Reduced leakage and major cost savings thanks to sealing system upgrade

They experienced very high maintenance expenses, replacing wear parts every month, high leakages and power wastage.  In addition, the company suffered product losses of up to 20% for the last 12 years. As an expert in dry-running compression, Burckhardt Compression was certain a better solution could be found.

Johan Maartens, Air Products, Vanderbijlpark, South Africa

“We didn’t think that this level of performance was possible! Burckhardt Compression diagnosed the issue swiftly and executed the repairs with precision. Our second compressor was booked in for the same refurbishment and we will be involving Burckhardt Compression in many more overhaul projects in other facilities, based on the remarkable results of this project.“

Customer Challenges:

• Sealing elements and rods
• Keeping compressor downtime to a minimum
• Reduced gas flow and temperature issues
• Gas leakage of up to 20%
• Power wastage
• Internal leakages

Burckhardt Compression Solution:

• Profound root cause analysis of the compressor
• Redesign 2nd stage packing case assemblies
• Create new piston ring set
• Piston rod refurbishment
• Cylinder liner renewal

Customer Benefits:

• All bad actors were eliminated
• Compressors ran for 22 months without incident
• Production losses dropped from 20% to 2%
• Internal leakage was stopped
• Emissions reduced
• Energy consumption has been reduced per m3 gas compressed by 25%.
• Substantial increase in lifetime of wearing parts
• Significant reduction in maintenance costs