2) Responsible economic growth

Over the last 40 years, AF Compressors developed its Air-Compressor range and optimized the technology for Durability, Low maintenance and High Energy Efficiency.  On demand of their customers for more Sustainable Oil-free Air compressors for 20-40 bar and 7-10 bar, AF Compressors has continually developed and improved the efficiency of its products to lower the energy consumption.  AF Compressors has introduced the same technology into the Standard Air 6-15bar for Oil-free Applications exceeding expectations from customers on Energy efficiency, Low maintenance and Long lifetime, even under extreme environmental conditions such as High temperatures reaching 50 deg C ambient temperature and high relative humidity.

The trend in compressed air is driving towards higher air quality across the globe.  More and more applications and users are choosing for Compressed Air free from any contaminant, no oil-contamination, low dew point, complying with the Class 1 according to ISO8573-1 standard.  Class 1 is the standard for the Food Industry with measureable targets.

Not only is the trend shifting towards higher Air-quality standards, the requirements on Sustainability are getting tougher.  Sustainability for compressed Air can be expressed in the Energy consumption of the Compressed Air installation in all conditions (full load and partial load), the waste produced during its usage and the lifetime and disposal of the compressed air installation.

Unfortunately, for Oil-free Compressed air users, the cost of the Compressed Air is also increasing.  The sales price of equipment is getting more expensive, the maintenance costs are continuously rising and the Energy cost is and will further increase.   With the Climate change, Electricity costs will further continue to increase due to higher demand and lower supply.

Energy Consumption & carbon footprint

Throughout the world, the operational cost of Compressed air consists 80% out of Electricity.  The Energy Consumption is expressed in the Specific Energy Consumption (SPC) of a Compressor. An Air-Compressor will run in full load and in partial load.  Very few Air-Compressors are running continuously in full load.   It is well known, that in partial load, many Air-Compressors are wasting a lot of energy.   Variable speed drives do not eliminate the losses at partial load as the performance is less that what is promised.  On top, expensive breakdowns and short lifetime of the electronics are introduced.

The Innovation done by AF Compressors in the Oil-free Compressed Air, is the introduction of a new generation 90-132kW Oil-free Air compressors, having as well at full load a superior Energy Efficiency and at partial load remain with very low losses. In idle condition, the OPC90-132 remains with its specific energy consumption below 7kW/m3/min while at full load it is one of the most Energy efficient Air- Compressor with only 5,5kW/m3/min @ 8 bar.  At 5,5kW/m3/min, the range 90-132kW is 29% below the BAFA (German organisation for subsidising Energy projects) minimum requirement.

Most Oil-free compressors running in partial load will find their specific energy consumption climbing up to 8 to 9 kW/m3/min.

The newly developed dual flow control AFS on the OPC90-132, allows to smoothly control the flow in a narrow pressure band.  With the digital control, the OPC90-132 is controlled like 2 machines into 1.  The use of a Frequency converter becomes useless and avoids expensive and short life time electronics.

Lifetime of the compressed air installation, the sustainable solution.

When the compressor comes to its end of lifetime, the complete unit needs to be disposed.  Most compressors last 10yrs to 15yrs, depending on its usage and maintenance.  For Rotaries, after 2-5 years, the compressor blocks need to be overhauled and the blocks are being disposed.  For centrifugal units, after 5 years a major overhaul is needed on the core.  At the end at the age of 10-15 years, most complete units are being replaced or complete refurbished.  As the cost of refurbishing is high, most logic is to replace by a new compressor unit. The AF reciprocating compressor has a lifetime of 40 years or 4 times longer.  This reduces the waste produced. For the AF compressors, during its full lifetime no overhaul needs to be done, only normal maintenance with genuine parts.

With this AF technology and related innovations, AF puts a new standard in the market for Oil-free Compressed Air.  The OPC range hereby contributes to the substantial Carbon Footprint reduction.