What is a natural gas booster compressor?

What is a natural gas booster compressor?

Natural gas booster compressor is a special piston-type equipment designed for natural gas transportation, gas storage and peak regulation, and gas filling station pressurization. It is mainly used to boost low-pressure natural gas to a medium-high pressure state that meets the requirements of pipeline network or filling. It is a common core booster equipment in urban gas, oil and gas fields, CNG filling stations and other links.

Core special requirements include:

Special seal design for medium: natural gas may contain methane, a small amount of sulfide and light hydrocarbons, and the inlet and outlet valves, piston rings and stuffing boxes of the compressor should be made of hydrocarbon-resistant and corrosion-resistant sealing materials to prevent medium leakage and swelling and aging of seals;

Explosion-proof and anti-static configuration: the electrical system of the whole machine should meet the explosion-proof requirements, and the motor, control cabinet and sensor should adopt explosion-proof or intrinsically safe structure, and the pipeline and fuselage should be reliably grounded to avoid the danger caused by electrostatic accumulation;

Multi-stage compression and cooling control: natural gas pressurization often adopts multi-stage piston compression structure, and an independent cooler is set after each stage of compression to control the exhaust temperature to avoid the change of medium properties or the failure of seals caused by high temperature;

Leakage monitoring and safe venting: the equipment should be equipped with combustible gas detection, pressure monitoring, over-temperature and over-pressure protection and emergency venting system, which can alarm, stop or release pressure in time in case of leakage or abnormal working conditions;

Gas pretreatment requirements: The gas inlet usually needs to be equipped with filtration, separation and pressure regulating devices to reduce the influence of impurities, condensate and pressure fluctuation on the operation of the main engine and prolong the life of vulnerable parts such as valve plates and piston rings.

Summary: The core advantage of natural gas booster compressor is that it can stably realize medium and high pressure natural gas pressurization, and adapt to the scenarios of pipeline network transportation, gas storage and peak regulation, and gas filling station filling. However, due to the flammable and explosive medium, the equipment has higher requirements for explosion prevention, sealing, leakage monitoring and safety interlock, and the standard of initial investment and daily maintenance is higher than that of ordinary air compressors.