In 1762, the inventor John Smeaton found a way to rig a water wheel to power a blowing cylinder, and with industrial revolutions, more change was soon to come. A few years later, Englishman John Wilkinson’s hydraulic blowing machine came to prominence. It was this hydraulic blowing machine that became the inspiration for modern air compressors. It was no surprise that the idea caught on, as, during this period, air compression was making its way too many different industries. As emerging technologies got implemented across all industrial fields, compressors also didn’t have a chance to settle down the same way rather than getting evolved to meet new operational demands.
Air compressor is one of the unavoidable elements in the pipeline process & pre-commissioning industry, and there had always been a demand for compressors with higher discharge efficiency and compactness in this sector. Especially with the offshore pre-commissioning work scopes, size of the spread compared to its output matters due to limited availability of laydown area. Every manufacturer is trying to optimise the compressor design to increase the ease of handling, rig up & minimising the laydown area requirement without affecting the performance of these machines. Atlas Copco’s Twin Air Compressor, chosen for the benefit of having two high-pressure air compressors contained within one 20’ CSC/DNV container is the best example. Thereby, operation of one individual compressor at 960cfm or running them both simultaneously for a combined output of 1920cfm at a maximum working pressure of 365 psi is possible. Royal Oil & Gas in collaboration with Airpac Bukom’s Oilfield services promote the use of this state of the art Twin Compressor module as a critical equipment in pipeline pre-commissioning.
These units can be safely double stacked for storage, providing economy of critical space. Airpac Bukom’s Twin Air units are fitted in a DNV 2.7-1 / CSC certified 20ft x 8ft container, providing high output and versatility while maximising space. This containerised unit with ISO twist locks are well adapted to be rigged up for work where the available area for rig up is limited.
For instance, while setting up a Nitrogen spread for offshore pre-commissioning, number and size of equipment matters as loading, mobilisation, unloading and rig up, cost, time and effort etc. are to be considered. A typical nitrogen membrane unit of 6000 SCFM (95% purity) requires at least 11000 SCFM of compressed air at 24 bar. With conventional spread setup consisting of 1000 CFM compressors, x 11 Numbers plus an additional 2 unit’s standby each with a footprint of 5.5m x 2.5m (13.75 m2), an overall area of 178 m2 of deck space area is required. On the other hand, setting up the spread with latest twin compressor modules demand for only for six units of them plus an additional one as standby each with a footprint of 6.0m x 2.5m (15 m2) and the required deck space is reduced to 112 m2 without any compromise in the performance parameters. Apart from this loading, rig-up, maintenance, operations etc. comes handy.
Thereby, Royal Oil and Gas’s expertise in sizing your next Pipeline Dewatering & Drying Project along with Airpac Bukom’s Twin Air compressors can help you save time and money. For more information, get in touch with us at info@royalmechgroup.com.