From Clean Breathing Air to a Cleaner Future with BAUER Compressors
Climate experts have warned of the need to adopt cleaner energy solutions for some time now, and with the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) cautioning the need to cut emissions nearly in half by 2030, it has perhaps never felt so urgent. With some alternatives maturing to more acceptable price points and new sources being considered, there are companies seeking to leverage their expertise in a way that will help create a cleaner future. One such company is BAUER COMPRESSORS Inc.
BAUER has built a reputation as the world’s foremost innovative designer and manufacturer of high-pressure compressor systems over more than seven decades.
In 1976, BAUER COMPRESSORS Inc. was opened in Norfolk, VA, introducing the BAUER brand to the US market. Still located on the original site, the Norfolk facility has grown over the years, with another expansion announced in May 2023.
From its roots as a breathing air compressor manufacturer, BAUER has expanded its reputation for quality across a wide variety of industrial gas applications to include state-of-the-art solutions for helium compression and recovery, nitrogen generation, biogas upgrading, hydrogen compression, and much more. In recent years, BAUER has invested heavily in creating compressor systems for renewable energy industries and solutions that abate anthropogenic climate change.
With such a track record and a growing portfolio of decarbonization needs it is stepping up to meet, the company is proud to showcase a few of its many offerings here.
RNG/biogas & CNG Compressors
The growing biogas industry turns waste into renewable energy. It reduces landfill waste and prevents harmful emissions from entering the atmosphere. During biogas upgrading, organic waste is processed in an anaerobic digester and purified into renewable natural gas (RNG).
Many biogas plants power their operations with the RNG they produce and sell the surplus as a source of additional revenue.
BAUER’s biogas compression solutions stand out due to the oil-flooded single-stage EVOTM rotary screw compressors manufactured by BAUER’s Rotorcomp® division. They offer variable speed control of the compressors to modulate the flow of biogas based on the incoming supply. All piping and major P&ID components are made of stainless steel and are designed to withstand the harsh compounds present in raw biogas. The compressors are run by heavy-duty TEFC electric motors resting on a heavy-duty steel skid designed for plug-and-play installation.
The BAUER GRU® rotary screw compressor was designed to assist in upgrading raw biogas from the digester. To remove contaminants, the gas must be compressed to high pressures to pass through special membranes which filter out the high amounts of CO2 present in raw biogas. Before entering the membranes, the raw biogas is passed through activated carbon and a condensate dryer to remove VOCs (volatile organic compounds) and excessive moisture. Once the moisture, VOCs, and CO2 have been removed from the biogas, it is referred to as Renewable Natural Gas (RNG), and it is chemically identical to the gas in natural gas pipelines (CNG). After upgrading, the RNG is typically injected into the natural gas pipeline grid.
Natural gas is nature’s cleanest burning fossil fuel. Compared to gasoline or diesel, natural gas burns more completely and cleanly, significantly reducing pollution-causing exhaust components such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and reactive hydrocarbons. Soot, smoke particles, and irritating odors are virtually eliminated. Using clean-burning natural gas also reduces dependence on foreign oil supply, which not only helps save on the cost and carbon footprint of shipping, it ensures a more steady supply during geopolitical difficulties. The price of fueling with natural gas ranges between one half to two-thirds of the cost of gasoline, and BAUER provides flexibility with a range of customizable CNG Compressors to accommodate any fleet size.
Helium Systems (He-Series)
BAUER offers an array of helium compression and recovery solutions. The company produces compact models available for applications where a small amount of gas is used and when space is at a premium, such as in medical facilities and research laboratories. The company also offers larger-volume helium compressors for applications such as particle accelerators, nuclear medicine, military missile applications, spacefaring, commercial merchant gas suppliers, heliostat and tethered aerostat applications, and more.
Despite its abundance in the universe, helium is a rarity on Earth, so much so that it is considered a nonrenewable resource. Matched with its usefulness, its rarity makes it an expensive resource worth conserving and reusing through recovery.
BAUER’s air and water-cooled helium compressors can be used in various environments and applications. The multi-stage (3, 4, and 5 stage) reciprocating gas compressor systems can provide final pressures of rare gases up to 5,000 and 6,000 psig, with available flow rates of 2 SCFM to 612 SCFM. This allows BAUER to meet the need of almost any rare gas application.
BAUER water-cooled gas compressor systems do not require an external water source (nor associated cooling towers). These water/glycol systems are closed-loop and integrated into the overall package. Water-cooled systems offer notably high flows, a complement to BAUER’s line of air-cooled helium systems. Higher flow systems are commonly used in helium mining and can include outdoor enclosures and can be offered for hazardous duty zone installation.
Nitrogen Systems
The pandemic highlighted many challenges for the supply chain and proved that the US needed more domestic production. Many commodities experienced price spikes and longer lead times, including nitrogen gas, and since it plays a role in so many different industries, with more manufacturing returning to the US, nitrogen demand is growing again. Prized for being inert in most conditions, nitrogen gas is used in many ways, including laser cutting, food packaging, fire suppression, equipment purging, blanket inerting, leak testing, and much more.
BAUER manufactures fully integrated nitrogen generation systems, as well as modular designs that can plug into existing operations. To accommodate a range of needs, BAUER can provide nitrogen gas from 5% oxygen content to 10 parts per million oxygen content. The lineup includes nitrogen generation systems that use air separation membranes or pressure swing adsorption (PSA) technologies to achieve quality levels that rival the purity of cryogenic nitrogen.
BAUER’s gas compressor technology can generate pressures up to 7,000 psig (482 bar) and deliver output capacities up to 866 scfm (1,472 m3/hr). The company also has a complete range of boosters that can accept inlet/suction pressures as high as 189 psig (13 bar) and provide significantly increased volumetric output. Higher pressure systems up to 11,000 psig are available for special applications.
Hydrogen Systems
As the search for greener energy continues, one standout is generating plenty of excitement, especially in the transportation industry. Hydrogen fuel cells produce electricity, water (or water vapor), and nothing else. Unlike electric vehicles that require lengthy charge times, hydrogen vehicles can be fueled with compressed hydrogen gas in about the same time as conventional vehicles. While electric cars are suitable for commuter vehicles, adding more power or more extended range requires a significant increase in battery size, which would necessitate a decrease in load capacity for commercial vehicles such as Class A trucks. Vehicles running on hydrogen gas can be scaled up easily by adding more fuel cells without sacrificing load space.
BAUER Compressors has recently released its specially designed H-Series hydrogen compressors and boosters. Hydrogen’s low density and small molecular size make it prone to leaking from even the smallest openings. As a result, storage containers, tubing, fittings, and other system components designed for use with hydrogen must be manufactured to the tightest tolerances to ensure the product is contained. In addition, hydrogen requires specific materials to safely and reliably handle the properties of this gas. BAUER’s purpose-built hydrogen compression solutions are made to accommodate these conditions. They are available in a variety of sizes so that they can plug into fueling operations for fleets of varying sizes.
The world-leading manufacturer.
As industries evolve and emerge, BAUER continues to innovate purpose-built compression solutions, as well as services like BAUER CONNECT®, an IoT solution that allows customers to remotely monitor and control the performance of their system remotely with a computer or wireless mobile device. Training classes are available at the Norfolk facility to anyone who owns, operates, or services BAUER products. BAUER’s performance, reliability, and unparalleled after-sales customer support ensure its customers the highest quality and the lowest lifetime cost of ownership.
About BAUER
BAUER has been the world’s leading high-pressure compressors and integrated compression systems manufacturer for over 75 years.
Quality is the company tagline for BAUER and serves as the guiding principle for all its product lines. With a vertically integrated manufacturing model, quality is controlled at every step, from design and manufacture to OEM spare parts. BAUER can develop dependable custom gas compressors to fit unique needs, optimized for heat dissipation and minimal oil blowby to ensure the most efficient and reliable system possible.
A global company that operates through 21 wholly-owned local subsidiaries and over 600 local distributor partners worldwide, BAUER products compress a variety of gas mediums such as air, nitrogen, methane, biogas, and CO2, as well as exotic specialty gases such as helium, argon, neon, krypton, and xenon.
Visit www.bauercomp.com to see how the company can fit your needs.