Maintaining the health of plant machinery and equipment is a vital task for a well running facility. The processing industry uses several crucial machines which if they went down would cost businesses thousands of dollars. Proper operations and maintenance procedures should be followed to prevent any operating downtime. The most cost efficient preventive maintenance tool is the use of a desiccant breather on gearboxes, oil slinging pumps, ammonia compressors, rollers, hydraulic units, and much more.
There are some special considerations for certain industries; the paper industry is susceptible to high humidity and high paper dust environments; oil slinging pumps generate oil mist which is harmful to the environment and contaminates desiccant. The food processing industry environments typically have daily wash downs, which generates high humidity.
ZEOZORB Desiccant Breathers were designed with these considerations in mind. Our breathers are tested and validated in the harshest environments, 90% RH at 23°C. Our studies have shown that breathers using mechanical valves have a tendency to allow moisture ingression through the valves, especially in outdoor environments. Our unique proprietary design alleviates the need for mechanical valves, which tend to clog or stick, potentially causing an over pressurization to occur.
In addition, many of these industrial plants operate in very hot conditions, which would be a concern for Silica Gel breathers as there adsorption performance drops off drastically as temperatures increase. Plants, such as steel mills, often operate in temperatures excess of 120°F, in which a Silica Gel breather would be challenged to adsorb 2-3% of its weight, whereas a ZEOZORB® breather would adsorb 25% of its weight.
Lessons can be learned from the Aerospace & Defense industry where the use of Silica Gel desiccants stopped over 30 years ago in lieu of newer higher performing desiccants. Drytech Incorporated has been these desiccants for the aerospace & defense industries for over 20 years and has recently launched a new line of commercial products using this technology.
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