Engineering

One of the promising areas of activity of the “Nicmas” concern is the development and supply of equipment intended for utilization and cogeneration of mine gas-methane and landfill gas.

Methane is one of the main greenhouse gases, the emission of which into the atmosphere causes its pollution. The main amount of methane enters the atmosphere during the extraction of hard coal in mines from solid household waste landfills. At a methane concentration of 5÷15%, the mixture becomes explosive. According to official statistics, the death of almost every second miner in Ukraine is related to methane. In addition, the release of methane in mining operations is a limiting factor in the increase in coal production.
Mine gas is removed from underground workings through the mine ventilation and degassing system, releasing it into the atmosphere, which causes irreversible damage to the environment. According to foreign and domestic experts, Ukraine ranks fourth in the world after China, Russia and Canada in terms of methane resource potential in coal deposits, which exceeds natural gas resources by 3-4 times.

Extraction of methane with the help of utilization systems will solve both the problem of miners’ safety and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Enterprises will be able to sell the received emission reduction units (ECUs) on the international market due to the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol. According to various estimates, this mechanism will allow to attract from 1.5 to 50 million euros for individual projects in Ukraine every year.

In 2008, the first single batch of installations designed for the utilization of mine gas-methane was developed and delivered in Ukraine, which were used in a number of mines in Ukraine.

The installations ensure the pumping of gas from the mine and its disposal through incineration, as well as supply to the consumer for energy use without the use of traditional VVN liquid-ring vacuum pumps.

The UKG-5/8 compressor gas utilization unit is designed for the utilization of mine gas (working and closed mines) by burning it in a special chamber and thereby preventing the release of harmful greenhouse gas – methane (CH4) into the atmosphere, or its supply to equipment for energy use ( obtaining electricity and heat).

The main consumers of the installation are enterprises of the coal industry and housing and communal services.

The equipment of the installation is placed in a 20-foot container, made in a noise-reduced and insulated design. The container protects the equipment from mechanical damage and environmental influences.

The UKG-5/8 installation consists of:

• Engine compartment;
• Combustion chamber department;
• Distribution department;
• Torch Pipes;
• Containers;
• Systems of automatic management, protection and control.

The explosion protection of the installation is ensured by the following constructive solutions:

• Continuous monitoring of the methane content in the air of the engine room and gas analyzer cabinet. When methane sensors detect a concentration of 0.5% (10% NKPV) in any of these rooms, an emergency alarm and forced ventilation of the room are activated. At a methane concentration of 1%, there is an emergency shutdown of the power supply of the entire installation.
• Continuous monitoring of the composition of the methane-air mixture at the entrance to the installation. The start-up of the installation will be allowed only with a methane content of 25% or more.
• Use of explosion-proof electrical equipment of the installation.
• Using certified flame arrestors together with temperature sensors.

The degree of automation of the installation

• The installation is made for automatic continuous operation without constant supervision
• The start-up process is fully automated, however, if necessary, the design of the installation allows for manual start-up.
• Control and recording of all necessary parameters (temperature, pressure, amount of utilized methane) for the implementation of the utilization project within the framework of the Kyoto Protocol is carried out.

A remote monitoring system has been installed.

Installation application options

The installation can work independently with power supply:

• from the general power grid;
• from the gas container thermal power plant (KTES). In this version, gas is supplied to the KTES from the installation, and the excess amount of gas is burned in the installation itself.

Depending on the methane abundance of the degassing wells, its suction can be carried out by one or several units operating in parallel. At the same time, the higher-level control system will automatically regulate the operation of the units, turning each of them off or on depending on gas consumption.

Any landfill of solid household waste (SWW) is a large biochemical reactor, in the bowels of which during operation, as well as for several decades after closure, as a result of the decomposition of plant and animal waste, landfill gas is formed, which is a mixture of methane and carbon dioxide. The inevitable release of landfill gas into the atmosphere is accompanied by emissions of polluting organic substances. The presence of non-methane organic compounds is the cause of the unpleasant smell that spreads on the outskirts of the landfill. Some of the organic substances have a pronounced toxic effect. One of the solutions to this problem is the use of disposal units in landfill gas collection systems.

Compressed air is one of the most important and most expensive energy carriers. Pneumatic control and management systems successfully compete with hydraulic, electric, etc., being advantageously distinguished from them by a high degree of reliability, ease of maintenance, explosion-fire safety, and durability.

Contaminants enter compressed air from three main sources. These sources are: the atmosphere, the compressor itself and pipelines.

The compressed air after the compressor contains moisture, oil and solid particles in the form of rust and dust. Condensed moisture is especially dangerous, as it contains a high concentration of dissolved oxygen and has a very high corrosive ability. This leads to failure of pneumatic mechanisms and devices. Drying the air to a certain dew point avoids this phenomenon.

Dew point is the temperature at which moisture condensation begins. The practical value of the dew point is that it shows the maximum amount of moisture that can be held in the air at a given temperature. Indeed, the actual amount of water that can be held in a constant volume of air depends only on temperature. The concept of dew point is the most convenient technical parameter.

The widespread use of compressed air in industry presents increasingly stringent requirements for its quality. These requirements are regulated by international, state and industry standards, which establish classes of pollution based on the composition and content of extraneous impurities.

The international standard ISO 8573-1 establishes 5 classes of compressed air pollution by solid particles, 7 classes by humidity (dew point) and 5 classes by oil content.

Compressed air quality requirements for supplying pneumatic devices and systems

GOST 17433-80 (ST REV 1704-79).

This standard applies to compressed air intended for the supply of pneumatic devices, systems operating at a pressure of up to 2.5 MPa, and establishes the class of contamination based on the composition and content of foreign impurities.

One of the technical solutions in the air conditioning systems of the concern “Nicmas” is the development of compressor block-container units of the BKU series (hereinafter referred to as “BKU units”).

BKU installations are designed to produce high-quality compressed air and supply it to various pneumatic systems, devices and mechanisms.

The main consumers of BKU installations are railway transport (blowing of turnouts, supply of charging devices with prepared air and testing of UZOT brakes), enterprises of the oil, gas, food, textile and woodworking industries, etc. industries where quality prepared air is required.

Concern “Nicmas” independently develops and manufactures BKU units with a capacity of 0.6 m3/min to 64 m3/min with a final excess pressure from 0.7 MPa to 1.5 MPa. It is possible to manufacture BKU installations in an explosion-proof version.

At the Customer’s request, compressed air of any purity class can be obtained at the exit from the equipment.

BKU installations are designed for outdoor operation under the following environmental parameters:

• ambient air temperature from minus 40°C to 45°C;
• relative air humidity 80% at temperatures up to 288K (15°С);
• in conditions of atmospheric precipitation (rain, snow), as well as other effects of
• meteorological precipitation.

The equipment can be manufactured for other climatic conditions.

In the design of BKU units, components from world leaders in the field of compressor construction, dehumidification systems, filtration and automation are used.

At the Customer’s request, BKU installations can be equipped with equipment from any manufacturer.

Advantages of BKU installations:

The anti-vandal block container is made of three-layer sandwich panels with insulation made of non-combustible pressed basalt wool, which allows the installation to be operated in a wide range of low and high ambient temperatures.

Heating and ventilation systems provide automatic regulation of the appropriate microclimate in the working area of ​​the container in cold and hot periods of the year.

The design of the equipment allows additional use of the heat released in the cooling system of the compressors for heating the container.

The air preparation system ensures the guaranteed quality of compressed air at the outlet of the installations.

The filter elements used for air purification are high-tech products manufactured on a special basis, which allows to increase the efficiency of filtration and increase their service life with a decrease in the time and money spent on filter maintenance.

Refrigeration and adsorption type dryers with cold or hot regeneration are used for air drying, which allow to obtain a dew point of compressed air at the outlet of plus 3°C, minus 40°C, minus 60°C, minus 70°C.

The operating time of the adsorbent of adsorption-type dryers for prepared air, which is 15,000 hours, with a 12-hour working day, will be 4 years. If you install a refrigerator dryer, the service life of the adsorbent will increase to 30,000 hours.

A patented energy-saving technology is used in the design of the refrigerator-type dehumidifier, which increases the efficiency of the dehumidifier.

The equipment is fully automated and does not require the constant presence of service personnel.

Products do not require capital construction costs, foundations and canopies. BKU installations are mobile and can be transported by any type of transport without limitation in overall dimensions.

BKU installations, which include 3 compressor stations (installations), can be equipped with one frequency converter for all 3 compressor stations (installations), which will ensure regulation of air productivity of BKU installations depending on the needs of the Customer.

Nitrogen stations and installations are designed to obtain gaseous nitrogen from atmospheric air with a concentration of 90 to 99.9999% directly at the point of consumption by the method of molecular separation of air in membrane or adsorption modules.

Productivity range from 0.03 to 63 nm3/min, injection pressure up to 33 MPa. To increase productivity, depending on the technical task, several modules are connected in parallel.

Nitrogen stations and installations are developed according to individual technical tasks of customers. All equipment is manufactured in accordance with international standards ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 14001:2004.

If for your production you purchase nitrogen from a third-party producer in gaseous or liquid form, and then gasify it, you have most likely already encountered some disadvantages of such a supply organization scheme. This is, first of all, the dependence on the manufacturer’s supply conditions (taking into account the fact that it is often a regional monopolist), not always high nitrogen quality, possible delays in delivery, the inconvenience of handling pressure vessels under supervision and the high impact of the human factor.

If the enterprise operates an outdated and energy-consuming cryogenic plant (workshop) with a serviced communications network to various types of consumers, you will definitely face significant operating costs, need constant control of the production organization and the presence of a large number of variable staff. There is no way to decentralize!

We offer you a fundamentally new solution – independent production of gaseous nitrogen from ambient air or compressed air of your pneumatic network with the help of nitrogen stations and installations of the “Nicmas” concern for each specific consumer directly at the place of use!

The experience of practical use of nitrogen equipment manufactured by the “Nicmas” concern at customers’ facilities has confirmed its high reliability, wide temperature range of operation, energy efficiency, unpretentiousness in operation and ease of maintenance.

Depending on the modification, nitrogen stations and installations are made stationary and mobile (on the basis of standard trailers, semi-trailers, chassis of heavy-duty trucks) in any climatic version according to the customer’s specifications.

COOLING AND COLD SUPPLY SYSTEMS FOR EQUIPMENT AND TECHNOLOGICAL LINES

In production cycles related to thermodynamic processes, it is often necessary to remove heat to ensure the normal functioning of machines and mechanisms, safe life of people, etc. Cooling systems are used to perform this task. For example, the performance of the ND 24/120 mobile compressor unit is ensured by:

• block of oil and air coolers of the first and second stages of the screw compressor;
• block of air coolers of five stages of the piston compressor;
• diesel antifreeze cooling radiator;
• hydraulic drive oil cooler;
• piston compressor crankcase oil heater.

Concern “Nicmas” develops and manufactures complex cooling systems for various technological equipment (compressor and turbo-expander units, gas preparation systems, drilling rigs, tunneling combines, etc.) on the basis of effective recuperative heat exchangers of plate and fin, plate and tube type with an operating pressure of 50 MPa . There is experience in designing cooling systems for gases (air, nitrogen, hydrogen, carbon dioxide), products of extraction and processing of hydrocarbon raw materials (natural and associated petroleum gas, methane, propane-butane mixtures, coke gas), liquids (oil, water, glycol mixtures, antifreeze), food products (milk, food carbon dioxide).

In addition, for various technological lines, air conditioning and ventilation systems, cold supply systems are designed and manufactured using modern high-tech piston, screw and spiral compressors.

Automatic control systems, such as smart remote monitoring and control systems using a modem-router and a regular SIM card of any operator, are widely used to maintain and adjust the specified parameters.

Our equipment is used in almost all climatic zones from the far north to dry and humid tropics (Iran, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Bangladesh, etc.).

The equipment can be manufactured in a corrosion-resistant and explosion-proof design.
Improvement of technological equipment, improvement of its technical characteristics makes it necessary to increase the technical characteristics of the cooling system and heat exchange devices. The task is to increase the period of trouble-free operation of the system under conditions of vibration loads, increase the period between preventive cleaning of heat exchangers from contamination, and reduce mass and dimensions.

These tasks are successfully solved by the heat exchange equipment department of the “Nicmas” Concern.

HEAT RECOVERY

Constantly rising prices for energy carriers force us to reconsider the approaches to the energy efficiency of the used equipment to a large extent. For example, in a screw oil-filled compressor unit, all electrical energy to drive the compressor is actually converted into heat. At the same time, more than 90% of this heat is released into the environment by the cooling system of the compressor unit. At the same time, additional heat from an external source (boiler plant, thermal power plant, etc.) is used to ensure various technological cycles, household needs for heating and hot water supply. The use of a heat recovery system allows you to save more than 70% of the heat energy diverted from the compressor unit, directing it to heating water or other process fluids. The recovery system is built into the oil circuit of the compressor and consists, as a rule, of an “oil-water” heat exchanger (the use of an additional “air-water” heat exchanger is possible), a shut-off and regulating valve, a circulation pump (if necessary) and connecting pipelines.

To create a recovery system, it is necessary to know the technical characteristics of the compressor, its mode of operation, qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the hot water consumed. There are quite a lot of recuperation options: from direct heating of artesian water to work as part of individual or central heating points.

No less significant is the energy utilization of low-potential heat sources (LHP). How DNT can be used:

• drainage of coal and mine mines;
• sewage;
• heat of waste gases of metallurgical and other industries;
• heat of the output stream of mine ventilation;
• the energy of a low-potential pair of turbines, and with unstable parameters too;
• natural sources of natural origin (earth heat, water, solar energy, etc.).

Recycling systems are developed on the basis of highly efficient heat pumps of steam compression and absorption types, steam screw machines, etc.

Automatic control systems are widely used to maintain and adjust the specified parameters, such as smart remote monitoring and control systems using a modem-router and a regular SIM card of any operator.

The use of DNT utilization systems makes it possible to additionally produce thermal and electrical energy, reduce operating costs for energy production, and improve the environmental situation.

The “Nicmas” concern performs a full range of works on heat utilization and recovery systems: from conducting an audit to supplying and installing the finished system.

The main activity of the “Nicmas” concern is engineering projects in the field of compressor and power engineering, modernization and technical rearmament of enterprises.

The following projects have already been created and continue to be worked on:

• stationary and mobile compressor stations and installations of various modifications;
• rotary blowers and gas blowers;
• nitrogen stations and installations;
• oxygen generators;
• automobile gas filling compressor stations and installations;
• oil cleaning equipment;
• heat pumps;
• degasification and utilization of mine methane and biogas plants;
• special ball valves for working with aggressive environments;
• heat exchange equipment;
• mobile pumping and welding units;
• assemblies and spare parts for more than 2,000 types of steam turbines of thermal power plants and thermal power plants, as well as all types of casting.

Areas of development of the engineering department of electronic and electrical engineering products of the “Nicmas” Concern

1. Smart control systems, visual monitoring of parameters, protective interlocks, protective shutdown of local compressor units, taking into account the controllers of Siemens, Schneider-Electric, ComAp, Allen-Bradley and others.

2. Smart control systems based on Siemens controllers for UKG-5/8 compressor gas utilization units for the utilization of methane by burning it in a special chamber and preventing the release of harmful greenhouse gas methane (CH4) into the atmosphere.

3. Smart control systems based on Siemens, Schneider-Electric controllers for SGV-type stations, which are designed for natural gas compression and uninterrupted supply of industrial gas turbines with fuel gas, as well as for use as a compression compressor in industries where compressed gas with specified parameters.

4. Smart control systems based on ComAp, Allen-Bradley controllers for compressor units for compression of hydrocarbons (gasoline vapors) and their liquefaction in interstage condensate traps.

5. Smart management systems based on Siemens, Schneider-Electric controllers for AAVN type stations, which are designed to obtain nitrogen gas with a concentration of up to 97% from atmospheric air and then supply it to the consumer.

6. Smart control systems based on Siemens controllers for compressor units for compressing coke gas and other explosive environments.

7. Smart systems based on the controllers of the companies Siemens, Schneider-Electric, ComAp, Allen-Bradley, etc. for accounting of mine gas (volume flow, concentration of methane CH4, carbon dioxide CO2, oxygen O2, etc. technological equipment of mines.

8. Smart systems for remote monitoring and control of the entire nomenclature of compressor equipment produced by the company using a modem-router and a regular SIM card of any operator.

9. Design, development and implementation of “turnkey” smart solutions after pneumatic audit in accordance with the Customer’s technical requirements.