The fourth utility

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Be it oil and gas, food production, pharmaceuticals, textiles or power generation, compressed air plays a vital role for processes across a range of industries. Though the three main utilities (electricity, water and gas) are usually generated off-site at central locations and supplied to the user on demand, it is not so easy for compressed air to be supplied over long distances, and thus users tend to have on-site compressed air systems.

Some 10% of industrial electricity consumption is thought to go to the generation of compressed air. Hardly surprising, therefore, that the main driver on the compressor market is energy efficiency. The design of individual components on a compressor skid and the synergies between them are being improved to cut needless energy losses. With energy costs on the rise, power plants, too, are trying to reduce the cost of compressed air.

"Normally, the compressors are used for instrument air and plant air for servicing," explains Emile Bado, regional general manager of Atlas Copco Services Middle East. "In each plant, you will find eight or 10 machines are required - a lot of kilowatts are needed to run these compressors."

Bado, who has been in the Middle East for one year after a previous position in the United States, is of the opinion that there is more investment globally in the power sector than in oil and gas - and his compressor sales have served to illustrate this.

"In the USA, 30% of our business was coming from the power sector," says Bado. "It is a very strong portion of our business."

This statement holds true for other players in the compressor business, such as Germany-based firm Kaeser Kompressoren.

"Industry as a whole tends to refurbish and replace on a fairly regularly basis," says Carl Briden, director for Middle East & Asian subcontinent, "but because the UAE is expanding there is a lot more pressure on utilities, such as water and electricity, and a lot more money being invested in power stations and water facilities - so logically you are going to get more enquiries and more potential business from that sector."

Martin Lewis, sales manager, industrial products at Compair, claims utilities make up a high percentage of his company's regional business. "We have a major hit-list here in the Middle East," he says. "One is power, one is cement and another is water. Utilities is where we see our major growth coming from in the next 12 months."

There is still work to be done though, as the market needs educating on the savings which can be realised through sensible equipment choices and the potential pitfalls which can be avoided by putting in more capital investment.

"We are very strongly pushing into this market and trying to educate customers about the proper selection," says Bado, "because what we have seen is, although power in the Gulf is cheaper relative to Europe, they do not have enough of it to go around. If you look at Kuwait or Saudi Arabia, they have been asking people to reduce their energy consumption."

Speedy progress

One energy-saving development has been the advent of the variable speed drive compressor, whose implementation means a system will only use as much power as it requires.

"This is a highly efficient machine that is flexible enough to provide the right flow at the right power," says Bado. "Because when you run a machine the compressor is typically either fully loaded or totally unloaded. When the pressure goes down the compressor runs to keep that pressure up. When it is running full-load, it is providing good energy efficiency. But when the plant is at half-capacity, then you have less compressors running.

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