The future of compressed air technology
In an effort to improve the efficiency of compressed air generation, Innovatium’s PRISMA liquid air energy storage system integrates industrial energy storage with industrial compressed air. The technology is designed to offer producers around the world a more efficient and sustainable solution to rising energy costs and reaching net zero. By Simon Branch, Innovatium, UK
Alongside its partners, Innovatium has developed the Peak Reduction by Integrated Storage and Management
of Air (PRISMA) system which integrates industrial energy storage with industrial compressed air
Compressed air systems are commonplace throughout heavy industry, with at least 80 per cent of industrial applications using compressed air in one or more of their processes. These systems not only use an immense amount of energy, making them expensive to operate whilst also producing high levels of carbon emissions, they are often highly inefficient. Figures released by the Carbon Trust highlight the scale of the issue (see box story below). According to its research, in the UK these systems consume around 10 per cent of all industrial electrical consumption – about 8.8TWh per annum – resulting in CO2 emissions of 3.1Mta.1
