By Drew Robb
Anax Power (Anax) has completed commissioning of its ATE-500 Turboexpander at a pressure regulating station in Johnsonburg, Pennsylvania. This is the first turboexpander installation on a natural gas pipeline in North America in over 20 years.
Anax developed the ATE-500 as a novel way to repurpose excess pressure in natural gas regulating stations to generate clean electricity. Once gas traverses through the pipeline network to its destination point, the pressure is typically too high. It needs to be brought to a usable level, which is traditionally done using pressure regulating valves such as Joule-Thomson (JT) valves. JT valves cool the gas and reduce its pressure.
The 670 hp (500 kW) ATE-500 turboexpander is installed in parallel with the pressure regulating valve. It uses the change in pressure to spin a turbine within the turboexpander system. This process expands the gas and uses the waste energy to … Click Here to continue reading this article in the September issue of Gas Compression Magazine.
