The Ultimate Air Treatment Guide

Air treatment is like life insurance for your air compressor; the more protected your system is, the longer it will last, and the less it will cost you in the long run. 

After all, getting clean, dry air is cheaper than ruining your jobs, buying a new compressor, or replacing your tools. 

Air Treatment Benefits: Why it Matters 

The air treatment process cleans and dries the compressed air used for work, while also regulating its temperature. If filtration is not used, whatever materials enter a storage tank can end up on a project and cause damage to the compressor system and air tools over time. 

More importantly, hazardous particles (like atomized oil) can be sprayed into the air if an oil separator isn't used, creating health concerns for anyone not wearing a respirator. 

Filtering compressed air also plays a large role in the cost efficiency and longevity of a compressor, since clean air will not damage air tools or cause leaks in air lines from particulates scraping the walls of the piping. After all, finding and fixing air leaks in a compressor system is more costly than preventative maintenance. 

Parts of an Air Treatment System 

Cleaning up and filtering compressed air can be done in multiple ways, and, if a compressor is properly sized, more air treatment is better than less. Each part of an air treatment system does a unique job, but all compressor components work together to provide the cleanest, driest air possible. The piping diagram below illustrates a sample design of an air compressor system fitting together. 

How Air Compressor Water Separators Work 

When air is compressed, it gets hot, and water vapor that was in the air is squeezed out of it (like wringing out a sponge), condensing into a liquid mixture of water and oil. 

Water separator line filters are specifically designed to remove that moisture from an air supply before it goes through the lines or storage tank, ensuring a dry, clean stream of air moves through the hose and the air tool. 

Air compressor water separators usually come before the air tank in an air system. Even with a separator, moisture will still build up in a tank over time. To prevent buildup, it is important to release this moisture from the tank. A convenient and efficient upgrade is to install an automatic drain valve, which automatically opens the drain and empties water without user intervention. 

Types of Air-Line Filters 

After excess moisture is removed from the air, other types of air compressor filters can be used to further filter out remaining contaminants and particulates. 

General-purpose air compressor filters are a good place to start, as they can remove moderate amounts of water, oil, and dirt from the line. However, depending on the application, a more powerful filter may be needed that is capable of removing contaminants as small as 0.01 microns. Combination filtration systems that remove both oil and water at the same point in the line are often used for these applications, called water-oil separators. 

Pharmaceutical plants and labs often use carbon air filters (activated carbon filters) to remove oil vapors and odors from the air. High-efficiency oil coalescing filters go one step further and remove water and oil aerosol particulates up to 0.01 microns in size, effectively removing more than 99 percent of particulates from the compressed air. This makes them ideal for applications like auto-painting. 

Lubricators 

Lubricators are normally used to lubricate air tools and are attached right before the pneumatic tool or equipment. 

Depending on the application, some pneumatic air tools need lubrication to operate correctly. Oftentimes, when air tool oilers are used, they are paired with a water separator to prevent moisture from getting into the air and causing damage to expensive equipment. 

Although lubricators do not affect the overall treatment of the air, they are worth mentioning because they can be paired with other types of air-line filters or used in custom setups in an industrial compressed air system, such as in tandem with a pneumatic actuator or solenoid valves. 

Air Dryers 

Compressed air dryers remove moisture from compressed air traveling through an air system and prevent damage to pneumatic tools, machinery, and, in some cases, the product being worked on.

There are multiple varieties of compressed air dryers that serve different purposes, ranging from cycling and non-cycling refrigerated air dryers to non-cycling high-temperature dryers designed for high-heat setups when using compressors without an aftercooler. Additionally, membrane and desiccant air dryers use different technologies to remove moisture from the air. To ensure the correct operation of a desiccant dryer, an oil-coalescing filter must be placed before it in the air system. 

Air Compressor Piping Systems 

Many additional devices can be installed to further clean the air and regulate airflow and pressure (PSI and CFM). After the treated air is dried, filtered, compressed, and stored, it eventually travels through air delivery piping to the hose and air tool, known as the point-of-use. 

Regulators and lubricators can be installed along the air piping line, providing further control over air treatment as it reaches the air tool. 

Heavy copper and black steel piping used to be the only options for building air lines to transport compressed air. They were expensive and labor-intensive to install in workshops and industrial spaces, and when air leaks occurred, they were difficult to repair or replace. 

Today, new advances in piping technology make it much cheaper and easier to install and change the piping configuration to get compressed air where it is needed. Companies like RapidAir and Transair have created air delivery systems that use aluminum and polyethylene piping with detachable joints that can bend and interlock in almost any configuration imaginable, making it simpler than ever to change or replace a part of a line with much less effort. 

Air Regulators 

Regulators regulate air pressure and flow, allowing for control over the outlet pressure for precision and to avoid pressure spikes and drops at the point-of-use. They work like an air checkpoint that helps keep air pressure at the levels required for efficiency and safety. 

Air regulators can be attached to any section of an air piping system; however, the best results are achieved by installing them near the point of use. Regulators can control and restrict the airflow if necessary and help prevent damage to air tools due to pressure levels being too high for the tool. 

Take Care of Your Air System 

No matter what size a shop is, air treatment is critical to maintaining a long-lasting, dependable, and clean compressed air system that will continue to deliver year after year. However, just like the filter in a furnace, compressed air filters need to be cleaned and changed regularly, or they will not make much of a difference in the long run. 

It is often said that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and with air treatment, this is true. Routine maintenance and the use of the filtration devices mentioned above will ensure a compressor remains healthy and up to the task, no matter what the next project may be.