O2RC - Expi

Experience (projects)

This is a small but representative sample of the projects and Customers that O2RC has experience with:

ADNOC (Gas processing) Petrochemical

Process Gas compressor lube oil cooling system. High temperature water chiller to cool the plant gas compressor lube oil where the available process water was not cool enough. Two duty, one standby plant. One of the first R134a process refrigeration systems with a centrifugal compressor. High ambient design, full process specifications and documentation.

Shell / Petroleum Development of Oman (Oil Field) Petrochemical

Process gas cooling. Very short lead time project completed within schedule. One of the first screw compressor refrigeration system based on R134a. Remote, hostile desert installation, air cooled.

BOC (Air Separation) Petrochemical

Deigned and enhanced several high pressure nitrogen cooler plant for BOC at various sites. Operating at -100°F / -75°C the cooler enables an air separation plant to enhance liquid nitrogen production. The cooling systems comprised compounded and multistage centrifugal compressor technology. The plant development commenced with a previous overly complex, difficult to start and unreliable design and was evolved to provide a simplified and robust design which permitted daily startup, thus avoid peak power charges.

English Channel Tunnel Cooling System Cooling

Major cooling system, installed on the UK and French ends of the tunnel. Without cooling, the heat rejected from the locomotive motive power would building up to dangerous levels. This heat is extracted from the tunnel by natural convection to chilled hairpin loops mounted on the tunnel wall. Four chillers, installed at each end of the tunnel, supply chilled water to the two hairpins meeting at the middle. System included dry air cooling heat rejection to allow for free cooling in cooler months and to prevent the “white” cliffs of Dover from turning green if an evaporative cooling system had been used.

University of Pennsylvania Central Cooling Plant Cooling

4 x 5,000 TonR / 4 x 17.5MW central cooling plant to provide cooling to the campus. This is typical of several plants serving major universities and airports in the USA. Comprising multistage compressor technology with either motor or steam turbine drives.

US Geothermal Neal Hot Springs (Geothermal Power) Power

22MW supercritical air cooled geothermal Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) plant. Developed under the DOE TITLE XVII Loan Guarantee Progam for innovative technology. Three identical plants are fed with geothermal brine at 285°F / 140°C to drive the cycle which comprises a single stage integral gear radial inflow turbine / generator rejecting heat to a patent pending array of air cooled condensers. The plant comprised many innovative features, including use of a nonflammable halocarbon operating fluid, modular construction format, large fan air cooled condenser (to increase efficiency & reduce operating costs) and a supercritical ORC cycle. This plant was a completely clean sheet design which operates successfully and exceeded performance expectations.

US Geothermal San Emido (Geothermal Power) Power

A single 10MW supercritical water cooled geothermal Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) plant. A similar plant to the Neal Hot Springs utilizing the same modular concepts but with a water cooled heat rejection system which included a large field erected cooling tower array.

Chattanooga Gas (Liquefied Natural Gas) Technology

Magnetic bearing multistage compressor, developed by York International as an oil free evolution to the product line, to replace an existing compressor at an LNG peaking facility. The compressor is used on a mixed hydrocarbon refrigeration cycle and is the primary and un-spared compression system at site.

Refrigerant Inventory and Recovery Handling System Technology

A system developed to move the significant volume of refrigerant charge from the geothermal ORC systems. The system is designed to quickly remove the high mass (& thus cost) of liquid from the system in the event of a system problem, then remove all the remaining vapor, all to an off plant storage vessel, to allow maintenance of the system. The system was also designed to recharge the system to place the plant back in operation. A similar system was also developed for a Refrigerant Cylinder Reclaim Plant in the UK to provide rapid evacuation of returned cylinders to ensure no refrigerant would be vented to atmosphere.

Heat Pump Energy Analysis Tool Energy Analysis

To support the development of a large water to water centrifugal compressor heat pump a rigorous analysis tool was developed. The tool provided an annual evaluation using bin temperatures to identify the economic viability, and optimal heat pump sizing, given the building characteristics and heating & cooling profiles.

Multistage Compressor Design Software

A great compressor but with a very poor process design tool was identified to be a barrier to equipment sales. Worked with a programming subcontractor to completely rewrite the legacy compressor design program. Given the high permutation of configurations possible with the multistage compressor, the legacy program was unable to provide anything other than rudimentary designs. The new program transformed the accessibility of the machine to the company with an easily configurable graphical user interface, and informative output. This allowed the design team to focus on strategy rather than wrestling with software.