On-site nitrogen generation is gaining popularity in the Middle East and Africa, mainly driven by demand in the oil and gas and petrochemical industries. This has also helped increase awareness and preference among end-users for on-site nitrogen generation as a logical progression from bottled nitrogen, considering the costs and uncertainties associated with high-pressure bottling,
transportation and storage of liquefied nitrogen.
Essentially, on-site nitrogen generators separate nitrogen molecules from oxygen molecules within compressed air. The most popular separation technology in this region is membrane nitrogen generation (NGM), which involves pumping pressurised air through membrane fibres and filtering nitrogen as it permeates more slowly through the membranes than oxygen, carbon dioxide and water vapour in the air.
Atlas Copco Rental, the specialized rental solutions provider of compressed air, power, flow, steam, and nitrogen rental equipment and services in the Middle East, North Africa and India (MENAI), is equipped to cater to a wide range of nitrogen generation nitrogen capacities ranging from 200 to 6000 CFM at different purities up to 99.9%. Membrane nitrogen generators in Atlas Copco’s rental fleet include the NGM 7, NGM 1000, NGM 1100, NGM 2000 and NGM 3000 models. These are plug and play units with on-site nitrogen production up to 1000 CFM and purity of up to 99.9%.
Akram Tamari, regional general manager, Atlas Copco Rental Middle East & India, says: “Currently, we have multiple models that have the capacity to serve different industries in the
MENAI region. Nitrogen flow and pressure requirements dictate the selection of each of these models. The NGM7, for example, is a compact machine which can be trailer mounted along with the feed air compressor and delivers up to 280 m3/hr. The NGM 1000 can meet demand for larger capacities and higher pressure, up to 1000 CFM and 350 PSI, respectively.”
Certain applications require the combination of oil-free compressors and membrane nitrogen generators.
“In some cases where the customer is looking for ‘ultra-high purity’ N2 and high PDP such as in LNG plants where Nitrogen supply is required for production and process, we propose our oil free air compressor to be combined with a membrane nitrogen generator,” says Akram.
The nitrogen generators are equipped with safety features that ensure the required flow levels and purity of nitrogen. They include off-spec valve and shutdown alarms/sensors for purity and flow. If the purity or flow fall below the set points, the generator will blowoff nitrogen to the atmosphere.
