O’Neill Industrial has successfully delivered, installed, and commissioned a pharmaceutical-grade, oil-free compressed air system at a leading pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in London following a full Factory Acceptance Test (FAT).
The system, which previously underwent a comprehensive FAT at O’Neill Industrial’s Limerick facility, is now fully operational on site, providing a reliable supply of clean, dry, and contamination-free compressed air to support critical manufacturing processes.
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The FAT process is commonly used in regulated industries as it allows customers to validate equipment performance, review documentation, and witness safety and compliance testing in a controlled environment before shipment. This approach has become increasingly important for pharmaceutical manufacturers who rely on clean, stable, contamination-free compressed air to support critical operations. O’Neill Industrial routinely performs such testing for highly regulated clients.
High-Performance Oil-Free Air System
The installed compressed air package includes:
- Three Vortex VFOS15T oil-free compressors
- Donaldson HL-ALD0175 SP desiccant dryer providing a –40°C dewpoint
- Donaldson DF-S0320 and DF-V0320 filtration stages
- PG-EG 0032 sterile filter housings
- Michell EasiDew hygrometer instrumentation
- CMC master controller and flow metering for load management
Scope of the Factory Acceptance Test
The FAT was designed to validate all critical performance, safety, and compliance criteria, including:
- Mechanical and electrical installation checks
- Compressor performance (load/unload at 10 barg / 8 barg)
- Dewpoint performance achieving a contractual –40°C
- Dryer tower switching, condensate removal, and air quality verification
- Functional safety systems (E-stops, shutdown logic, interlocks)
- Power loss recovery and auto-restart behavior
- Redundancy and load-sharing under excess demand
- Completeness of project documentation
Testing followed a structured sequence beginning with documentation review and walkdown, followed by electrical and mechanical verification, operational testing of each component, and final system-wide performance validation.
Installed, Commissioned and Operational
Following delivery to the London facility, O’Neill Industrial completed installation, commissioning, and site acceptance activities. The system is now fully operational and performing in line with specification, delivering:
- Sterile, oil-free, dry compressed air suitable for GMP environments
- Reliable –40°C dewpoint performance
- Fully functional safety systems and interlocks
- Strong redundancy and load-sharing capability
- Compliance with pharmaceutical documentation and quality requirements
This ensures the client has a dependable critical utility in place to support continuous production and regulatory compliance.
Austin O’Neill of O’Neill Industrial commented:
“For pharmaceutical manufacturers, compressed air is a critical utility. Any risk of contamination or downtime carries major operational consequences. By completing a full FAT and following through with careful installation and commissioning, we ensure our clients have complete confidence in system performance from day one of operation.”
