Atlas Copco Oil-Free Compressors Ensure Food Safety and Energy Savings for Chinese Wahaha Group

ANTWERP, Belgium, May 16, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

As the largest local beverage company in China, Hangzhou Wahaha Group Co., Ltd. provides more than 150 varieties of food and beverage products, such as drinks, canned foods, health products and milk powder. Currently, more than 90% of Wahaha Group's compressors are provided by Atlas Copco, and about 600 of them are operating at Wahaha every day. 

Mr. Qiu Yijun, Engineering Manager at Wahaha explains:, "Food safety is the biggest concern for food and beverage manufacturers. In addition to the strict control of raw materials, we also have extremely stringent standards set for equipment and suppliers. Wahaha started to use Atlas Copco Class 0 oil-free compressors in 1998. The excellent performance and security provided by oil-free air have ensured our consistently high quality and reinforced our confidence in Atlas Copco."

Class 0 oil-free air for PET blowing process 

Wahaha Group always regards food safety as the first priority and insists that any risk during production must be eliminated. For example, compressed air is required during production of PET bottles. However, if there are any traces of oil in the compressed air, it can enter the bottles during the PET blowing process and contaminate the end product. This can have a negative impact on the taste and odor of the end products and could even affect consumers' health.

As an added advantage, compressors, equipped with the heat of the compression dryers also provide Wahaha with exceptional energy savings, which dramatically reduce their total cost of ownership. Atlas Copco has also provided solutions for Wahaha on energy savings and emission reduction.

ER energy recovery systems save 3500 kWh 

In 2011 in order to maximize energy savings and efficiency of the compressors,  Atlas Copco customized an energy recovery solution for the Wahaha Haining plant and installed six sets of energy recovery (ER) units. The heat recovered by the ER systems is being used to preheat (up to 60-90%) the pure water for cleaning and sterilizing during the production process, thereby greatly reducing steam demand. The energy-saving effect has been significant and systems have run stably through 10 months of operation of the Atlas Copco ER heat recovery systems. It not only achieved the energy conservation of production processes, and also brought to the company has not only achieved energy conversation during production processes but also realized a return on its investment.

The ER heat recovery system can reduce steam consumption by more than 5000 tons each year, which saves 3500 kWh of electrical energy and about RMB 1.2 million Yuan (ca. 140000 Euro). As a result the investment on equipment can be recovered in only one and a half years.

"Since good results were obtained during the experiment performed in the Haining production base, Wahaha is considering assembly of Atlas Copco ER energy recovery systems for all production bases in the country. It is time to rely on innovative technologies to achieve greater energy savings and enter a new era of energy conservation!" Mr. Qiu concluded.

Pictures: ac0057075

Atlas Copco is a world-leading provider of sustainable productivity solutions. The Group serves customers with innovative compressors, vacuum solutions and air treatment systems, construction and mining equipment, power tools and assembly systems. Atlas Copco develops products and service focused on productivity, energy efficiency, safety and ergonomics.  The company was founded in 1873, is based in Stockholm, Sweden, and has a global reach spanning more than 180 countries. In 2013, Atlas Copco had revenues of BSEK 84 (BEUR 9.7) and more than 40 000 employees. Learn more at http://www.atlascopco.com.

Atlas Copco's Compressor Technique business area provides industrial compressors, vacuum solutions, gas and process compressors and expanders, air and gas treatment equipment and air management systems. The business area has a global service network and innovates for sustainable productivity in the manufacturing, oil and gas, and process industries. Principal product development and manufacturing units are located in Belgium, Germany, the United States, China and India.