One of Eastern Europe’s biggest brands, Henkel, needed their air compressors to operate at three different pressures – and that meant they needed three separate air networks, each fed by Atlas Copco air compressors.

This simple solution ensures a continual supply of compressed air at each of the pressures required, allowing for no interruption to all of the various applications carried out on Henkel’s premises.

Among those applications, Henkel’s factory in Vienna produces nearly a quarter of a million tons of detergent per year, with compressed air provided by oil-injected Atlas Copco air compressors.

These keep a flow of compressed air at 3 bar for loading and unloading trucks, 7 bar for driving the units on the plant premises, and 11 bar where the PET bottles are stretch blow moulded.

Di Hannes Dengg, technical director at Henkel’s Vienna site, said: “Operating the entire network using 11 bar would mean wasted energy because each 1-bar reduction leads to an energy saving of 7%.”

By using three separate compressed air networks, the facility is able to operate much more efficiently in terms of energy, helping to maximise the economic benefits derived from its use of compressed air.