The Next Generation of Oil-Free Compressed Air from Finland
Just Air, No Compromise
Compressed air is essential to modern industry. Yet the way it is produced has largely remained unchanged.
In many “oil-free” compressor designs, oil is still present within the system. It is kept separate from the air stream by seals and components that degrade over time.
At Tamturbo, we took a different approach. We removed oil entirely from the compressor.
This thinking has been at the core of Tamturbo since the beginning. Founded in 2010 in Tampere, Finland, the company was built on a simple insight: the world needs a more environmentally friendly and more efficient way to produce compressed air. We cannot afford to keep wasting our most valuable resources: energy and the environment.
Through unique technological innovation and smart engineering, we created a new generation of oil-free air compressors. Combined with our Touch-Free™ technology, this means no oil, no contact and no wear in the core components.
The result is not only truly oil-free compressed air, but a fundamentally more reliable and efficient way to produce it. It delivers stable performance, minimal maintenance and a clearly lower total life cycle cost.
From Tampere to the World
Born in Tampere, Finland – one of the air compressor capitals of the world – Tamturbo is now expanding globally through a growing network of distributors and partners. Our turbo compressor portfolio is complemented by a full range of value-adding products and services for efficient compressed air management.
From mobile, container-based compressor rooms to multi-compressor control systems, 24/7 remote monitoring and comprehensive service, we make sure our partners and customers can stay Care-Free, knowing their compressed air supply is secure, efficient and clean.
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Tamturbo’s roots lie deep in the Tampere region
Since the 1960s, the Tampere region has been the birthplace of several air-compressor innovations – many of them involving Kimmo Laine, a grand old man of air-compressor technology and co-founder of Tamturbo. Together with Jaakko Säiläkivi, a world-renowned high-speed-technology expert, they shared a vision of an oil-free future, and founded Tamturbo in 2010 to make it real.
That heritage – decades of compressor engineering combined with high-speed and magnetic-bearing know-how – is why Tamturbo’s award-winning turbo technology performs in the world’s most demanding plants.
The technology, in brief
A Tamturbo compressor is a direct-driven, high-speed turbo (centrifugal) machine. Titanium impellers run on permanent-magnet motors with Touch-Free™ active magnetic bearings, so the rotor levitates and spins with no contact – no oil, no gearbox and no belts anywhere in the air path. The result:
- 100% oil-free, ISO 8573-1 Class 0 air by design– zero oil in the machine, zero contamination risk, no oil-removal filter bank to degrade.
- Lasting efficiency – up to ~20% more efficient than traditional compressors, with no efficiency loss as the machine ages.
- Lowest lifetime cost – typically 20-30% lower total cost of ownership, driven by energy and maintenance savings (source: Tamturbo).
- Heat recovery – up to ~90% of input energy reclaimed as hot water up to 90 C (194 F).
- Reliability – >99% availability, 2-3 year service intervals, 24/7 real-time remote monitoring.
- Your choice – five models (TT145-TT325, 145-325 kW / 195-435 hp) or compressed air as a service.
Active Magnetic Bearings (AMB) – history and new beginnings
The concept of active magnetic bearings (AMB) was developed in the 1930s, and one of its first applications was in uranium-enrichment centrifuges in the 1940s; the first commercial applications launched in 1976. Today the technology is found in Maglev (magnetic levitation) trains, submarines, space shuttles and hundreds of thousands of other applications.
In this elegantly simple technology, control is everything – and Tamturbo’s control know-how is what makes active magnetic bearings the core element of Tamturbo® Touch-Free™ technology.
Oil-free by design vs oil-free by filtration
The term “oil-free” does not always mean what it suggests.
Most conventional oil-free screw compressors still contain
around 60 litres of oil internally — circulating through gears, bearings and seals, and managed through filters and demisters.
Reaching Class 0 at the outlet relies on a chain of downstream oil-removal components that degrade over time, require replacement, and can be bypassed.
As these elements wear, the risk of oil carryover increases — and used oil and filters must be handled as hazardous waste.
A Tamturbo Touch-Free turbo has zero litres of oil in the machine.
The rotor runs on magnetic bearings — nothing to lubricate, nothing to leak. No filter banks, no oil handling, no consumable risk.
ISO 8573-1 Class 0 air is built into the architecture, not dependent on filtration.
- ~60 L oil inside a typical “oil-free” screw
- 0 L oil in a Tamturbo Touch-Free turbo
- ≈40–60 L/year oil and filter waste eliminated per unit
Source: Tamturbo. Conventional oil-free rotary screw compressors; exact oil volume varies by manufacturer and frame size.
A measurable sustainability impact
With no oil in the machine, each Tamturbo installation eliminates roughly
40–60 litres of oil and filter waste per year that would otherwise be generated.
Across a global installed base of more than 100 compressors, this results in thousands of litres of oil avoided annually — increasing with every new installation.
In addition, heat recovery (up to ~90% of input energy) offsets purchased energy for heating.
These savings are directly measurable in kilowatt-hours and can be reported using standard frameworks such as CSRD/ESRS E1 and ISO 50001.
Customers do not need assumptions — they can report verified figures: measured energy recovered and litres of oil eliminated.
Oil-Free, Worry-Free: 100% Clean Air with Tamturbo® Touch-Free™ Compressors
The high-speed turbo compressors produce oil-free compressed air, and, uniquely, the entire compressor is fully oil-free. There is no risk of contaminating the compressed air, and the Tamturbo turbo compressor technology makes it possible to give up on oil altogether. Our customers do not need to worry about oil in compressed air contaminating their end products or the air their employees breathe. They can also forget about oil changes, handling oily condensation water or disposing of waste oil.
Learn more what our customers have achieved with Tamturbo® Touch-Free™ air compressor Technology.
Global reach, local presence
From its Finnish headquarters, Tamturbo has expanded globally through a growing network of authorised, factory-trained distributors and service partners.
In the United States, Tamturbo Inc. serves customers across the Americas, delivering the same Touch-Free technology, Care-Free service model, and 24/7 remote monitoring used by customers in Europe.
Tamturbo is privately held by a broad base of approximately 1,500 shareholders — a community aligned around oil-free, energy-efficient compressed air.
The team brings over 100 years of combined experience in the compressed air industry, and the company has been recognised by Sitra, the Finnish Innovation Fund, as one of Finland’s notable circular economy companies.
Investors
Tamturbo provides regular and transparent reporting to its shareholders. Financial statements, strategy updates, market insights, and governance information are available on the investor site:
investors.tamturbo.com.
