Atlas Copco energy recovery system provides major savings for Indian automotive supplier

Gabriel India Limited, a pioneer of ride control products in India, is a flagship company of the Anand Group. Established in 1961, Gabriel India Limited provides an extensive range of products like shock absorbers, struts, and front forks across every automotive segment. At Gabriel India, Atlas Copco's GA 75 VSD oil-injected screw compressor has been integrated with a state-of-the-art Energy Recovery unit – ER S-3 – to recover heat in the form of hot water for the pre-painting process in order to contribute to energy savings. “Energy conservation has a high priority at Gabriel,” says Rajendra G. Abhange, Chief Technology Officer, Gabriel India Limited. “We got a major breakthrough by partnering with Atlas Copco to develop a tailor-made solution to utilize the waste heat from the air compressor.”

Technology, Recovery and Savings

By installing the Energy Recovery unit (ER), one can recover 70% to 90% of the energy from the compressor, which can be used to heat the industrial water up to 90o Celsius and, therefore, reduce dependency on fossil fuels. In addition, almost 52,500 electrical units are recovered from this compressor due to the variable speed drive, which varies the output of the compressor to continually and automatically match the demand for air. This will help reduce the carbon footprint by 500 tons over 10 years, which is equivalent to a plantation of 2300 trees in 10 years. Gabriel India gained several benefits by installing the ER unit. First, transitioning from an air-cooled to water-cooled system improved the compressor’s efficiency. Second, the carbon footprint was reduced by saving liquefied natural gas. Third, there were reductions in operating costs. All of this means a maximum savings of 900,000 Indian rupies (approx. EUR 11,000) per annum when the compressor is working at full load and a minimum of 600,000 Indian rupies (approximately EUR 7,000) per annum when the compressor is working at partial load. Rajendra says, “Seeing this success, we have decided to implement the same system of an Atlas Copco compressor and an ER unit in the rest of our plants in the country.” Björn Leempoels, Business Line Manager – Service, Atlas Copco (India) Ltd., says, “Gabriel India Limited is a market leader in its sector and drives same values as Atlas Copco like innovation.” This is where both the companies came together and Atlas Copco helped Gabriel to reduce their energy bill by using heat recovering solution called ER.“ Written by Bjorn Leempoels