In a first for South Africa’s compressor rental market, compressor and generator rental stalwart, Rand-Air, recently took delivery of an Atlas Copco DXT85VSD electrically driven, oil-free air/nitrogen booster, complete with high pressure hoses. Coupled with its oil-free compressor and dryer, the company can now offer a total solution for 42 bar high pressure, oil-free compressed air.
The 100 kW DXT has a high outlet pressure range of 25 to 42 bar at volumes of 1200 m³/hr, which makes it eminently suitable for a range of specialised industrial applications, such as food and beverage packaging. “Previously, we offered diesel-driven oil injected boosters or compressors, which we provided to our customers in response to demand from the drilling and geological exploration market sector,” explains fleet manager Craig Swart. “However, enquiries for high pressure oil-free compressed air from the local soft drink manufacturing and bottling industry highlighted the suitability of the Atlas Copco DXT compressor. Diesel-driven oil-injected boosters were not suitable for this application, as there was a certain amount of oil residue in the compressed air they supplied. They were also not designed to provide a 24/7 compressed air supply to manufacturing facilities. While in Europe, the DXT is mainly used in steam production applications, we anticipate that in South Africa – as industry sees the potential of this compressor – there could be demand for more units of this type from a number of other industry sectors.”
For ease of handling and deployment, the DXT has the same dimensions and attaching points as a standard shipping container. Marketing and communications manager, Byrone Thorne, says that this unit is more suited to long-term rental applications. “Should we receive more enquiries for machines of this nature, we can speedily supply additional units from Europe. We are pleased to have added the DXT to our compressor fleet, as it is operationally an expansion of our high-pressure oil-free solution offering,” he adds. “At Rand-Air, the safety, quality and reliability of all the equipment in our rental fleet is non-negotiable. As such, we have ensured that we have the appropriately qualified technical expertise to support all rental items, including, of course, this new compressor.”
The new DXT compressor is a welcome addition to Rand-Air’s current fleet of some 400 rental compressors, which make up part of a total fleet of 1100 compressors, generators and related equipment. Swart explains that with units of this nature, customers have the advantage on a long-term rental of knowing exactly what their future compressed air costs will be over the next five years, for example. “This makes it much easier for our customers to project future input costs, total cost of ownership and overall return on investment,” he points out.
“We understand the pressures of working in industry today; for that reason, the company has developed an industrial rental model which enables our customers to focus on their core business while we supply their portable air and power requirements. This has been proven to impact positively on our customers’ productivity, while enhancing their operations and ultimately their bottom line,” says Thorne.
“Rand-Air has been in the equipment rental sector for the past 45 years, with consistent and stringent standards of safety, quality, reliability and availability. Despite our lengthy track record and market leadership position, we are however always ready to positively disrupt the market with further innovations and developments to our customers’ strategic advantage and benefit.
The introduction of the DXT compressor – the first of its kind in the local rental market – is a great example of our ethos of innovation and commitment to exceeding customers’ expectations,” he concludes.
For more information contact Byrone Thorne, Rand-Air, +27 11 345 0700, [email protected], www.randair.com
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