25/06/2026
The cost you can't see.
The day-one spec was met. The lifetime economics weren't.
An independent industry analysis of a single meat-processing site found that roughly 30% flow degradation in ageing screws meant about 870,000 kWh wasted per year.
In a 24/7 biogas upgrading plant, where flow is revenue, even a few percent of lost compression flow can quietly erase millions over the project's life.
You can't easily audit a running compressor's true efficiency without a calibrated test — so the bleed accumulates unnoticed, year after year.
The number that's drifting is specific energy: kW per m³/min, the true cost of every cubic metre of air.
When did you last measure yours?