The uses of air compressor are plenty and wide, this article will introduce the various uses of air compressor for seven major industries.

Oil & gas upstream

Some common uses of air compressor for industry like oil & gas upstream are flare gas recovery and treatment, hydrocarbon recovery, steam recovery, and flash gas. Common types of air compressors used in these applications include rotary screw air compressors and piston air compressors.

Flare gas refers to unused gases emitted from industrial production processes. These gases usually contain multiple components, such as hydrogen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, methane, etc.

(Oil & gas industry)

Before these gases are discharged into the atmosphere, they usually need to be recovered through a flare gas recovery system, and the unrecoverable parts are burned to reduce pollution to the environment.

Screw air compressors and piston air compressors are used to help transport and pump these gases. ‌Some unconventional gases and wellhead gas re-injection also require the use of screw air compressors and piston air compressors.

Air compressors are also used for the extraction and transportation of oil and gas onshore and offshore, as well as to assist the normal operation of equipment on platforms, such as floating production storage and offloading units (FPSO). The air compressors that can complete these tasks include medium-high pressure screw air compressors, piston air compressors, and multi-stage centrifugal compressors.

In addition, there are some applications in oil & gas upstream that require ultra-high pressure compressed air, such as liquefying natural gas (LNG), compact natural gas to synthetic oil, sulfur recovery and gas processing, gas lift, carbon dioxide recovery and carbon dioxide capture, enhanced crude oil recovery (EOR), etc.

Conventional screw compressors cannot meet the high pressure requirements of these tasks, so the applicable air compressor type is usually high pressure piston air compressor.

Oil & gas midstream

There are also a variety of uses of air compressor in oil & gas midstream that require the participation of piston compressors and screw compressors, such as compressing natural gas (with CNG compressor), liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), boil-off gas (BOG), natural gas to synthetic oil (GTL), dehydration, separation, decantation of natural gas and carbon dioxide, and gas unloading, among which diaphragm compressors are also used for gas unloading.

(Liquefied petroleum gas)

In addition, axial compressors, centrifugal compressors, screw compressors and piston compressors are also used in fuel gas boosters in gas turbines, coal bed methane (CBM)/coal bed natural gas (CSG), natural gas collection and boosting and other oil & gas midstream applications.

Refinery

The uses of air compressor for refinery industry are numerous, such as some public facilities in refinery plants, flare gas recovery, propane and butane recovery, exhaust gas that meets emission standards, and various instruments and meters.

Among them, the commonly used air compressor types are piston air compressors, screw air compressors, diaphragm compressors, single-stage and multi-stage centrifugal compressors.

Some medium-to-high pressure or large flow applications such as sulfur recovery, sulfuric acid plants, oil-free hydrodesulfurization (HDS), and synthetic soda ash, acidic hydrocarbons, vinyl chloride (VCM) strip gas, etc., require piston air compressors, screw compressors and piston compressors, multi-stage centrifugal compressors, etc.

Hydrocracking, hydrotreating (HDT), isomerization, catalytic reforming, alkylation, these processes require further high air pressure to complete, so high-pressure reciprocating piston air compressors and multi-stage centrifugal compressors are needed.

In addition, piston compressors, diaphragm compressors, screw compressors and centrifugal compressors are also used to help with hydrogen (H2) process intake, synthesis of high-density polyurethane (HGU), and treatment of exhaust gases generated in these applications.

Petrochemical

The production of basic petrochemical products such as butadiene, ethylene, low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and others usually requires the uses of air compressor such as piston air compressor, diesel rotary screw air compressor, single-stage centrifugal compressor and multi-stage centrifugal compressor.

Ethylene, purified terephthalic acid (PTA), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE), nitroethylene (VCM), phenol and other refined petrochemical products require the uses of air compressor such as piston air compressor, screw air compressor, and centrifugal compressor.

In addition, oil-free air compressors such as oil-free water-lubricated compressors, scroll compressors, etc. are also used for some utilities, flare and venting gases, air instruments, and inert gas transportation in petrochemical plants. Multi-stage centrifugal compressors are used in caprolactam plants, and screw compressors and centrifugal compressors are also used for mechanical vapor re-compression.

Chemical

In the chemical industry, the uses of air compressor are: rotary screw air compressors are used in urea plants, nitric acid plants, synthetic ammonia plants, and lime kiln gas plants; piston air compressors and diaphragm compressors are used in the production of chlorine, chemical paints, fluorinated liquids, and polysilicon; silent scroll air compressors are also commonly used in pharmaceutical processes, research, and laboratories.

And centrifugal compressors are often used for mechanical vapor re-compression. Among them, single-stage centrifugal compressors are often used for cooling agricultural chemical processes, while multistage centrifugal air compressors are used for chemical wastewater treatment.

Power generation

Power generation industry also relies heavily on the uses of air compressor to perform normal works. Vapor recovery, landfills, biogas, and synthetic gas often use piston air compressors, screw air compressors as well as multistage centrifugal compressors. Nuclear fuel, radioactive gas compression and leak recovery, pressure testing usually use oil-free diesel portable air compressors.

The transportation and distribution of hydrogen and natural gas fuels, fuel cells often use piston air compressors and diaphragm compressors. In addition to piston air compressors and diaphragm compressors, gas turbine air supply can also use screw air compressors and multistage centrifugal compressors.

Flue gas desulfurization (FGD) and circulating fluidized bed (CFB) often use single-stage turbo compressors. Carbon dioxide capture and dehydration, gas desulfurization (oxidation) often use piston compressors, screw compressors, and multi-stage centrifugal compressors to complete the work.

General Industry

Industrial gas/cylinder filling, specialty gases, aerospace, food and beverage, bottle blowing and dioxide recovery, commonly use piston compressors, diaphragm compressors, screw compressors, single-stage centrifugal compressors.

Automobile, airbag filling, fuel tank manufacturing, commonly use piston compressors, diaphragm compressors. They are also used for tetrafluoroethylene (TFE), lubricants, reagents, refrigerants and fluoride gases in electronic processes.

Steel coke applications, coke oven gas, polluted gases, will use piston compressors, diaphragm compressors, screw compressors, single-stage centrifugal compressors and multi-stage centrifugal compressors.

Industrial refrigeration, process cooling, mine cooling, vacuum trucks and high vacuum applications usually use screw compressors and centrifugal compressors. Screw compressors are suitable for various high-temperature gases, vacuum swing adsorption of gases of different molecular weights (air separation), and waste heat recovery (expanders).

Centrifugal compressors are also commonly used in aeration, wastewater treatment, sewage treatment, vacuum (wet/dry, such as paper machine vacuum, vacuum filter, ash conveying) and other applications.

Single-stage centrifugal compressors are mainly used for biological oxygen supply in the fermentation industry, contactless mixing, dairy, food and beverage processing, mechanical vapor compression (MVC)/mechanical vapor re-compression (MVR).

Single-stage centrifugal compressors are also widely used in mining, smelting, metal refining, sulfuric acid plants, such as water recovery/zero liquid discharge, desalination and distillation.

Multi-stage centrifugal compressors are suitable for blast furnaces, air separation units, coke oven gas, sintering gas and large-flow gas transportation.

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