Reducing Energy Use Through Spray Technology

Sustainability is a crucial focus for businesses all across Australia and New Zealand today, and energy usage is an issue right at the front of the queue for many companies as prices continue to rise. The challenge is finding where the waste is; often, some of the biggest culprits are incorrect or worn-out nozzles. So we’ve put together some simple strategies for optimising these applications and reducing your energy use.

Choosing the correct-sized Spray Nozzles

How important is using the correct-sized spray nozzles in reducing energy use? The answer may surprise you. If your plant’s nozzles aren’t correctly sized for each spray application, the result can be a ripple effect of inefficiencies.

Significant amounts of energy can be wasted because the pump size is larger than is necessary and requires more power to operate. The correct-sized nozzles can minimise pump size, reduce equipment costs, and save energy on every shift. If you’re heating water for a spray operation, incorrectly sized nozzles will spray more water than is optimal, requiring more heating and wasting more energy. It's also important to consider the big picture. Most plants use hundreds of nozzles in various operations, including cleaning, humidifying, cooling, etc. Every nozzle that is incorrectly sized leads to waste that can easily be prevented. In addition, right-sizing nozzles can reduce energy use without compromising effectiveness.

Reducing Compressed Air Consumption

Here is an eye-opening fact: compressed air can easily account for 1/3 of a plant’s total electricity usage.

For many plants, that major energy expense seems unavoidable. They view compressed air as a fixed cost, and it gets overlooked when process improvements are considered. If that’s the case in your operations, the following insights may change your perspective and your bottom line for the better.

Your plant may be able to save tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of euros annually by significantly reducing compressed air consumption. High-efficiency drying and blow-off options can dramatically increase efficiency, reduce operating costs, and optimise performance. For example, air knife packages powered by blower air can reduce operating costs by 95%.

In addition, optimising your drying and blow-off operations can help reduce noise, improve worker safety, and deliver more precise and repeatable performance.

Automating Tank Cleaning

Production equipment requires regular cleaning to function correctly. That’s an efficiency best practice that hasn’t changed, even though technology continues to evolve. But when it comes to efficiency, cleaning your plant can make all the difference in energy use.

Suppose your workers are manually cleaning tanks and totes or using the fill-and-drain method. In that case, automation may save significant amounts of energy, millions of litres of water, and substantial amounts of chemicals. In addition, automated vessel cleaning is consistent and repeatable, meaning you can better plan and budget for the energy required in cleaning.

Automating tank cleaning can also minimise downtime — manufacturers report reductions in cleaning time by up to 90%. You can also improve worker safety and reduce labour costs.

Why Saving Water Means Saving Energy

When a plant looks to save energy, a brilliant place to start is by reducing water use.

By decreasing water use in applications, plants frequently observe a significant reduction in energy use. This is a cascade effect because the energy required to operate pumps, heat water and treat wastewater decreases proportionally as water use is reduced.

The performance of pumps, sensors and other hydraulic and pneumatic devices affect your spray nozzles. With our spray controllers and automated spray systems, we can help you improve product quality, reduce the use of water and costly chemicals and create a more efficient, cleaner and safer work environment.

At Spraying Systems Co., our water-saving initiatives have helped customers save millions of kWs annually. Customers often experience rapid ROI — in many cases, upgrades pay for themselves in months, if not weeks. Even water-intensive industries have the potential to significantly reduce water and energy use by making simple changes in their operations.

Our spray technology experts help customers save huge thousands in energy costs alone. With prices set to rise between 35-50% in Australia next year alone, the savings will only continue to rise. We can help you evaluate essential applications throughout the plant and suggest solutions to reduce energy, water and chemical use on every shift. Contact your local spray expert today.