Atlas Copco's portable air compressor delivers assured performance at Navi Mumbai Intl' Airport

Atlas Copco's XAV216 portable air compressor, deployed by Thakur Infra Projects for quarrying operation at the prestigious under-construction greenfield Navi Mumbai International Airport, is being built at Ulwe Kopar-Panvel in Maharashtra.

The new airport area does not have regular quarry elevations as the entire area is over 90 meters from the ground level. This entails a huge amount of drilling and blasting, where levelling from over 90 meters to 8 meters is a daunting task. This cleaning up of the hill required a portable air compressor which could be optimized for drilling and sizing.

Thakur Infra Projects Pvt. Ltd., a renowned infrastructure development contractor in Maharashtra, with expertise in soil reclamation, building concrete roads, asphalting and crushing, is undertaking the embankment work for the Navi Mumbai airport project, for which it is using Atlas Copco's XAV216 portable air compressor.

Comments Anand Lal, General Manager, Thakur Infra Projects, "The XAV216 proved to be the best fit with a suitable drill combination. A trial with Atlas Copco's 450 cfm / 200 psi compressor, resulted in an immediate increase in pressure from 10 bar to 14 bars. The penetration rate which was at 8 m/hour earlier, has now doubled to 16 m/hour. Further, if we compare diesel consumption with other make of compressors, it was @ 2.25 litres/meter and now with Atlas Copco XAV216 compressor, it has reduced to 1.25 litre/meter, thereby, demonstrating a decrease of 44% in diesel consumption per meter of drilling."

Following the successful trial, Thakur Infra Projects not only purchased the XAV216 portable diesel compressor but gave repeat orders. A fleet of four compressors are now deployed by the contractor in the Navi Mumbai airport project as well as in stone quarrying projects in Panvel.

Atlas Copco's XAV216 portable air compressor has proved to be the right choice for a project that demands high productivity within a tight schedule. Despite the difficult terrain and a large area of approx. 1,160 hectares (11.6 sq km), the easy maneuverability of the XAV216 portable air compressor ensured movement as per the requirement. Says Anand Lal, "This is a very good compressor which saves diesel, enhances productivity, has good after sales service, and is a great replacement of our earlier compressor."