GreenFlow 1000

GreenFlow 1000

from an idea to cleaner gas transfer

The environment, energy savings and a smaller emission footprint are, without question, what drives business today.

In the gas industry, larger companies in particular are gradually changing how they think about their own operations, so that those operations stop harming the environment.

Even so, natural gas is still routinely vented into the air when gas networks are shut down, adding to greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Growing demand for a cleaner alternative to the traditional procedure convinced us last year that the time had come to bring our mobile natural gas transfer compressor to the domestic market. Developing our first mobile natural gas compressor, designated GreenFlow 1000, took two years. Building it drew on all the know-how our company has gathered over 33 years in the energy sector.

Together with our partners we developed an autonomous natural gas transfer system that, if something unexpected goes wrong during transfer, closes itself down, depressurises and safely shuts off the whole unit, including the customer's suction and discharge pipework. At its core is a 110 kW piston compressor with three air-cooled compression stages. Natural gas enters the unit through thirty-metre pressure hoses, connected to the distribution network through manifolds with remotely operated valves on pneumatic actuators. The gas then passes through a filter and separator that removes any dirt, dust and moisture from the customer's gas. It is then compressed to an outlet pressure set by the distribution network, up to a maximum of 30 bar. The compressed gas passes through outlet moisture separators and a metering run with an ultrasonic flow meter into the outlet pressure hoses, which feed it continuously back into the gas distribution network under full operation and pressure.

Peak compressor output is up to 1600 Nm³/h of natural gas, which corresponds to a usable output of roughly 16.9 MW.

Our unit can draw natural gas out of a pipeline being taken out of service down to a residual pressure of about 1 bar, depending on ambient temperature. Compression raises the temperature of the gas, and at the customer's request it has to be cooled to an outlet temperature of no more than 50 °C before it enters the distribution network. Two large 4.5 kW axial fans handle that, drawing ambient air across the compressor and the air cooler.

The compressor runs fully autonomously and can be controlled remotely from a portable operator panel. Every action and intervention is handled by software written specifically for the job, which continuously watches pressures and temperatures on both suction and discharge, along with the health of the whole system. The operator can follow both live transfer figures and a chronological record, as a graph or a table.

Safety is covered by electrical protection systems monitoring all operating parameters and natural gas concentrations around the compressor, and by mechanical safety elements — relief valves, blow-off pipework and pneumatically operated valves that close automatically on loss of power.

Mobility and a small footprint were among the key parameters of the project from the moment we started designing the concept.

The compact size of the whole assembly, mounted on a 4×4 truck chassis, gives us access even to difficult and poorly accessible terrain. Developing this technology was, in a sense, a turning point for our company. From the first idea through to assembling and testing the finished unit, we worked across the whole company with everything we had — and came away with fresh motivation for more environmentally focused projects.

Ing. Tomáš Mazák, Ing. Michal Homola