Importance of ISO and Class 0 in compressor selection
Did you know about ISO 8573 or Class 0 air quality standards? Why class 0 compressed air quality is important to food & beverage, chemical, electronics, pharmaceutical industries, semiconductors, automobiles and other critical applications?
Well, this blog will help you to understand more about IS0 & Class 0 standards for compressed air and oil-free air products. In a general term, class 0 concept comes when there is the need for high quality compressed air which comes in direct contact with the product & can damage the final product.
Terms like ISO, Class 0 and Oil-free used to imply that the equipment like compressor meets certain standards. Yet, all these terms have key differences and can lead to unintended consequences if these differences are not understood.
ISO (International Organization for Standardization)
ISO defines the standards for various processes and applications.
Quality of Compressed air defined by the ISO standard i.e. ISO 8573-1:2010 having 7 different classes. Class 0 is one of them.
ISO provides information about the types of contaminants in the compressed air system and defines purity classes of compressed air with respect to solid particles, water vapors & oil content; independent of the location at which the air quality is specified or measured.
Depending on air quality requirements, compressors can be ranked from ISO Class 0 to class 6.
Before 2001, Class 1 was the ultimate classification and referred to as “technically oil-free air.” But this class still allows having oil content up to 0.01 mg per m3 of air & which could be enough to damage the final product in critical applications.
Class 0 air quality
Class 0 term is related specifically to the quality of compressed air & defined on 3 major parameters. They are:
Solid particle content
Water vapor present in the compressed air
Oil content.
This new class (Class 0) introduced in 2010 in-order to specify more stringent air quality requirements.
Compressors that do not use oil or lubricants in the air compression chamber during the compression process, produces 100% oil-free dry air and meets the Class 0 requirements as per oil content in the discharged compressed air & thus, complies to Class 0 standard as per ISO8573-1:2010.
Air quality ISO8573-1:2010 table
Air quality ISO8573-1:2010 table
Class 2.4.2 means
The first number represents the solid particle class
The Second number represents the water class
The third number represents the oil class
Benefits of Class 0 Oil-free Compressor
When it comes to a compressor; oil-free compressor complies with class 0 standards which are very essential for the critical applications* to ensure that the final product should not get contaminated or damaged due to oil particles in the compressed air.
*critical applications are semiconductors, medical equipment, paper, food products, pharma applications, paint applications, etc.
Oil-free compressors having air purity class 0 with respect to oil helps you to get rid of:
Filters to remove the oil from compressed air
To reduce high energy consumption due to higher pressure drops created by the filters
Risk of damaging the product quality & product lifecycle due to contaminated air by oil.
Cost of possible production stops, contaminated product or loss of brand image.
Condensate water treatment from the compressor (oil-injected), thus avoids the violation of the Environmental clearances.
So, Risk-free air = Oil-free Air = Class 0 certified.
Until the last decade, low pressure blowers used lobe or roots compression technology to produce air for use in a variety of industries. However, the screw blower is becoming the preferable option due to its efficiency benefits - particularly in...
There are 2 ways of pneumatic conveying. One is called dilute phase, which requires pressure levels up to 0.3-2.5 bar(g). This is used for materials with a low bulk density. The other type is called dense phase. This needs pressure levels of 1.5-4...
Nitrogen navigators: Steering safety & precision in blanketing operations
12 August, 2024
In the realm of industrial safety and efficiency, the concept of blanketing emerges as a pivotal strategy. Predominantly utilized in sectors dealing with volatile or sensitive substances, blanketing refers to the practice of overlaying a protective...
