High-Speed Blower Retrofit Cuts Carbon-Black Air Power 22% at a Tyre Plant

The carbon-black workshop of a tyre manufacturer in Shandong Province needs a large, steady flow of process air. The air supports the reaction, and its oxygen supply must be stable for the reaction to run to completion.

The workshop was supplied by a 900 kW multistage centrifugal blower. It used a great deal of energy, needed regular lubrication and mechanical maintenance, and struggled to meet the plant’s tightening energy and environmental targets. The plant wanted a replacement that would deliver the same process air at much lower power and with minimal maintenance.

The multistage blower was replaced by a SIND BreezeGlide BB series high-speed, oil-free blower sized for the workshop’s continuous process-air duty:

• Oil-free, contact-free bearings. The rotor runs without lubricating oil or mechanical friction, and a power-loss protection system protects the bearings during a supply interruption.
• High-speed permanent-magnet direct drive. The motor drives a 3D-flow impeller directly, with a carbon-fibre-sleeved rotor and rare-earth magnets. Motor efficiency exceeds 97%.
• High-frequency variable-speed drive. The drive operates at 400–1,000 Hz with low harmonics and a modular design, and needs no separate transformer.
• Precision impeller. The impeller is five-axis milled, overspeed-tested at 115% and corrosion-protected.

Based on 8,000 operating hours per year and an electricity price of CN¥0.6/kWh:

• Absorbed power 22.2% lower than the previous 900 kW multistage blower.
• About 1.6 million kWh of electricity saved per year.
• About CN¥960,000 (≈US$135,200 at CN¥7.1/US$) lower electricity cost per year.
• About 910 t lower CO₂ emissions per year.
• About 80% lower maintenance cost; routine maintenance is essentially limited to filter replacement.

High-speed, oil-free blower technology offers carbon-black and other continuous process plants a large, fast energy saving with very low maintenance.