Introduction
Where does the oil free screw compressor come in handy? The oil free screw compressor are very popular among the business related to chemical or food and beverage, where a reliable and stable supply of zero-pollution compressed air is needed and crucial. Below, I will provide a detailed introduction to the working principle, applications, benefits, and price of oil free screw compressors.
What is oil free screw compressor?
Oil free screw compressor is a type of screw air compressor for sale. Its biggest difference from other common air compressors is that it can produce 100% pure oil-free compressed air. Oil free screw compressors ensure that the air in the compression chamber never comes into contact with lubricating oil, thus guaranteeing the high purity of the compressed air from the source.
How does an oil free screw compressor work?
Oil free screw compressor has the same working principle as common screw air compressors——compressing air through a pair of male and female rotors within the compressor chamber. Unlike oil-lubricated air compressors, oil free screw compressors do not inject any lubricating oil into the compression chamber to provide clean, high-quality compressed air. The oil free screw air compressor relies primarily on special processes, Teflon coating, and external cooling device to complete the entire oil-free air compression process.
Oil free screw compressors have two precision-machined rotors—a male rotor and a female rotor. The motor drives the male rotor and the female rotor to rotate synchronously in opposite directions via a synchronous gearbox. But the two rotors do not contact each other, maintaining a small gap. Then the air inlet, as the rotors rotate, the volume between the rotor teeth continuously decreases, thus compressing the air. Because there are gaps between the rotors and the housing, no lubricating oil is needed for sealing. Therefore, the compression process is “dry” (oil-free).
In addition, because compression generates a large amount of heat, oil free screw compressors cannot use oil for cooling like oil-injected air compressors. The oil free screw compressors typically employ multi-stage compression with interstage cooling. That is, after each stage of compression, the air enters a component called an “intercooler” (usually an air-cooled or water-cooled radiator) for cooling before entering the next stage of compression. This greatly improves efficiency and reliability.
What are the benefits of oil free screw compressor?
The core value of oil-free screw compressors can be summarized in the following four aspects:
1. 100% Oil-Free Air
For industries where products need to direct or indirect contact with compressed air, such as food, beverage, and pharmaceuticals industries. Oil free screw compressors is ideal as it can completely isolate the compression chamber and lubricating oil, achieving “Class 0” oil-free air. As a good result, the oil free screw compressor fundamentally eliminates the risk of product contamination, deterioration, and discoloration caused by oil or oil vapor in the compressed air. Moreover, it guarantees product safety, maintains brand reputation, and avoids reputational losses.
2. Significant Cost Saving
Oil-free screw compressors significantly reduce the frequency of replacing oil-gas separator components and oil filters, thereby saving on the cost of purchasing lubricating oil and the work of adding lubricating oil. Furthermore, oil-free screw compressors do not produce oil-containing exhaust gas or waste oil, resulting in a lower failure rate and easier maintenance.
3. Clean & Reliable
Oil-free screw compressors have cleaner piping without oil residue inside, which is very crucial to the dry bulk transport industry as it can greatly reduce pipe blockage and system pressure fluctuations. Furthermore, in environments with significant temperature variations, the oil in oil-lubricated air compressors may emulsify or deteriorate. While oil-free compressors are unaffected by this, which can offer more stable operation and greater adaptability.
4. Environmentally Friendly & Sustainable
Oil-free screw compressors are often a prerequisite for compliance with regulations such as GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) and FDA (Food and Drug Administration). Using oil-free screw compressors can greatly simplify the certification and audit process, and improve the certification pass rate. Therefore, oil-free screw compressors can not only help companies achieve their environmental goals, but also create a “green factory” image, align with ESG principles, and enhance corporate social responsibility.
Applications of oil free screw compressor
I. Dry Bulk Transportation and Discharging
- Flour and grain transport vehicle unloading
- Cement, lime, and fly ash unloading
- PVC, PE, PP, and PET granule pneumatic conveying
- Feed and pharmaceutical powder loading and unloading
II. Food and Beverage Industry
The food industry has very strict air quality requirements, ensuring zero oil content in the air.
- Food processing
- Beverage bottling
- Milk spray drying
- Biscuit, flour, and sugar powder conveying
- Packaging, cleaning, and aeration
III. Pharmaceutical Industry
Pharmaceutical production, capsule blowing, and aseptic packaging must be free of oil contamination.
- Raw material powder conveying
- Tablet packaging and compression
- Air source for aseptic production lines
- Air source for medical equipment
IV. Chemical Industry
Many chemical materials are powders or highly reactive substances. Oil mist can affect purity or cause hazards. Therefore, the oil-free design is necessary.
- Powder conveying
- Pneumatic valve actuation
- Reaction process air source
What’s the oil free screw compressor price? Is it expensive?
The oil-free screw compressor price varies greatly according to different affected factors. Such as supply power, flow rate, brand, configuration, installation fees, packing fees, faxes, and so on. But to be honest, the oil-free screw compressor price is indeed higher than the oil-injected screw compressor price. Based on market data, here I provide a price overview below for reference.
Genrally, the market retail price of oil-free screw air compressors ranges from $3,000 to $10,000. Further breakdown, prices for compressors of various power ratings are as follows:
The low-powered (≤ 15 kW) oil free screw compressor price is generally between $3,000 and $4,500. While the medium-powered (20-80 kW) oil free screw compressor price is usually between $4,500 and $8,000. And for high-powered (≥ 100 kW) oil free screw compressors, the price may be even more than $10,000.
XW Mech oil free screw compressors utilize well-known and high-precision components and have over a decade of manufacturing experience, ensuring high-quality oil free screw compressors. Besides, XW Mech offers oil-free screw compressors ranging from 30kW to 80kW in power, and priced between $4,500 and $7,000. This is enough to meet applications of most industries. Furthermore, the price of XW Mech oil-free screw compressors is at least 20% lower than comparable oil-free screw air compressors. It is an excellent product with a very high cost performance. Below, I will recommend three XW Mech oil-free screw compressors for sale.
To Sum Up
I believe that you may have a deeper understanding of oil free rotary screw air compressors and understand how crucial it is in industrial applications. In short, get an oil free screw compressor is equal to get cleaner air, fewer breakdowns, lower maintenance cost, and higher safety.
If you would like to learn more about air compressors or consult for personalized advice, please visit the XW Mech website “https://xwmech.com/”. We update our blog weekly to share our insights. Feel free to contact us anytime; our professional sales engineers are ready to discuss your needs and may even visit you to help you find the most suitable solution for your operations.




