Compressed Air Explained
Why refine compressed air?

Air is a colorless, odorless, tasteless mixture of many gases, primarily nitrogen and oxygen. Air is naturally contaminated with solid particles, such as dust, sand, soot and salt crystals. This contamination varies with differing environments and altitude.

Water vapor is another natural ingredient which can be found in variable amounts in the air. The amount of water vapor and contamination of the air plays a vital role in the compression process and in the quality of the air delivered by the compressor.

The damaging and corrosive properties of water are well known. Untreated air at atmospheric pressure contains large amounts of water and other contaminants such as oil droplets and dirt particles.

When the air is compressed the concentration of moisture and other contaminants increases. If allowed to remain in the system this corrosive mixture has a detrimental effect on pneumatic equipment, causing unnecessary production downtime, product spoilage and reduced equipment life.

Compressed air filters remove the oil and dirt content while compressed air dryers remove water vapor before air reaches the point of use.