Screw Compressors – Process Gases

Oil-flooded screw compressors are widely used for compressing process gases and industrial refrigerants. This is due to their high compression ratio, compactness, low CAPEX, ability to take low inlet pressures, flexibility in operating conditions etc.

However, it is worth to make a Process – Equipment – Optimization (PEO) study of the interactions between compression, lubrication, running conditions and gas compositions (sweet, acid, sour, hydrogen-rich, contaminations etc.) to avoid or rectify early rolling bearing failures. A short review can make a unit move from being a bad actor to become an extremely reliable one.

The staff of Kahlman Technology has, originally, developed the method (see reference 2013-1) used for the review. It use methods, standards and research from GPSA, NACE/ISO and NIST combined with the personal experiences from a variety of different installations.