air User
Compressed air is an essential power source that is widely used throughout
industry. This safe, powerful and reliable utility can be the most important
part of your production process. However, your compressed air contains water,
dirt, wear particles and degraded lubricating oil, which all mix together to
form an unwanted condensate. This condensate, often acidic, rapidly wears tools
and pneumatic machinery, blocks valves and orifices and corrodes piping, resulting
in high maintenance costs and product spoilage which can bring your production
process to an extremely expensive standstill!
Reliable, energy efficient removal of condensate from separation devices, filtration
and drying packages can be achieved by products such as domnick hunter ED2000
Series condensate drains; however the oily mix discharged now creates other
problems for the compressed air user.
Oil can seriously affect the efficient operation of sewage purification, as
well as killing plants and animals. For this reason, very low oil in water discharge
limits are permitted and rigid legislation exists in most countries to protect
the environment against contamination. Compressed air users must comply with
environmental legislation and show use of protective systems and procedures
as part of ISO 14001.
Am I really part of the global problem?
Most compressed air users are unaware of exactly how much condensate is produced
by their system each year, and of the devastating effect it can have on the
environment. For example, a small 2.83 m3/min (100 cfm) compressor / refrigeration
dryer package, installed and operating in a 25°C (77°F), 65% RH ambient
and operating in these conditions for 4000 hours can produce up to 10,000 litres
(2,640 US gallons) of condensate.
With one litre of oil able to cover as much as 3500m2 (4 acres) of water surface,
oil discharges do not have to be big to be serious. The volume of oily condensate
produced increases significantly in warmer, more humid climates.
What can I do to help protect the environment?
Compliance with local environmental legislation and ISO 14001 forces the compressed
air user to continuously dispose of large volumes of oily condensate in a legal
and responsible manner.
Traditionally, condensate would be stored on site and a specialist waste disposal
company would remove the condensate periodically and treat it at their premises,
at a significant cost. As storage of untreated condensate requires its own containment
vessels, protective systems and procedures, many users are opting to reduce
costs by treating the problem at source with an on-site oil / water separator.
Parker domnick hunter ES2000 Series Oil / Water Separators are installed as
part of the compressed air system and reduce the oil concentration in the discharged
condensate to a permitted level. This allows the larger volume of clean water,
sometimes up to 99.9% of the total condensate, to be discharged safely into
the foul sewer. The small amount of concentrated oil is then disposed of legitimately
and economically.
What level of oily condensate can I legally discharge?
Legislation around the world varies significantly, and can even be different
between local governing bodies within a particular country. It is the user’s
responsibility to contact his governing body and obtain the permitted discharge
limit, however oil in water limits of 25mg/L (25ppmw) or less are typical. To
help meet the various world wide requirements, Parker domnick hunter ES2000
Series Oil / Water separators can be selected to provide an outlet quality of
less than 25, 20, 10 or 5mg/L (ppmw) of oil in water (Independently verified
by testing bodies such as TUV).
How do I ensure compliance with my permitted discharge limit?
The quality of water from an oil / water separator can be affected by many
different factors, including ambient temperature and relative humidity at the
installation, compressor and lubricant used, system pressure and drainage method
as well as the inclusion of a refrigerant dryer in the system. Correct product
selection is critical to performance, therefore climatic and system data specific
to each installation is used to ensure the correct ES2000 Series Oil / water
Separator is selected. Once installed, regular monitoring of the outlet water
allows replacement of the adsorption filter(s) to take place prior to permitted
limits being exceeded.
Where do I go from here?
Further help and information on Condensate Management systems and specifically
the ES2000 Series of Oil / Water Separators can be obtained from your local
Parker domnick hunter outlet (ask for Publication Reference 29). Further information
on ISO 14001 can be obtained from the International Standards Organisation web
site www.iso.ch.
