I have been looking at finding a rental gas compressor for my customer so they can test out the concept before they spend the money on a large new one. I located a company in the Natural Gas Industry that has a large compressor available for a short term rental who is able to set up system for use with hydrocarbons. I am wondering if the unit below is too big or would it be able to be used for vapor gas recovery.
The unit that We are looking at is a 125 HP Electric drive with in a building:
· One Gemini H302 two throw, two / single stage natural gas compressor unit.
· STAGE 2: One (1) 5.50” x 3.00” stroke cylinder rated at 1000 psig
· One WEG electric motor rated 125 bhp @ 1800 rpm.
· Air-X model 48 VCI induced draft cooler assembly
· Allen Bradley MicroLogix control panel c/w
Auto suction: included
Auto bypass: included
Fire loop: included
Building Exhaust Fan: included
Building Lighting: included
Gas Detection: included
Cooler Auto Louvers: included
If using butane it’s fine if the gas doesn’t get contaminated by the oil in the compressor
You will have to match that 100 plus horsepower compressor with alot of surface area to keep up.
You will need a man sized plate and frame heat exchanger on the heating and cooling side of the system and a ton of headspace with demisters to keep liquid out of the compressor.
With that much compression you should run your refrigeration with your hydrocarbon solvent via r600 exv’s which will give you plenty of cooling power down to -40f.
Your going to need a large steam boiler and a water tower to match the horsepower of your compressor.
If your not trying to extract more than a 1000lbs a day you don’t need a compressor nearly that big, it’s quite possible you don’t need a compressor at all.
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We are already doing over 1000lbs a day (100#/hr) using a 30hp compressor with our Behemoth R600 system… this would run a factory of 1000lb / day units.
It is likely not an oil-less compressor and the gas feed-stock will get contaminated during operation. If it was used with mercaptans then its contaminated for life.
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Blackmer compressors are oiled at the crankcase but have three seals between the crank and the piston.
Corken, Blackmer, and hycomp all have cranks that are oiled but top ends that are oilless. These are not “oilless” compressors but have oilless compression.
More systems should invest in a industrial compressor and make use of the refrigerant that they use as a solvent. You can reduce your auxiliary cooling to just a cooling tower but still reach cryo temperatures without any additional compressors.
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We are already there. Our systems use propane to heat, cool, and extract.
Released the first version a couple years ago.
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What are the highest and lowest pressure zones created in the system? @Zack_illuminated
Do you use an exv in your system?
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Currently no we do not, however, we are looking to automate our system and may consider using one then. Our process is a little different than the traditional refrigeration method and an expansion valve is not required for operation, standard valves work just fine.