Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, a city and the administrative, industrial, scientific, and cultural center of Kamchatka Krai in the far east of Russia, is home to a unique Compressed Natural Gas filling station. The intense cold for much of the year is hard on equipment and planning, and the absence of a natural gas grid connection delayed commissioning.
Five years ago, Bauer Kompressoren was invited to tender for a Russian natural gas fuelling station program; the turnkey project involved the construction of several high-performance gas fuelling stations in Siberia, with Petropavlovsk as the most easterly location. After completion of installation and handover, the station had to wait to be placed into operation until it could be connected to the existing natural gas grid.
The station is now operational, following work by Bauer’s maintenance and installation year during the onset of the Siberian winter. “The team faced tough challenges, with almost two metres of fresh snow and sub-zero temperatures in the double digits; most of the station was under a heavy blanket of snow, which had to be cleared before work could start.”
Bauer says that to protect the installed equipment in the interim, the piping was filled with nitrogen as a forming gas and placed under low pressure. “Despite the extreme fluctuations in temperature and the years of inactivity, pressure levels had remained stable. A great demonstration of BAUER quality!,” states the press release.
The station supplies CNG for local truck fleets.
Source: Bauer Kompressoren
