In-house nitrogen production improves sustainability, cost management and security of supply at TS Metals.
The company has invested £125,000 in an MSS NitroCube2 nitrogen generation system to support its Trumpf TruLaser 3030 Fiber Laser cutter. This is a key piece of equipment for the company’s welding and fabrication business. Until now the Rugby based business would rely on twice weekly replenishments of its onsite nitrogen gas storage tanks needed to operate the system.
The NitroCube2 now allows it to be self-sufficient but also makes real economic and environmental sense. It can produce 20m3 per hour of liquid nitrogen, which equates to 14,600m3 of nitrogen per month at 99.999% purity.
The system will be running seven days a week on a rolling operational shift pattern and includes 2x CP24 storage facility (576 m3) and 14 bar HPC ASK34 air compressor. It can be easily upgraded with additional high-pressure storage should parent company Quartzelec Ltd choose to further invest in the business building in additional generation capacity.
Ian Addison, TS Metals’ Business manager said: “With this investment we are not only halving the cost of the nitrogen gas used in our fabrication process but by now generating it ourselves on-site, we are safeguarding future supply and significantly improving our environmental and sustainable status by essentially removing thousands of transport miles each year. This is a proven and really flexible solution that can be expanded further to meet future needs and we anticipate that we will achieve full return on investment in under six years.”
In conclusion Valter Bras, TS Metals’ Laser Manager added: “I am delighted that nitrogen generation has been installed. This allows us to have complete control over our nitrogen supply and purity plus further demonstrates the commitment the company has to invest and innovate. I’m excited to have this level of control now within our business."
The system takes clean, dry compressed air from a dedicated air compressor and, after filtering out oil, moisture and particulates, feed the air into a gas absorption bed where oxygen, CO2 and other trace gases are absorbed by one of two carbon molecular sieves, leaving just pure nitrogen. This is then pressure boosted to 300 Bar and stored in a high pressure multi-cylinder pack.
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Photo: Jack Morris of MSS, with TS Metals’ Ian Addison and Valter Bras.