NIRA LEL MONITORING SYSTEMS AND AUTOMATIC AIR RECIRCULATION CONTROL SYSTEMS

Increasing energy and raw material costs, as well as a growing sensitivity toward emission controls, are pushing all major printing companies to explore new technologies designed to drastically reduce costs associated with air treating systems and energy saving. Part of these expensive investments on air treating systems and their running cost, are partially related to the quantity of the air to be treated and the average solvent concentration in discharge from the production process.

In case of Recovery Solvent Plants, the flow rate in discharge determines the numbers of the activated carbon adsorbers and the solvent concentration determines the energy consumption to recover each kg of solvent.

In case of Regenerative Thermal Oxidizers, the flow rate in discharge determines the dimension of the systems (bed of ceramic material) and the solvent concentration determines the natural gas consumption of the burning system.

NIRA AUTOMATIC AIR RECIRCULATION CONTROL SYSTEMS

Through our LEL monitoring systems and automatic air recirculation control systems, we are able to drastically reduce (between 40 to 70%) the actual flow rate in discharge and increase (between 30 to 50%) the average solvent concentration in evacuation from any Flexo, Coating, Laminating and Gravure press machine.

NIRA LEL MONITORING SYSTEMS

The flammable properties of the solvents and the high temperatures inside the ventilation systems of any Laminating, Coating, Flexo or Gravure printing machine, can create dangerous risks of explosion. In order to avoid these dangerous conditions, the solvent concentration inside the ventilation system must be checked by a LEL monitoring system and must be kept below then the 50% of its Lower Explosion Level (UNI EN 1539:2009). A LEL Monitoring System is an analytical system able to check and control the solvent concentration inside any drying station during any production process.

ANERGY SAVING THROUGH AUTOMATIC AIR RECIRCULATION SYSTEM

During the exsiccation process of the inks and the vaporization of the solvent from the coated, laminated or printed flexible materials, a lot of energy is required to heat up the inlet fresh air inside the drying stations; Through our automatic air recirculation control systems, it is possible to recycle most of this hot air and send it back as hot fresh air inside the ventilation systems. These automatic air recirculation systems drastically reduce the fuel oil or natural gas consumption associated with the air heating systems and also the electricity cost associated to the general evacuation air fans. The energy saving through our system can go from 20% to 40% of your actual yearly energy cost.

Unfortunately, in case of old Laminating, Coating, Flexo or Gravure press machines, it'' s impossible to establish the total project investment and the obtainable energy saving without a technical inspection made by our specialized technicians. After this technical inspection, we will be able to provide the total project investment, the flow rate reduction in discharge, the solvent concentration increasing, the yearly energy saving and the total project investment payback time.

KEY BENEFITS

- More safety inside the plant by monitoring the solvent concentrations.

- Saving on fuel oil or natural gas consumption for the air heating system.

- Electricity saving on the energy consumption (general evacuation air fans).

- Lower investment on expensive air treating systems (RSP and RTO).

- Saving on RSP yearly energy consumption.

- Saving on RTO yearly natural gas consumption.

- Lower residual solvent on coated, laminated or printed flexible materials.

NIRA PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

NIRA supplies the following services and products:

- Free consultations.

- Plant inspections.

- Studies of the ventilation systems.

- Energy saving estimations.

- Construction drawings for mechanical adjustments on the ventilation systems.

- Mechanical supply to modify the actual ventilation systems for automatic air recirculation control.

- Flame Ionization and Infrared LEL monitoring systems.

- Detailed quotations.

- Annual contract maintenance.

CONCLUSIONS

Any cent saved it''s a cent earned. Consideration the constant energy (in form of electricity, fuel and natural gas) and raw material cost (solvents) increasing, it''s very easy to understand the out coming benefits obtainable through our services and systems.

Saving is our future; lower our production cost, it will increase our margin profit and it will help our companies to become more competitive on the domestic and international market.