USA, Texas
Compressed Natural Gas Refueling Systems Use Revolutionary Ionic Liquid Pistons
Flowserve Corp. a provider of flow control products and services for global infrastructure markets, has entered into a joint venture (JV) agreement with gas and engineering company The Linde Group, to commercialize and deploy iKompressorTM natural gas and biogas refueling systems. Called Flowserve Compression Systems GmbH, the joint venture plans to deliver at least 70 iKompressor refueling systems by 2009 to Germany, Austria, and neighboring European Union (EU) countries. The iKompressor systems are designed to reduce energy costs by up to 20 percent at low-inlet pressures, substantially reduce maintenance costs, and deliver high system reliability.
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“The joint venture between Flowserve and The Linde Group demonstrates our continued engineering and manufacturing leadership as well as our focus on technology growth opportunities,” said Lewis Kling, Flowserve President and Chief Executive Officer. “In addition, delivering safe, cost-efficient and environmentally friendly natural gas refueling systems to EU countries signifies our commitment to environmental sustainability.”
Flowserve says that iKompressor’s ionic compressor represents a significant leap in technology for multistage gas compression technology. The iKompressor’s breakthrough design includes two ground-breaking concepts: the use of innovative and proprietary ionic liquid as a liquid piston instead of a conventional fixed metal piston, and efficient gas compression at near isothermal conditions.
“Combining Linde’s pioneering technology with leading engineering, manufacturing and service from Flowserve should revolutionize how compressed gas is delivered to consumers driving natural-gas vehicles,” said Tom Ferguson, President of Flowserve Pump Division. “The Flowserve service and support network is prepared to provide the world’s most sophisticated compression technology, at the lowest total cost of ownership.”
“The demand for alternative fuels continues to increase. In order to meet customer needs, the iKompressor is designed to deliver the critical element to deliver reliable, safe service at compressed natural gas and biogas refueling systems,” said Dr Aldo Belloni, a member of the Executive Board of Linde AG and responsible for the European business and global engineering operations. “We are glad to team up with Flowserve in this promising joint venture and bring in our longtime technology expertise in the further development and environmentally friendly use of both fossil and alternative fuels. This joint venture is another example how Linde technology contributes to preserve our environment and to boost alternative fuels.”
The joint venture will be headquartered adjacent to Flowserve (Austria) GmbH manufacturing facilities in Brunn am Gebirge, a suburb of Vienna, Austria. As part of the arrangement, Linde will supply the technology, ionic liquid, and ongoing applied research and development.
In addition to manufacturing the iKompressor refueling systems, Flowserve plans to service the iKompressors through its “Technology Advantage” program, designed to help reduce lifecycle costs, increase equipment life, and maximize reliability.
iKompressor’s Revolutionary Design
Instead of using fixed-piston compression technology, the iKompressor replaces metal pistons with liquid. Use of liquid in place of solid pistons significantly reduces the number of moving parts and frictional losses contributing to energy efficiency and low wear and tear. Station owners, as a result, can experience at least a ten-fold increase in maintenance intervals — 10,000 hours between scheduled maintenance versus 1,000 hours for conventional designs.
Further, the gas compression is performed at constant temperature using a water-cooled jacket around the compression cylinders. Gas compression at constant temperature or isothermal is the most efficient thermodynamic compression cycle possible. Conventional reciprocating compressors operate on the efficient nearly isentropic compression cycle. This combined effect results is designed to use up to 20 percent less energy consumption at low-inlet pressure.
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