A method and system for the treatment of air, in particular for pneumatic brake systems of utility vehicles, is described. The method includes feeding compressed air to a compressed air storage tank through an air dryer, initiating a regeneration of the air dryer using regeneration air from the compressed air storage tank through the air dryer and discharged via a discharge valve, and calculating a theoretically required regeneration air quantity QReg,th. If a presence of condensate is not detected in a region downstream of the air dryer, a regeneration using the theoretically required regeneration air quantity QReg,th, is carried out. If the presence of condensate is detected, a regeneration is carried out using a corrected required regeneration air quantity QReg,corr, the corrected required regeneration air quantity QReg,corr being greater than the theoretically required regeneration air quantity QReg,th.