Chobani | Twin Falls, ID
Where We Started
Chobani, LLC is a food & beverage company that manufactures and sells Greek yogurt, oat milk, and coffee creamers. It is the #1 selling Greek yogurt brand in the United States and operates one of the largest yogurt manufacturing facilities in the country. At its plants, Chobani uses compressed air for packaging machinery, valve actuation, and maintaining positive pressure in processing equipment.
The Opportunity
CAM Technologies conducted a compressed air audit at the Chobani Twin Falls, ID facility in 2021 to identify efficiency and capacity opportunities for its compressed air system.
At this facility, the compressed air system was comprised of both oil-free and oil-flooded rotary screw compressors separated into two systems. Compressors within each system were fighting each other for control. The existing microprocessor system controls were not functioning properly and were creating a gap in reliability and operating efficiency. Specific compressor set points were overlapping causing frequent unit cycles, motor starts, and one of the main compressors was not functioning efficiently within the larger system.
In addition to significant energy improvements, there was also an opportunity to introduce equipment redundancy – an important factor in ensuring no production downtime if a primary piece of equipment or compressor failed. In its former state, any time a compressor was down for maintenance or failure, Chobani had to rent a compressor which was an additional expense.
Our Solution
CAM Technologies specified and selected equipment to install into Chobani’s existing compressed air system and proposed a comprehensive solution which included:
- A new 450 HP 3-stage centrifugal air compressor
- A new cycling refrigerated air dryer and oversized mist eliminator filter for the new compressor
- An additional 11,400 gallons of receiver storage
- A CAM Demand Expander™ valve for both systems (Oil-Flooded and Oil-Free)
- A new spill valve between both systems and appropriate instrumentation
- A new CAMLink™ Premier Controller
- On-site project management and engineering services
CAM Technologies also partnered with the local compressor distributor to procure the equipment and provide Chobani with the required startup and maintenance support for their new equipment, including the spare parts necessary for the new system components.
Their Results
Improved system redundancy and pressure stability.
With Chobani’s new compressed air system tied together, they have N+1 compressor and dryer redundancy for both their oil-free and oil-flooded air systems. As a result of the Demand Expander™ valves and added storage, they experienced an immediate 9 PSI reduction in combined system pressure.
Reduced total cost of ownership.
Chobani received a $658,000 utility rebate for this project which it used to offset a significant portion of the overall project cost. Based on the initial savings, Chobani will see total project payback within two years.
Improved operating efficiency.
Chobani went from running five compressors part-loaded to only running two to three compressors, depending on system demand. This improved efficiency, along with better pressure stability, is expected to result in $250,000 in continuous energy savings per year.
Improved system awareness and performance.
With CAMLink™ Premier system connectivity to the site’s Ignition historian, all data points from the system and all connected equipment are displayed and trended in for real-time analysis and trending.
By the Numbers*
