Air compressor parts could, with a minimum amount of repurposing, have a significant role to play in the UK’s low-carbon future – and, in particular, in liquid air energy.

The UK Centre for Low Carbon Futures has just published Liquid Air in the Energy and Transport Systems: Opportunities for Industry and Innovation in the UK.

This report looks at the potential for the use of liquid air – formerly gaseous air that has been cooled until it forms a liquid at -196 degrees Celsius.

Surplus energy from other processes – including, for example, energy produced in conventional power plants at night, when consumer demand is low – can then be used to heat this liquid air back into gaseous form.

The air expands substantially, and can be used to drive pistons and engines, just as the supply from an air compressor typically does.

Because of the similarities between liquid air systems and ordinary compressed-air installations, many existing air compressor parts could easily be used in this new low-carbon infrastructure.

Professor Richard Williams, who led the report, says: “Solving Britain’s energy crisis requires better ways to store the power of the wind and the sun at large scale, without relying on scarce natural resources; and liquid air provides a missing piece of that puzzle.”

Energy-efficient air compressors are among the measures being installed by some within the food sector as they seek to offset rising energy costs.

Food Manufacture reports the actions of some industry operators, in light of a 7% rise in energy prices in 2012 and an expected further 22% rise in costs by 2020.

The figures are from the Lorien Energy Index, which noted a 12% increase in gas tariffs in the fourth quarter of 2012 alone, along with a 5% hike in electricity bills.

According to Food Manufacture, some UK companies are taking action to overcome rising costs – including fixing their energy tariffs in advance, and using the funds saved to invest in new machinery such as energy-efficient air compressors.

Alan McInnes, technical and operations director at BV Dairy in Shaftesbury, says forward-planning was a key element in allowing his company to adapt to modern-day energy prices.

“We bought our energy up to the middle of 2014 six months ago, when prices were a little lower than they are today,” he explains.

“This has given us the time to install energy-efficient air compressors and bring on-stream a new chilled water plant, which also has heat recovery.”

With an anaerobic digestion plant now also providing 30% of its energy needs, the dairy is now insulated against future energy price shocks.

Air compressors have some unusual applications – and they can go far beyond simply providing a compressed air supply for power tools.

For example, in recent research co-authored by Samir A Ali, associate professor of agricultural engineering at Banha University in Egypt, a team found that air compressors can improve the efficiency of automated onion-peeling machinery.

In their research paper, the team explain that peeling onions is an important stage in preparing the vegetable for use – not only in home preparation, but in the production of many ingredients, including dehydrated, powdered and canned onions, onion powder and onion rings.

They cite 1997 research by Srivastava et al, who found that blades, assisted by jets of compressed air, could have a significant effect on the performance of automated peeling of onions by slicing more effectively through the outer layers of skin.

In their more recent research, the team found compressed air can improve the process by blowing the shed peel downwards and into a collection basin.

Rinsing with water also worked – but required the water to be replaced every 1-2 hours; with compressed air flushing away the peeled skins, efficiency was raised from 85.45% for large onions, to 88.37% at air pressure of 500kPa.

Although no significant improvement was seen with small onions, whose skins are harder to remove, the researchers concluded: “It could be seen that the proposed improvement systems of peeling efficiency were worthy for medium, large and mixed sizes of bulbs.”

Sustainable air compressor design and usage will be on the agenda at the upcoming PNEUROP Plenary Meeting 2013, which is due to take place in Munich on June 13th-15th.

The event is this year built around the theme of Eco-design, which will occupy much of the schedule for the Friday (June 14th).

On the Friday morning, a presentation outlining European policies on sustainability and energy consumption will begin the day’s proceedings.

A policy officer from the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Energy (DG Ener) will follow this up with a look at the EU Eco-Design Directive, and its potential to transform the air compressor market.

The British Compressed Air Society, chair of the national secretaries and a secretariat on several PNEUROP committees, says manufacturers of air compressors, pneumatic tools and vacuum pumps all fall within the remit of PNEUROP.

BCAS members can participate in the plenary, which will also be an opportunity for PNEUROP committees to update delegates on their latest project outcomes.

This networking and insight gathering opportunity is just one of the industry events dedicated to sustainability in 2013, as the air compressor industry across Europe embraces the challenges of more efficient energy usage.

Air compressors are a “priority group” in the development of the Ecodesign Directive 2009/125/EC, reports BCAS.

BCAS – the British Compressed Air Society – is the UK’s only trade association for manufacturers, distributors and users of air compressors, vacuum pumps and similar equipment, and is involved as a stakeholder in helping to set policies that “foster environmental and energy-efficient products in the internal market”.

This process began in 2009 with the Ecodesign Working Plan, and is continuing with preparatory studies of the air compressor market, and how viable, feasible and effective the measures outlined in the Ecodesign Directive might be in the future.

Introducing such legislation is a long process, and four years on, the first Stakeholder Meeting is only just taking place, at the DIAMANT Building in Brussels on March 14th.

The agenda consist of four main tasks – establishing a clear product definition; outlining the economics and market size for air compressors; assessing infrastructure and existing consumer behaviour; and analysing existing available products.

Following that, a discussion process will evaluate any other key issues, and set out the tasks that will constitute the next stage in the development process.

The global market for air compressors is seeing demand from strategic planners and exporters alike, according to a recently published Research and Markets report.

Compiled by ICON Group International, the study’s full title is ‘The World Market for Air or Vacuum Pumps, Air or Other Gas Compressors, and Ventilating or Recycling Hoods with Fans Excluding Cooker Hoods: A 2013 Global Trade Perspective’.

According to the document, strategic planners are looking for all of these things – and asking the question of where they might be found.

“Do exporters serving the world market have similar market shares across the importing countries?” ICON Group International asks. “Which countries supply the most exports of [these products]? Which countries are buying their exports?”

In particular, the study warns against basing buying decisions for air compressors and similar products on old information, in a market that has only relatively recently become fully globalised.

Conversely, however, it concedes that any figures for market size in 2013 are, as yet, only forecasts – and therefore, that any export decisions based on such data must be viewed as estimates rather than concrete, fact-based statistics.