Energy Saving Opportunities in air Drying Process in High-pressure Compressors

Abstract Moisture carried over from the compressed air generation facility can cause damage to sensitive end users that require high quality air so compressed air must be kept moisture-free. Accordingly, humid air taken in the compressor must be dried appropriately to prevent precipitation. In this study, the technology which is used to dry compressor inlet air is solid desiccant wheel. Desiccant material impregnated into the desiccant wheel requires heat to be regenerated so this technology will be cost-effective when waste heat comes into play. In addition, Compressors have a distinct advantage when it comes to reducing energy consumption and costs, because the savings are already there for the taking. Compression heat can be an economic heat source to reactivate the desiccant materials to remove moisture from inlet air. In this paper, a solid desiccant wheel is coupled with an air compressor to dry inlet air. This innovative system uses compression heat from the compressor first stage to reactivate desiccant wheel. As well, energy analysis is done to demonstrate how much energy can be saved if a solid desiccant wheel is coupled with an air compressor.