Industrial Utility Efficiency

Oil & Gas

Danmar Industries Custom Engineers for Oil and Gas

By Troy Dreier, Senior Editor, Compressed Air Best Practices® Magazine

The items included three 550 horsepower (hp), oil-flooded, water-cooled, single-stage air compressors with inlet valve modulation capable of providing 1,540 scfm at 165 psi (11.4 bar), two heatless desiccant, 3,138 cfm, 165 psi (11.4 bar) compressed air dryers, and two nitrogen generators for the main station, as well as two smaller air compressors and heatless desiccant compressed air dryers for each of three smaller facilities. Air compressor packages typically meet API 619, but the customer did not request that in this case. The motors, however, need to meet API 547. Air compressor system piping needed to be carbon steel built to ASME B31.3. 

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The Challenges of Auditing Compressed Air in Chemical and Petrochemical Plants

By Paul Edwards, President, Compressed Air Consultants, Inc.

Compressed air audits for chemical and petrochemical plants have many characteristics in common with audits in other industries, but there are some differences in the way these businesses run that impact the goals of the typical audit and how that audit is conducted. In chemical and petrochemical facilities, the reason for auditing the demand side is different than that of other industries. Additionally, there are frequently applications with opportunities for improvement that are not always seen in other industries.  
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Xebec Membrane/PSA Hybrid Systems for Biogas

By Rod Smith, Compressed Air Best Practices® Magazine. Compressed Air Best Practices® Magazine spoke with Xebec Inc. President, Mr. Kurt Sorschak.

In rural China, approximately 30 million households receive cooking fuel from super-small anaerobic underground digesters? China is just starting to look at industrial biogas upgrading in a serious manner. The market is in its’ infancy but we believe in five years it will be the biggest biogas market in the world. Incineration is not popular as it requires a lot of energy. Here we have many manure-based issues. Soil and water contamination in densely populated areas can lead towards anaerobic digester projects. Today there are very few projects although we are doing one right now in northern China.
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From Dehumidification to Siloxane: Parker Biogas Purification - The Importance of Removing Contaminants from Biogas

By Parker Hiross Zander Filtration Division

Biogas is an extremely valuable energy source. Originating from biomass, sewage, plants and landfill sites, it is gaining ever-increasing worldwide recognition as a premium source of renewable energy. It is also making a major contribution to the global energy supply mix by replacing existing fossil-fuel sources such as coal, oil and conventional natural gas.
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Sullair of Houston Provides Air Compressor Solutions for Extreme Environments

By Neal Lorenzi

Sullair of Houston, one of the largest North American distributors of Sullair industrial and portable diesel compressors, loves a challenge. The company designs customized air compressor packages that fit the rough and rugged world outside the walls of an industrial plant. It builds air compressor solutions that operate efficiently in extreme, harsh environments around the globe. This includes offshore or marine environments, high or low ambient conditions—any environment where a standard air compressor will not operate safely or efficiently.
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Natural Gas Deliquescent Dehydrator Applications

Compressed Air Best Practices® Magazine interviewed Tyler Currie, Vice President Business Development, Van Air Systems and Van Gas Technologies.

Triethylene glycol (TEG) dehydrators are the most prevalent technology for removing water vapor from natural gas . Molecular sieve dryers are also quite common in gas processing plants. Molecular sieve units have operating processes similar to industrial heat-regenerated compressed air dryers. Natural gas, however, often needs to be purified at the wellhead before reaching the processing plant. Deliquescent dehydrators are normally used, in remote locations where no power supply exists, to dry small gas volumes located between the wellhead and these main treatment plants. The most common applications are instrument gas, fuel gas, sales gas, and emissions mitigation.
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Natural Gas Dehydration and Conditioning for NGV Refueling and Field Gas Upgrading

By Kurt Sorschak (President and CEO) and Guy Couturier (Applications Manager) from Xebec Adsorption, Inc.

Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) is an alternative fuel source (to diesel and gasoline) with far-reaching benefits to North America. Strategically important benefits include energy independence, improved air quality, job creation, and lower and more stable fuel prices. This article discusses natural gas desiccant dryer requirements in Natural Gas Vehicle (NGV) refueling stations, compares deliquescent to desiccant dryers and reviews two on-site field gas upgrading examples in displacing diesel fuel.
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Universal Air & Gas Products Engineers NGV Refueling Stations

Compressed Air Best Practices® Magazine interviewed Kurt Kondas (President), Steve Davis (VP Sales), and John Haslam (Branch Manager - Charlotte) from Universal Air & Gas Products Corporation.

When a submarine docks for maintenance, the Navy requires a high-pressure, dockside, pier-power air compressor ready to be used in an explosion-proof environment. We have technicians working on military ships and submarines worldwide. For this, both UAPC and some of our technicians have been prequalified and have different secrecy clearances depending upon the project. In addition to our rental air compressors, we also have a fleet of CNG compressors available for long-term rent for the CNG refueling market.
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The Evolution of Biomass Compressors

By Robert A. Sturdy, CLS

When the Environmental Protection Agency was formed, in1970, it used its congressional mandate to issue all sorts of regulations regarding the discharge of contaminants into the land, water and air of this country. Over the years, air pollution has been one of the key areas where the Agency has put in place stringent requirements to control the emission of VOCs or Volatile Organic Compounds. Today the mandates of this government agency require extensive steps be taken to curtail their release by all operators of tank farms, chemical plants, refineries, fermentation plants and landfill operations. As a result of these regulations the Bio-Mass utilization industry was born.
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Centrifugal Compressors and HOC Dryers Reduce Energy Costs by $2.8 Million

By Hank Van Ormer, Air Power USA

This chemical plant spent an estimated \$3,153,022 annually on energy (steam and electricity) to operate the compressed air system at their facility. The plant staff established their energy costs as 5.3 cents per kWh and \$9.00 /1,000 lbs of steam per hour. The set of projects implemented in this system assessment reduced energy costs by an estimated \$2,794,598 or 88% of current use. In addition, these projects reduce demand on the boiler systems and add reliability and back-up to the compressed air system.
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Open-Minded System Assessments Part 1. Petrochemical Plant Optimizes Centrifugal Compressors

By Paul Edwards, Compressed Air Consultants

Keeping an open mind is critical in all system assessments. Each client has different priorities and circumstances. In this case, the elimination of the “close-scrapes” with insufficient pressure was the priority. The energy and rental/maintenance savings realized were just an added bonus. In this article, we have focused on the supply-side of the system and how the centrifugal compressors could be made to supply the system reliably – without the need for rental air compressors.
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