Objetivo The aim of the project is the demonstration of a compressed air dryer based on hollow fiber membrane technology. This compressed air dryer has a capacity of 840 Nm3/hr and a membrane surface of 135 m2. Due to technical problems the system changed in a capacity of 317 Nm3/hr with 48 m2 membrane area. The compressed air is dried from 35 deg. C until - 20 deg. C dewpoint. This system has an energy consumption which is 70% less than conventional adsorption technology.The system has an atmospheric adsorption drier which creates very effective a low partial water vapour pressure at the shell side of the membrane modules.The energy consumption of this system is 70% lower than the old adsorption technology, that corresponds to an energy saving of 26.000 TOE/year.The current adsorption technology has a specific energy consumption of 0.0213 kWh/Nm3, the new membrane dryer has a specific energy consumption of 0.006 kWh/Nm3. This gives a saving of 0.0153 kWh for every Nm3 of compressed air produced with the new system. The average energy saving of the standard unit of 300 Nm3/h is 18.360 kWh.This results in a yearly energy saving of f.3.121,-- for each system installed. The current European market has an installed base of about 5000 units of the old adsorption technology. So a real breakthrough of this technology will result in large energy savings.A special feature of the new system is that it has an adjustable constant dewpoint suppression. Thismeans it always makes the right dryness of the compressed air, it reacts on the humidity of the outside air. It is the ultimate way of drying compressed air.Membrane technology creates a separation by having a large partial pressure of water vapour on one side of the membrane and a low partial pressure on the other side. The membrane is very selective for water vapour, so only water vapour will diffuse through the membrane. For an effective process a large surface of the membrane is necessary. To create this large surface the membrane is made as a bundle of hollow fibers.This project uses such a membrane for the demonstration of a complete new compressed air drying technology. The working principle is as follows; wet compressed air is fed to this module and passes down the inside of these hollow fibers, hence the term "inside feed". The water vapour passes from the compressed air feed stream across the membrane and into the module shell, forced through by a "driving force". This driving force is provided by operating the module so that the concentration of water vapour in the compressed air feed is always greater than the water vapour concentration across the membrane in the module shell.These bundles of hollow fibers are used to build a system which has 6 modules which each have 8 square meters of membrane surface. This system (named M6) has a capacity of 317 Nm3/hr and runs at a nominal pressure of 7 bar (g). The compressed air is dried from 35 deg. C until - 20 deg. C dewpoint. The expected specific energy consumption will be 0.006 kWh/Nm3. The current adsorption technology has a specific energy consumption which is at least three times the above value. Programa(s) ENG-ENDEMO C - Programme (EEC) of demonstration projects and industrial pilot projects (EEC) in the energy field, 1985-1989 Tema(s) 3.4 - INDUSTRY Convocatoria de propuestas Data not available Régimen de financiación DEM - Demonstration contracts Coordinador AQUILO GAS SEPARATION BV Aportación de la UE Sin datos Dirección Países Bajos Ver en el mapa Coste total Sin datos
