Every day, Southeastern Container makes $9 million worth of PET plastic bottles for Coca-Cola and other national brands, relying on compressed air for injection molding and blow molding.
It had six two-stage reciprocating compressors operating in tandem to produce the 2,000 CFM of 485-PSIG air needed for high-pressure blow molding.
The company then split off part of that flow and used regulators and a receiver tank to supply 150-PSIG medium air to the injection-molding machines.
In addition, Southeastern had many additional compressed air uses throughout the plant, which it supplied with 105-PSIG air, using what it considered a low-pressure machine.
When blow-molding sales declined, the corporate engineering team at Southeastern saw an opportunity to shift medium-pressure tasks off the main units, thereby reducing the number of reciprocating units required to operate the high-pressure system. They directed John Keifer, system technician at Southeastern, to look for a new compressor to handle the medium-pressure loads.
Southeastern Container selected a Kaishan KRSP2 premium two-stage rotary screw air compressor to improve efficiency.
John contacted Jeff Thibert, an account manager at National Compressor Services in nearby Holland, OH, who recommended a water-cooled, 450-HP KRSP2 two-stage rotary screw air compressor. The fixed-speed unit is equipped with modulating controls, pre- and after-filters, a Mikropor refrigerated dryer and an air-oil separator. National also recommended using food-grade oil to maintain the air purity required for Southeastern’s beverage containers.
The Mikropor dryer has after-filtration to limit particle size to 0.1 micron. And a management system for condensate from the compressor and the dryer.
“Because this compressor puts out enough CFM, it kind of does double duty.”
— John Keifer, System Technician, Southeastern Container
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