What is Oil Free Air

The degree of air purity required varies based on the risk tolerance for any application. The International Standards Organization (ISO) created ISO 8573-1 to provide manufacturers with the ability to define the level of tolerance for air purity in their compressed air system. This standard outlines the levels of solid particulates, water, and oil allowed based on the classification.

Class 0, the most stringent of these classes, guarantees compressed air will contain <0.01 mg/m3 of total oil. The key is to select the classification most appropriate for your facility.

Eliminates Risk of Contamination 

• Delivers Peace-of-Mind – There is always a risk of contamination when compressed air encounters an end product; the best way around this is never to introduce oil into your airstream in the first place. Class 0 air allows manufacturers to avoid contamination risks, such as an oil filter breakthrough from post-filtration, that would lower product quality, increase the risk of product recalls and result in unnecessary downtime. Contamination risks can harm your brand reputation, your bottom line and even worse, the health of your customers.  
• Protects Your Assets – Oil-lubricated compressors will always have a trace amount of oil in the air they produce.  Trace oil can build-up on pneumatic equipment and other valuable assets that use compressed air, which in turn increases maintenance and replacement costs. 

Reduces Environmental Impact 

• Minimize Oil Usage – Oil-flooded screw compressors require 55 gallons of oil every six to twelve months for an oil change. This oil must then be properly disposed of following the appropriate governing authority guidelines. Oil-free compressors do not require oil as part of the compression process .    
• Eliminate Condensate Disposal – When operating an oil-flooded compressor, significant amounts of oil-contaminated condensate must be properly disposed of to safeguard the environment. To ensure compliance, governing authorities often monitor and regulate the disposal of contaminated condensate. Condensate from oil-free compressors can be easily discarded or even recycled for other uses within the plant.    

Switching from an oil-flooded to an oil-free air compressor provides operators with significantly lower maintenance requirements, including:

• Fewer ancillary air system components to maintain 
• No oil changes
• Elimination of expensive oil filters to clean the compressed air
• Elimination of oily condensate management
• Longer desiccant life of downstream air filters
• Minimized downstream labour and outage-related costs 

The more energy-efficient the compressor, the more direct impact the machine will have on lowering operating expenses. Since energy costs are generally 60-75% of the total life-cycle costs of an air compressor, overall cost savings from efficiency alone can result in several thousands of dollars in life-cycle savings.

Oil-flooded machines also require several oil filters and oil separators in the air path to clean the manufactured compressed air. Each one of these items will cause a pressure drop across the filter, resulting in lower air pressure delivery downstream in the plant. The decrease in pressure means the compressor must work harder to maintain the demand needed for the plant creating lower efficiencies and higher energy costs. 

Unlike oil-injected compressors, oil-free types can operate when placed in various orientations. Due to their lighter weight and smaller size, they can be easily transported and moved vertically or horizontally, depending on the task. And since they’re oil-free, you won’t have to worry about oil leaking when the compressor is tilted in different directions. 

Oil-injected compressors require more amps to start. This means that if you were hoping to use one in a cold environment, such as a garage on a winter day, starting it could take a while. This issue is due to oil’s viscous consistency, which makes it more difficult to move when cold. If you have an oil-free compressor, you can start it much faster, regardless of the temperature. 

• Medical and Pharmaceutical – In medical & and pharmaceutical applications, cleanliness is a critical factor in the quality and performance of the system. The process will often dictate the risk tolerance for any trace contaminants such as oil or moisture. It is key to be able to minimize that risk to the general population. Because of the critical nature of these risk factors, every touchpoint of the processes such as tablet coating and product drying must be reviewed, including the risk from compressed air.
• Food and Beverage – New requirements outlined in the FDA’s Food Safety Modernization Act, Global Food Safety Initiative reinforce the need for using clean air in the manufacturing process to avoid product contamination, which can lead to product recalls and a damaged brand reputation. The challenge is that since the current laws are not specific, manufacturers must establish their own risk management programs, and determine adequate contamination levels for the three contaminants: particles, water, and oil, for both direct and indirect contact points of risk. Oil-free compressors can help many food manufacturers avoid oil contamination, which is one less thing to worry about.
• Electronics – For applications including PC board cleaning, delivering clean, dry compressed air is critical to minimizing trace contaminants in the end product. Requiring the highest class in air purity allows manufacturers to protect sensitive instrumentation and their finished products.
• Textiles – A quality stream of compressed air for spinning machines and air-jet looms is crucial to prevent fabric staining and production loss. Mandating the highest class of air purity is essential for delivering high quality, oil-free, manufactured products.
• Natural gas- The natural gas industry calls for several high-demand applications such as fume elimination, gas transfer and vapor recovery, which benefit from compressed air.
• Dry cleaning- Dry cleaning involves processes like garment pressing and solvent processing, where oil-free compressed air is critical.
• Energy exploration- When it comes to remote energy exploration, dependable performance is vital. As oil-free compressors require little maintenance and rarely break, they are perfect for this application.
• Plastics- In plastics manufacturing, sudden air losses can bring entire operations to a halt. Once again, the dependability of oil-free air compressors makes them a good choice for this industry.
• Low-pressure uses- Oil-free compressors are considered ideal for low-pressure applications.
• Painting- Without the help of air compressors, painting can be tedious. Because you surely don’t want to contaminate your paint with oil, oil-free compressors are the preferred type for this usage.
• Brewing- Air compressors are also important for brewing. Just like the food industry, brewing requires 100% clean, oil-free compressed air.
• Aerospace- From launching rockets to controlling contamination, clean compressed air has many applications in the aerospace industry.