Lontra, developer of the innovative Blade Compressor that is a significant upgrade over previous designs, is eyeing licensing deals in the Gulf.

The Midlands (England) company believes there is potential for the new product in the Gulf for compressor applications ranging from wastewater treatment to large-scale manufacturing.

The Blade Compressor is the creation of Steve Lindsey, founder of Lontra and its CEO. Lindsey is credited for bringing a revolutionary clean sheet design to the stage and is hailed as the next James Dyson, the leading British inventor.

Compressed air is an essential utility for manufacturing plants around the world and found in a vast number of everyday appliances and machinery. Traditional compressor technology has remained unchanged for over 80 years, begging the question whether it was not time for change.

Collectively compressors account for 10 per cent of the world’s industrial electricity consumption, with more compressors per household than smartphones. The technology is ubiquitous across almost all major industries, and represents a global market worth $30 billion. Lindsey’s Blade Compressor, a patent-protected compact, double-acting rotary compressor, is suitable for many current applications and is a significant upgrade on previous designs. The company highlights its flagship innovation has the potential to deliver performance and efficiency savings in every sector from heavy industry to food and pharmaceutical manufacturing. 

Explaining the technology, the company states that Lontra’s Blade Compressor does not rely upon novel materials or advanced electronics; indeed its design is so simple it could have been made during the Victorian era. “Imagine a piston and cylinder, but with the cylinder wrapped into a ring. A rotating blade acts as the piston; an almost continuous cycle of drawing in air behind and compressing air in front. The compressor does not rotate as fast as conventional compressors and does not require oil for cooling. By removing the need for changes of direction, or operational speed, this chamber delivers results with proven efficiency gains of over 21 per cent,” the company goes on to say. 

The Lontra Blade Compressor features several upgrades over traditional compressors

Improved efficiency is just one of the many benefits of the Blade Compressor, alongside quieter operation, controlled air flow and cost-effective maintenance.

The innovation delivers a triple win for end-users, being oil free, energy efficient and reliable – an advantage not yet offered by other compressor manufacturers, it adds.

Severn Trent Water (STW), one of the UK’s largest water and wastewater service companies, previously used traditional compressors, or blowers, to inject air into wastewater (to activate the biological treatment process) consuming large quantities of energy.

In search of an innovative alternative and having spotted Lontra’s huge potential, STW provided financial support for the ongoing research and development of its technology. STW worked for over a year with Lontra on a study evaluating its entire wastewater estate taking a fresh look at the challenges faced in wastewater treatment and to design a solution specifically optimised to the needs of the industry as whole.

The data recorded over seven months from the large-scale, on-site instrumentation of the Blade Compressor assured Severn Trent Water of its reliability and efficiency. Delivering an average of 21.2 per cent less electricity compared to traditional blowers, STW was so pleased with the results that it decided to part-fund a full scale trial to accelerate the move to a sustainable, low-energy economy.

POTENTIAL IN REGION

The Blade Compressor innovation has the potential to deliver huge benefits to industry and Lontra currently licenses to a number of technical and commercial partners.

“Licensing deals in the Gulf would provide companies with the opportunity to incorporate Lontra’s Blade Compressor into packages for a range of compressor applications from the treatment of waste water to large-scale manufacturing processes,” Lontra says. 

“The intrinsic efficiency of its design would deliver energy savings and significantly cut costs providing a competitive edge to licensees and users,” it adds. 

For municipal and regulated wastewater applications, Lontra has a global licensing deal with Sulzer, a global leader in pumping equipment with 21 manufacturing facilities worldwide. “Similar deals could be struck with manufacturers in the Gulf to transform industry energy costs and help meet social responsibility targets,” the company notes.

“Compressed air is often described as the fifth utility. For those responsible for the maintenance and development of the Gulf’s essential infrastructure the arrival of a completely new design of compressor should act as a welcome breath of fresh air.”