As the UK enters a late summer heatwave, energy solutions, compressed air and temperature control specialist Aggreko has issued a warning that pharmaceutical manufacturers may face reduced efficiency and an increased risk of failure for air compressors.
Aggreko
Yellow and amber heat health alerts have been issued across England, with temperatures set to climb above 30°C in some places.
With this marking the fourth heatwave of the summer, Russell Brown, product manager – Oil Free Air at Aggreko, is warning that this may significantly impact compressor performance across the face of UK industry.
Brown said: “The reality is, current compressed air solutions are simply not designed to operate in this kind of temperature range for extended periods, though the reality is that this kind of weather is becoming all the more common. Over time, this causes key components to overheat, contributing to lower efficiency, wear-and-tear, and eventual failure.
“This is especially true for sites using ageing equipment, which may be more vulnerable to heat-related failures. This can also increase the contamination risk, which is a particular concern for hygiene-critical industries.”
The Met Office’s recently released State of the UK Climate Report 2024 indicates that periods of extreme weather are now becoming more frequent. For instance, the number of days 5°C above the 1961-1990 average has doubled, while for 8°C and 10°C above average it has trebled and quadrupled respectively.
Russell believes that the latest oil-free air compressors are ideally suited to this new climate. Electrically powered, the variable speed drive (VSD) technology in these systems offers higher resistance to ambient temperatures while simultaneously offering greater efficiency. With no oil to consider, this also reduces both maintenance and downtime requirements.
Alternatively, low-emission, Stage V diesel or hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) compressors offer a rapidly deployable solution even when utility is not available on site. Both technologies offer an ideal way to respond to emergencies, maintain flexibility in production or as a long term prime or N+1 solution to maintain resilience.
For industries where contaminant-free air is critical, the units provide the cleanest air possible, compliant with ISO 8573-1 Class-0, eliminating the risk of oil contamination.
With the UK being battered by Storm Floris just a week earlier, Russell also believes that having a flexible approach to procurement will be key to successfully managing extreme weather events as and when they occur.
He concluded: “Recent weeks offer a great example of the challenges that UK industry now has to grapple with. One week, powerful winds and torrential rain are the main concern, and the next it’s a heatwave.
“Here, procuring your compressors from a specialist partner can help manage seasonal peaks – offering supplementary capacity during a heatwave, or an emergency replacement during an outage, this approach provides access to the latest, high-efficiency equipment, and can also ease the burden on stretched maintenance teams.”