Printing presses have long manifested two important issues, which are, in a way, shared by many chemical industries: a need for upgraded safety and a requirement for a cost-saving method. NIRA, a market leader and recognized name in air treatment, has recently started suggesting a coupling of LEL monitoring and Automatic Air Recirculation Control Systems for such applications, and more generically all situations where a prolonged (and thus expensive and potentially hazardous) exsiccation process is necessary.
In NIRA's proposed solution, the Automatic Air Recirculation Control Systems actually manages the cost saving part, while the LEL monitor is required to effect such process in complete safety, and without incurring severe explosion of fire risks, which are always possible in chemical-rich environments such as the solvent-saturated atmosphere of a printing press's exsiccation chambers.
LEL monitoring systems – infrared or flame-based, depending on the complexity of the gas mixture present in the chamber and on the required analysis speed – constantly monitor tthe solvent levels present in the air and checking that their concentration never overcomes a safe threshold. Once safety is guaranteed, this leaves a potential resource available: the heat contained in that same air, which has been expensive to obtain. This is where Automatic Air Recirculation Control Systems come in, because they can reroute the used air back into the process, and thus allow for reduced fuel consumption in reheating such air to the temperatures required for exsiccation, since it starts at higher than ambient temperature.
The effect of NIRA's proposal on a company budget can be surprising. Well-calibrated automatic Air Recirculation Control Systems allow for energy cost cutting between 30 and 60 percent – whether tied to fuel oil, natural gas, or electricity, depending on the specific plant – which can translate to a huge portion of a printing press budget. Furthermore, such energy saving also has a “green” side: any energy that isn't consumed means a smaller strain on the environment to produce it, a reduced use of fossil fuels, and thus lower pollution. Conservative calculations show that NIRA's automatic Air Recirculation Control Systems can repay themselves in a matter of no more than a few years if well chosen: this makes them a winning investment from all perspectives.
NIRA Instruments' (http://www.nirainstruments.com/energy-saving/ Automatic Air Recirculation Control Systems are among the best known and most used in the printing industry, striking an ideal balance between efficiency and investments.
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