Compressed Air & Gas Dryers

Breathing Air System

Turn your plant’s compressed air into air your people can safely breathe, for as long as the job takes.

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A breathing air purifier on a base plate, with its filters and twin-tower dryer side by side

Product overview

Plant air, made safe to breathe

Our breathing air system turns ordinary compressed air into air your people can breathe through airline respirators, blast helmets, hoods and full-face masks. It removes water, oil, particles, odour and carbon monoxide to the limits of EN 12021:2014 and OSHA 29 CFR 1910.134 Grade D, and, for healthcare, the European Pharmacopoeia medical air monograph.

Air straight from a compressor carries oil aerosol and vapour, condensed water, pipe scale and whatever gases were drawn in at the intake, and an overheating oil-lubricated compressor can generate CO from its own lubricant. A worker at moderate exertion breathes roughly 19 m³ of air over an 8-hour shift, and every contaminant in it goes straight to the lungs.

The system treats the air in a fixed sequence of coalescing filtration, adsorption drying, catalytic CO conversion, activated carbon and particulate after-filtration, and a gas monitor watches for CO continuously. Install it centrally to feed a dedicated breathing air ring main, or as a point-of-use unit beside a blast room, paint booth or asbestos removal enclosure.

A breathing air system on a steel frame, with its filters, dryer towers and purification vessel
  • ≤ 5 ml/m³Carbon monoxide limit, EN 12021:2014
  • ≤ 0.5 mg/m³Oil limit, EN 12021:2014
  • −40 °CTypical pressure dew point
  • ≤ 0.01 mg/m³Total oil after activated carbon, ISO 8573-1 Class 1

Benefits

The problems it solves

Plant compressed air is treated for tools and processes, not for lungs. Here is what it can do to the person wearing the respirator, and how the system stops it.

  • Carbon monoxide you can’t sense

    The problem

    CO has no colour, odour or taste and builds up in the blood over hours. It reaches compressed air from contaminated intake air or an overheating compressor.

    How it solves it

    A catalyst converts low CO concentrations to CO₂ automatically, and a continuous monitor alarms before the limit is reached, giving the wearer time to leave and switch to an escape supply.

  • Oil in the lungs

    The problem

    Inhaled oil droplets deposit in the airways and alveoli, and repeated exposure is associated with lipoid pneumonia.

    How it solves it

    Coalescing filters and activated carbon bring total oil, aerosol plus vapour, to ISO 8573-1:2010 Class 1, 0.01 mg/m³ or lower.

  • Frozen and fogged equipment

    The problem

    Water in a regulator or demand valve can freeze as the air expands, stopping the supply, and liquid in the facepiece fogs visors.

    How it solves it

    A −40 °C pressure dew point keeps hoses and regulators free of ice, even on outdoor and cold-weather jobs.

  • Masks that come off

    The problem

    Air that tastes or smells of oil leads workers to lift their masks, removing the protection entirely.

    How it solves it

    Odour-free, dry air at a steady temperature reduces the discomfort that tempts workers to remove their masks.

  • Jobs cut short

    The problem

    A stored air supply limits how long a task can run.

    How it solves it

    Breathing air flows for as long as your compressor runs, including oil-lubricated machines, and one central system can serve many respirator outlets.

  • Your legal duty

    The problem

    Employers carry personal legal responsibility for the quality of the air their workers breathe.

    How it solves it

    The system meets the contaminant limits of EN 12021, OSHA 29 CFR 1910.134 and the European Pharmacopoeia, and monitoring data and test certificates show it to inspectors and clients.

Where it’s used

Wherever your people work in air they must not breathe

Supplied air protects the wearer wherever the surrounding air carries dust, fume, vapour or worse, from a paint booth to a confined tank.

  • A hand mixing paint in open tins of colour

    Spray painting and coating

    Isocyanate paints in automotive refinishing and aerospace, which call for supplied-air protection in many jurisdictions.

  • Test tubes of coloured chemicals in a laboratory rack

    Chemicals and petrochemicals

    Tank cleaning, catalyst changeouts, turnarounds and entry into areas with hydrogen sulphide or solvent vapour.

  • Yellow tablets spilling from a medicine bottle

    Pharmaceuticals

    Supplied-air suits for operators in potent-compound and cytotoxic suites.

  • Molten metal pouring from a ladle in a foundry

    Foundries, welding and metal processing

    Supplied-air welding helmets against fume containing manganese and hexavalent chromium.

  • A naval warship at sea

    Shipyards and tank interiors

    Portable breathing air units for confined-space coating and grit blasting.

  • Wine bottles moving along a bottling line

    Food processing

    Supplied air for workers during fumigation and chemical cleaning.

Also abrasive blasting, asbestos removal, nuclear decommissioning, hospital medical air, laboratories, mining and tunnelling, and composites and fibreglass lay-up.

How it works

Filter, dry, convert, polish, check

Each stage protects the next: liquid comes out before the desiccant, the air is dried before it reaches the catalyst, and the monitor checks what the wearer actually breathes.

How a breathing air system works: compressed air passes coalescing filters that drain off liquid water and oil, a twin-tower desiccant dryer, a catalyst that converts carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide, activated carbon that adsorbs oil vapour and odour, and a dust filter; a gas monitor checks it for carbon monoxide before a regulator feeds the respirators. CO Air inCoalescing filters1 µm0.01 µmTo drain Adsorptiondryer−40 °C PDP COcatalystCO → CO₂ ActivatedcarbonOil ≤ 0.01 mg/m³Dust filter Gas monitorAlarmRegulator 12345Untreated airDry air, in treatmentBreathing airLiquid water and oilCarbon monoxideOil vapourRespirators

  1. 1. FilterCoalescing filters at 1 µm and 0.01 µm capture liquid water, oil aerosol and solid particles, and automatic drains discharge the collected liquid.

  2. 2. DryTwin desiccant towers adsorb the water vapour, taking the air to a pressure dew point of typically −40 °C. One tower dries while the other is regenerated by a small flow of dried air, expanded to atmosphere.

  3. 3. Convert COA hopcalite catalyst converts carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide at ambient temperature. Converting 10 ppm CO adds only 10 ppm CO₂, insignificant against the 500 ppm limit.

  4. 4. PolishActivated carbon adsorbs oil vapour, hydrocarbons and odours, bringing total oil to ISO 8573-1 Class 1, and a particulate after-filter retains dust shed by the treatment media.

  5. 5. Check and deliverA gas monitor measures CO continuously and alarms before the limit is reached. A regulator sets the pressure your respirators need, and dedicated couplings carry the air to each wearer.

EN 12021:2014 limits for compressed breathing air: carbon monoxide ≤ 5 ml/m³, carbon dioxide ≤ 500 ml/m³, oil ≤ 0.5 mg/m³.

Get the full details

Our brochure covers it in detail, and our questionnaire tells us what we need to recommend the right one for your plant.

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