Dal-Tile Boosts Efficiency and Trims Costs with Help from DOE's AIRMaster+ Tool
From the Winter 2007 issue of Energy Matters
Dal-Tile Corporation's headquarters in Dallas, Texas (Source: Dal-Tile)
Dal-Tile Corporation knows the value of energy efficiency. When an assessment of the compressed air system in its glazed tile manufacturing plant in Dallas, Texas, showed significant potential for energy savings, the company decided to upgrade the system's efficiency. As a result, Dal-Tile is realizing savings of 5.7 million kWh and $288,000 in energy and maintenance costs annually.
The Dallas plant is the site of the company's first glazed wall tile manufacturing operation. Compressed air is needed in dense phase transfer systems, dust collectors, air cylinders, and other equipment. Before the 2002 upgrades, the plant's compressed air system had been experiencing erratic air quality and wide fluctuations in pressure, which resulted in inconsistent product quality and excessive energy costs.
So, as part of a corporate initiative to reduce energy and operating costs, the plant commissioned Air Science Engineering, a U.S. Department of Energy Allied Partner, to assess the system using the AIRMaster+ software tool developed for DOE.
The recommendations resulting from the assessment included installing a 10,000-gallon storage receiver and a pressure/flow controller to stabilize system pressure. Other improvements included upgrading the system's controls, air treatment capacity, and piping network.
Together, these measures improved the compressed air system's air quality and stabilized the pressure level. The plant now needs to have only three or four compressors in operation under any demand conditions, rather than the nine compressors that operated before the upgrades. Since the total cost of the system improvements was $278,000, the simple payback was just under a year.
Established in 1947, Dal-Tile Corporation is the largest manufacturer, distributor, and marketer of ceramic tile and natural stone in the United States. Headquartered in Dallas, the company has 10 production facilities in the United States and Mexico and sells its products through a network of more than 200 company-owned sales service centers, independent distributors, and leading home center retailers nationwide.
Please see the Industrial Technologies Program (ITP) "Performance Spotlights" online for more information and details about system upgrades at Dal-Tile (PDF 213 KB) and at other plants. Download Adobe Reader. You can also obtain AIRMaster+ and other DOE software assessment tools free of charge by downloading them from the ITP Web site.
Dean Smith
(Source: Air Science Engineering)
Partner Profile
Dean Smith, Director of Marketing for Quincy Compressors and Manager of Air Science Engineering, has more than 15 years of experience as a consultant in compressed air and gas system analysis. He has audited more than 500 compressed air systems in a variety of industries, published many articles on compressed air topics, and developed patents on compressed air system components and evaluation methodologies. He is a Qualified Instructor for the Compressed Air Challenge (CAC) Fundamentals and Advanced Management training and was a member of the core group that developed this training.
