Everest Sciences to supply ECOChill cooling solution to Kinder Morgan

Everest Sciences Corporation, a leading provider of air cooling and handling solutions for the oil and gas, power generation, chemical production and other industries, has announced that it has received an order for two of its ECOChill hybrid turbine inlet chilling solutions from Kinder Morgan, Inc. The ECOChill installations will provide filtered and chilled inlet air to two gas turbines while consuming only a fraction of the energy required by conventional inlet chilling. The addition of the Everest Sciences system will allow the Solar Taurus 70 and Centaur 40 gas turbines, used as the drivers for a pipeline compression station, to operate at consistent winter-like capacity during periods of warm weather.

Gas turbines are used in pipeline compressor stations to provide a reliable source of horsepower to operate the gas compressors on the operator's pipeline network. However, when ambient air temperature rises, gas turbine output decreases, reducing the horsepower available to push natural gas down the pipeline. Existing solutions for cooling turbine inlet air, such as mechanical chilling or direct evaporative cooling, have either a steep cost in terms of additional energy required to operate, or provide insufficient cooling. Everest Sciences has pioneered indirect evaporative inlet cooling, which provides cooler, denser air at a lower parasitic power load, while not requiring highly treated water.

This order builds on earlier projects carried out by Everest Sciences that serve the oil and gas industry. A compressor station installation in the Rocky Mountain region recently completed its second summer of operation, providing consistent inlet air temperatures between 45 - 55 °F and resulting in approximately 725 000 additional HPh each summer. Other Everest Sciences installations serve natural gas processing and natural gas liquids facilities in Texas.

"We are pleased Kinder Morgan selected our ECOChill hybrid air handling solution for use on its gas pipeline compressor station," said David Voeller, President of Everest Sciences. "We see increasing market acceptance of our industry-leading solutions across a broad range of industries. This order serving the oil and gas industry underscores the excellent technical fit, as well as the strong economic benefits energy customers can obtain from our products."

An operator such as Kinder Morgan typically evaluates several solutions to improve hot weather pipeline capacity in order to better serve their customers. Following a careful evaluation, a midstream company will implement the Everest Sciences ECOChill system on their pipeline compressor station and realise positive customer benefits, including increased pipeline capacity.

Adapted from press release by Rosalie Starling

Read the article online at: https://www.worldpipelines.com/business-news/03032014/everest_sciences_to_supply_ecochill_cooling_solution_to_kinder_morgan_-120/