New in Gas Processing Technology

Honeywell offers monitoring system for gas metering

Honeywell Process Solutions (HPS) has launched a new gas metering solution that provides easy-to-use health monitoring of midstream metering systems for operations, maintenance and leadership teams. Honeywell Connected Plant Measurement IQ for Gas enhances the metering operation’s reliability and safety while cutting costs by reducing the need for site visits.

With advanced diagnostics, at-a-glance dashboards and intelligence analytics, Measurement IQ enables operators to increase metering reliability in the face of skills shortages, dispersed operations and a complex hydrocarbon mix. Users can detect and correct costly mismeasurement, anticipate equipment failure, reduce gas losses and eliminate unnecessary maintenance.

Measurement IQ connects assets across all enterprise metering stations and captures the data in Honeywell’s secure data center. Users can connect on any device with a web browser and receive customizable alerts on their mobile phone with Honeywell’s Experion App.

The Connected Plant solution monitors for significant changes in the flowmeter, as well as the process and environment in which it operates. It anticipates problems and enables users to move from time-based or risk-based recalibration of meters to condition-based monitoring with calibrations only when required. Historical diagnostic data can be used as a basis to extend calibration intervals specified by regulatory authorities. Customers can save an estimated $50,000/yr if recalibration intervals are extended from 1 yr to 2 yr.

Cryogenic N₂ removal for landfill biogas project

BCCK Holding Co. (BCCK) will provide its Nitech cryogenic nitrogen removal process as
part of a complete, high-Btu gas cleaning system for a landfill gas-to-energy plant in Washington state.

Klickitat Public Utility District (PUD) selected BCCK’s Nitech technology to perform a key role in transforming landfill gas into nearly 100% pure renewable natural gas at the H.W. Hill Landfill Gas to Energy plant, located at the Roosevelt Regional Landfill in Klickitat County.

According to BCCK, landfill-derived renewable natural gas has the lowest full-cycle CO₂ emissions of all transportation fuels, including emissions attributed to electric vehicles. The Klickitat Nitech nitrogen Removal Unit (NRU) will be used to remove nitrogen from methane gas collected from the landfill. BCCK will provide a dehydration system in front of the Nitech NRU to dehydrate from the upstream solvent process. The Nitech NRU will process 7.2 MMsft³d of gas and will recover 99.5% of the methane. 

New catalyst line for reciprocating engine emission control

MIRATECH has launched a new line of catalyst products for controlling emissions from natural gas engines. These catalysts control CO, VOCs and formaldehyde emissions from lean-burn four-stroke natural gas engines, and NO_X, CO, VOCs and formaldehyde emissions from rich-burn four-stroke natural gas engines.

Gas engines play a prominent role in the oil and gas industry and the power generation sector throughout the US and around the world. These emission catalysts will assure engine owners regulatory compliance over long service intervals.

The catalyst products were developed as an outgrowth of MIRATECH’s acquisition of EmeraChem LLC—an OEM catalyst developer and manufacturer with 25 yr of experience—forming the brand name “MeC.” MIRATECH is offering two grades of oxidation catalyst and two grades of three-way catalyst to suit customers’ performance and budget requirements. The standard MeC catalyst line carries a 1-yr performance warranty. MIRATECH’s MeC-B catalyst line (“B” for “BEAST”) has the durability to carry a full 3-yr performance warranty.

Previously, MIRATECH’s engine emissions control systems incorporated catalysts specified by MIRATECH engineers and manufactured by other companies. Some of these catalysts incorporated special features, such as the Vortex and the NEXT substrates, the latter of which induced turbulence and mixing as the exhaust passed through the catalyst. This internal mixing increased catalytic performance.

Meanwhile, EmeraChem developed catalyst products that focused on nano surface technologies and precious metal formulations. EmeraChem’s catalyst achieved similar catalytic performance but created less backpressure for the engine—a benefit for the engine operator. Following the acquisition, engineers and scientists at MIRATECH and EmeraChem collaborated on the development of the MeC catalyst design. The MeC catalyst takes the best of all the legacy products and introduces the next generation.

The MeC catalysts are built on a complex turbulent substrate—a geometry that increases surface area and catalytic performance without increasing backpressure. The ceramic coatings provide durability and high surface area with special additives for high-temperature operation. The precious metal formulations are robust, durable and regenerable using MIRATECH’s chemical wash process. Substrate layers are mechanically locked together for strength, then diffusion-bonded for rigidity. On the round substrates, layers are also welded together to prevent separation and gaps, even after thousands of hours of thermal expansion and contraction and engine pulsations.

Delivery of Wärtsilä power plant will alleviate Myanmar electricity shortage

The technology group Wärtsilä has been selected to provide the generating equipment for a new gas-fired power plant needed to alleviate the shortage of electricity in Myanmar.The power plant will operate on eight Wärtsilä 50SG gas-fueled engines, and the electricity generated will be fed into the national grid. The 145-MW plant is scheduled to be operational during the first quarter of 2019. Wärtsilä’s capabilities to meet the demanding delivery requirements, and the flexibility of its engines, were cited as key factors in the award of the contract.

The Wärtsilä order has been issued by SEPCOIII Electric Power Construction Co. Ltd., the China-based EPC contractor for the project and one of the major international power construction companies. The order was booked in 2Q 2018.This is the first Wärtsilä Energy Solutions contract in Myanmar. It will be located in Kyaukse township, Mandalay region. Wärtsilä supported the two project sponsors for the project, National Infrastructure Holding Co. Ltd. and Myanmar Chemical and Machinery Co. Ltd.

Industry’s first integrated fixed flow regulator/cylinder

Gasco recently introduced ez-cal, the industry’s first integrated regulator and cylinder. The new ez-cal unit combines both the cylinder and regulator in a single product to ensure safety, simplicity and efficiency for the end user.

The company’s newest innovation signifies a departure from traditional products, offering a unique approach that integrates the regulator and cylinder in a single unit. Users do not need to worry about attaching, removing or misplacing a regulator, which ensures that gases are properly calibrated every time.

With ez-cal, Gasco is furthering its commitment to innovation, safety and sustainability in the workplace. The new offering saves time and gas, and eliminates the possibility of self- and cross-contamination.

Innovative reed valve module and assembly

Zahroof Valves Inc. (ZVI) announced that the company’s Reed Valve Module and Valve Assembly have been granted US Patent No. 9,989,161, marking a major milestone for the company. The latest patent adds to a portfolio of intellectual property of products that are changing the way oil and gas companies operate. ZVI now has 43 patents granted and several pending on nine different technologies in 31 different countries.

Since the release of ZVI’s modular reed valve technology encapsulated in its flagship StraightFlo Valve, 32 related patents have been granted around the world in countries as diverse as Australia, Great Britain, China, Mexico, New Zealand, Russia and Turkey. Additional patents on the technology are pending in Canada, South America and Southeast Asia.

The StraightFlo Valve is a reed check valve that is unique in that the valve assembly is made up of replaceable reed valve modules. These modules are designed so that the gas flows essentially in a straight line through a valve, with very little deviation, resulting in very low losses in the valve. The valve brings the benefits of improved efficiency, reduced maintenance, better return on investment and reduced greenhouse gas emissions.

All the wear components are in the module. Therefore, servicing a valve consists of simply replacing a bad module within the valve with a new one. The technology eliminates the need to machine any parts during service. Replacement of a module within a valve is done manually, and does not require special tools. The modules are interchangeable, with a limited number of modules required to service all reciprocating compressor applications, thereby reducing valve inventory at a site by as much as 80%.

The design of the reed valve modules makes it more tolerant to liquids and solid particles in the gas stream, resulting in lifetimes as much as 5–10 times that of conventional valves in difficult applications, such as gas production. Improvement in reliability and the mean time between shutdown of the compressor due to valve issues minimizes production losses from downtime, and also greatly reduces emissions.

The improvement in efficiency due to the straight flow of gas through the valve, along with the innovative configuration of the modules in valve designs, greatly increase the effective flow area, resulting in improvement of efficiency or reduction in power by as much as 25%, depending on the application. The power saved can be used to increase flow through the same compressor by as much as 25%. The design also results in lower noise and vibration levels.