COMPRESSED AIR, VACUUM, AND GENERATORS It is always best to operate a business with minimal maintenance costs, while achieving efficiency and reliability targets. However, industries such as gas compression present many challenges, and keeping key equipment like reciprocating compressors in prime condition requires considerable expertise. For an Air Products plant in South Africa, losing up to 20% of output due to frequent downtime for more than 10 years was solved by a range of solutions from Burckhardt Compression that got the process back on track. Tackling hydrogen Sealing dry-running hydrogen compressors is particularly challenging; maintaining effective seals to prevent the escape of the smallest molecules in existence is a complex task. For Air Products, two non-Burckhardt 38 HYDRAULICS & PNEUMATICS November/December 2025 www.hpmag.co.uk Overhaul restores performance in failing hydrogen compressors Frequent failures in two dry-running hydrogen compressors at an Air Products plant led to major downtime, energy losses and spiralling maintenance costs. A comprehensive overhaul by Burckhardt Compression resolved chronic sealing and performance issues, restoring reliability, cutting leakage and significantly improving efficiency after more than a decade of operational problems. additional downtime, but the leakages equated to lost revenue as well. Air Products called in Burckhardt Compression to establish the sources of the problems and to propose long-term engineering solutions. The initial investigation showed that the sealing elements and the piston rods were at the heart of the problem. Internal leakages were causing reduced gas flow as well as temperature issues and a significant loss of efficiency. The root cause analysis identified several areas for improvement, including a redesign of second-stage packing case assemblies and a piston rod refurbishment. The project would also involve the creation of a new piston ring set and upgrading the materials to the latest design along with the renewal of the cylinder liners. Delivering the repair strategy The execution of the refurbishment project was carefully planned to optimize delivery and minimize downtime. New parts were manufactured and delivered to site to enable one compressor to be overhauled while the second remained in service. Once complete, the renewed compressor was recommissioned and work began on the second unit, while performance data on the first machine Compression dry-running hydrogen compressors were a cause for very high maintenance costs and wearing parts were being replaced every month. This not only caused increased costs and ABOVE: Keeping key equipment like reciprocating compressors in prime condition requires considerable expertise. LEFT: Upgrade of rings & sealing elements with newest design.
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