How Modernization of Reciprocating Compressors Transforms Old Plants Into State of the Art Equipment

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In refineries in the petrochemical and chemical industries for example, compressors are required to operate for increasingly long periods of time without interruption. In the production of LDPE — Low Density Polyethylene — the compressors must achieve operating intervals that are as long as the rest of the plant. The primary compressor compresses the gas to 300 bar, then the hyper compressor compresses it to the required process pressure of 3000 bar. In addition, the compressors must also on occasion be able to cope with polymerized particles that infiltrate the system as a result, among other things, of the recycling of the portion of residual gas that has not reacted. Individual solutions for key components, taking into account the entire compressor plant, are once again essential in order to achieve more than 16,000 trouble-free operating hours.

Maintenance Options for Compressors

For the operator of the compressors, there are several ways to maintain a compressor.

The simplest is to run the compressor until an essential part fails, and then to perform a complete overhaul of all components. In this case, it is not possible to predict the exact timing of the failure, which may result in an unfavorable situation with regard to availability for the production.

The second variant is the time period based maintenance and involves known weak points being examined periodically and worn or damaged components being replaced preventively. The drawback of this is that the components are not really being used up to the end of their lifetime.

The third variant, on the other hand, is based on a system that monitors the state of the machine. At the first sign of a predictable failure or excessive wear, maintenance is scheduled. Even though this reduces maintenance cycles, the production planning suffers almost as much as with the second method.

The fourth method is the reliable centered maintenance: a combination of a monitoring system developed for reciprocating compressors, such as RecipCOM, historical records and the search for possible optimizations. It takes into account both the long-term effects of the necessary operating conditions and the current state of the compressor. Compressor audits identify and optimize the weak links, and the maintenance intervals can be extended and scheduled for the times at which they will have the least impact on production.

The reliability of a compressor depends on the reliability of all its parts. More about the key components for a long and trouble free service time on page 3.

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