A petrochemical company in Perm, Russia, was experiencing severe problems and high costs in maintaining the filtration/separator phase of their process after compression. The trouble revolved around a hydrogen compressor that had originally been installed with lubricated cylinders and packing cases. Lube oil leaking from the compressor was contaminating expensive filters, causing them to malfunction and requiring costly maintenance.
In addition, this compressor (along with a second six-cylinder hydrogen compressor) was consuming 22,000 liters (5,812 gal) of oil per year. Worse still, the operator estimated that existing cylinder ring and packing designs could run continuously for only 4,000 hours on the 2nd stage cylinders before experiencing failure due to wear.
