Case study

More than 450,000 litres saved in four months

Compressed airWaterFood & Beverage ProcessingBulk Handling & Rail Logistics

PDI Bulk saved more than 450,000 litres of water in four months and produced a clear before-and-after view of compressor performance.

PDI Bulk

Published with PDI Bulk’s permission, with the source of every figure printed below.

PDI Bulk

How it went.

Every study on this site runs the same four beats, in the same order.

  1. 01

    Alert

    Overnight water flow nobody could see, and a compressor cycling constantly to hold pressure in a leaking system.

  2. 02

    Cost

    >450,000 L in 4 months. Metering revealed overnight flow, leading to leak detection and process changes at one location.

  3. 03

    Fix

    Water metering on the incoming service and major consumers · Compressed-air header pressure and compressor runtime monitoring · Railcar temperature monitoring for in-transit QA/QC · Alerting on overnight baseline flow

  4. 04

    Restored

    Overnight flow stopped; compressor runtime down and header pressure stable

In full.

The problem

Two problems, one plant. Water was leaving the building overnight, and the air compressor was working far harder than the demand justified.

“At PDI, the compressor was running harder than it should have been — cycling constantly to maintain pressure in a system that was losing significant volume to undetected leaks…”

What we installed

Metering on the incoming water service and the major consumers, header pressure and runtime monitoring on the compressed-air system, and railcar temperature monitoring for in-transit QA/QC.

What the data showed

“Metering revealed overnight flow, leading to leak detection and process changes, saving over 450,000 litres of water over 4 months at one location.”

What changed

“We identified the losses, worked with the team to address them, and then watched what happened. The compressor runtime dropped. The pressure stabilized.”

The number

Over 450,000 litres of water, in four months, at one location. Source: NB Power RFP 0770-25-S510, Reference 1.

Also true

The work became a national rollout across eight facilities in Ontario, Alberta and Quebec.

What the data looked like.

Hover or arrow-key across the trace to read any interval. The flagged point is the one that started the conversation.

More than 450,000 litres saved in four months
EXPECTED OVERNIGHT FLOOR9 L/min, nobody on site≈ 5,500 L every night before anyone arrivesFirst shift on
INCOMING WATER · ONE DAY · 30-MIN BUCKETS · DASHED = EXPECTED OVERNIGHT FLOOR
PDI Bulk · the second view
DEMAND ONLYWk 1: 145 h/weekWk 2: 146 h/weekWk 3: 148 h/weekWk 4: 148 h/weekWk 5: 98 h/weekWk 6: 96 h/weekWk 7: 97 h/weekWk 8: 97 h/week14514614814898969797
COMPRESSOR RUNTIME · EIGHT WEEKS · DASHED = DEMAND ONLY

The published totals are the figures in the proof register, with their sources. The interval shape is a representative reconstruction and is flagged as such in the dataset.

What changed.

Before

Overnight flow running unseen; the compressor cycling constantly to maintain pressure

After

Overnight flow stopped; compressor runtime down and header pressure stable

>450,000 L

in 4 months

Metering revealed overnight flow, leading to leak detection and process changes at one location.

Source: NB Power RFP 0770-25-S510 FINAL, Reference 1

In their words.

…immediate annual savings of over $150,000…

Jeff Inkes, General Manager, PDI Bulk

Quoted verbatim from the archive. Where only a fragment is on file it renders as a fragment with its attribution; the middle is never invented.

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