We offer a full range of highly reliable oil free piston compressors for technical gases and specifically for oxygen. Our oxygen compressors are designed and manufactured according to EIGA and API 618 standards, in vertical compressor configuration, with proven contact-ring technology, for final discharge pressure above 70 bar and flow exceeding 20,000 Nm3/h, with oxygen purity 90% or greater and with max 10 ppm water on volume basis.
Oxygen is nowadays used on a large scale for industrial purposes, among others in the chemical industry, for modern metallurgical processes as well as for autogenous technologies, but also for space exploration and military objects.
We have a wide expertise as well as robust and well proven design for oxygen compressors.
Our contact ring sealing elements ensure lower leakage at piston rod packing and consequently higher efficiency compared to labyrinth type solution.
Selection of both metallic and non-metallic materials for compressor parts getting into contact with oxygen is a key factor for ensuring safe and reliable operation of the compressor and its auxiliaries. Copper, brass and bronze are typically used for bare compressor parts, because of their good oxygen compatibility, no-inclination or low inclination to burn-out. Non-metallic materials mainly for piston and guide rings as well as sealing elements for piston rod packings are BAM certified.
Complete compressor packages are designed with special features in regards to safety, in compliance with EIGA IGC Doc. 10. Among other requirements, upstream the gas entry into the compressor, a specifically designed suction screen is provided to keep fire-causing dirt particles off the compressor. Compressor packages are equipped with pulsation dampeners on suction and discharge side of each stage, in order not to initiate any vibration damage by gas pulsation. All the system is fully cleaned for oxygen service before delivery to site.
With more and more green hydrogen via electrolysis coming into the market also the local compression of oxygen as a byproduct of the electrolysis is a developing market. Our integrated solution approach of supplying both the electrolyzer and the compression system for hydrogen and oxygen is a perfect basis for delivering highly efficient systems.
In laboratories and test facilities, machines and plants are often required that are adapted to these requirements in terms of size. We therefore offer compressors as well as mills and classifier systems that meet this profile. Due to many years of experience in this field of application, our compressors, grinding and classifying systems are in use in numerous laboratories and test plants worldwide.
On the way to significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions, hydrogen is increasingly being used in the manufacturing industry. One example is the steel industry. When green hydrogen and oxygen from electrolysis are combined with electric smelters and furnaces powered by electricity from renewable energy sources, this results in a carbon-neutral process. Large electrolysis plants are therefore needed in Germany. One energy supplier is planning to build a 100 MW electrolyzer. A steel mill wants to build a plant with a capacity of up to 24 MW in cooperation with an energy supplier. Hydrogen compressors are essential in this process. We have a wide range of piston and diaphragm compressors which, in addition to their high efficiency, are an essential component for the use of hydrogen in the steel industry.
We offer a wide range of piston compressors for technical gases like oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen produced through Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA), in vertical, horizontal and V-shape configuration, mainly dry-running, designed and manufactured according to API 618 or manufacturer standards.
We provide fully integrated N2 compression packages for compressing or boosting nitrogen downstream of PSA generators. Specific material selection allows our compressors to handle dry-bone Nitrogen, assuring reliable low-maintenance operation. Discharge pressure can be up to 300 bar and more. Number of compressor stages and size of compressor may vary depending on discharge pressure and flow respectively.
For H2 production from PSA, compressor solutions are available for feedstock gas upstream PSA, hydrogen and off-gas handling downstream the PSA.
Feedstock gas is typically supplied to PSA in a pressure range between 10 - 40 bar, flow may vary between few hundreds up to some thousands of Nm3/h depending on the size of the module. Compressors are sized and designed accordingly. Hydrogen downstream the PSA is delivered to major consumers through transport pipelines through booster compressors or filled into transport containers (gas cylinders, truck trailers or gas cylinder batteries) with a filling pressure of 300 bar and more. Number of compressor stages may vary between 2 and 4 stages, depending on compressor type and discharge pressure.
Industrial gases producers use advanced technologies to supply gases like oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen. Many of these gases are used in manufacturing, health care, transportation and other essential industries. Industrial gases are produced on a large industrial scale via air separation plants, pressure swing adsorption (PSA), molecular sieves or electrolysis.
Air separation plants operate according to the Joule-Thomson effect in combination with adiabatic cooling of the air. To enable air to be separated into its constituents by means of distillation / rectification at low temperature a large part of the air volume used must be liquefied. Inside the cold box of air separation plants, a smaller quantity of hydrogen (H2) must be circulated. Our NEA|HOFER diaphragm compressors used for this purpose only has to overcome a small pressure difference at higher suction pressure.
Metallurgy includes the extraction of metals from their ores and the modification of the metals for use. The term metallurgy is usually used to refer to commercial methods rather than laboratory methods. The chemical, physical, and atomic properties and structures of metals and the principles by which metals are combined to form alloys are also part of metallurgy. Our compressors are used in hot isostatic pressing (HIP) applications. With the HIP process, metal powder or preformed parts are sintered and solidified under high gas pressure Cast components can be "hipped" with this process and obtain special properties regarding strength and homogeneity.
Metal powder is filled into steel tubes with a bottom, compacted and the tube is welded with a lid. These tubes are placed in a pressure vessel and the vessel is closed. Argon, which is compressed to 1,000 to 2,300 bar at the same time as the NEA|HOFER TKHs, is heated to up to 2,000°C via an internal heater. Under this pressure and temperature, the metal powder sintered into a solid block, which is then peeled out of the steel tube after removal from the pressure vessel and cooling. The new material can then be further processed using conventional methods. The technological properties of the sintered block can be "designed" by mixing the metal powder. This process can also be used to sinter pre-pressed components such as turbine blades or artificial hip joints to a precise fit.
HIP applications exist in the medical field as well as in the aerospace industry. As a rule, dry-running hydraulically driven piston compressors NEA|HOFER TKH are used in these applications. In addition, the HIP process is also used for coating in the semiconductor industry. There, electronic components such as printed circuit boards are coated with polysilicon. Technically abrasion-free diaphragm compressors are used to compress the high-purity technical gases, e.g. polysilicon (SiH4), to approx. 150 bar.
Industrial gases producers use advanced technologies to supply gases like oxygen, nitrogen, and hydrogen. Many of these gases are used in manufacturing, health care, transportation, and other essential industries. Industrial gases are produced on a large industrial scale via air separation plants, pressure swing adsorption (PSA), molecular sieves or electrolysis.
After production, these gases are delivered to major consumer through transport pipelines through booster compressors or filled into transport containers. These are commercial gas cylinders, truck trailers or gas cylinder batteries. Whereas in the past the filling pressure was 200 bar, today more and more gas containers with a filling pressure of 300 bar and more are used.
Bottle filling is safely and efficiently achieved through our oil-free compressors, both NEA|HOFER diaphragm compressors and piston compressors. Number of compressor stages may vary between 2 and 4 stages, depending on compressor type and discharge pressure.
