Air Products AS, Norway, is a leading manufacturer of gas processing systems for offshore, shipboard and land-based use. Being a member of the global Air Products group of companies, it enjoys the benefits of controlling the whole process from basic membrane research and development to systems design and engineering, manufacturing, start-up and service. This gives unsurpassed insight into the many aspects of nitrogen generation by membranes and guarantees the company’s customers an optimized package, free of initial weakness and the insecurity of recently introduced equipment.
PRISM® Systems
PRISM® systems are known for outstanding reliability, simplicity and very low maintenance, and thus an excellent choice for marine and offshore applications. More than 20,000 gas separation systems based on the company’s proprietary PRISM® membrane separators are now in operation or under contract all over the world. The majority of the systems are for various land-based industries although more than 800 systems are for shipboard use. In addition more than 150 systems have been supplied, designed and built by Air Products AS in Kristiansand, Norway for offshore and petrochemical related use.
Because of its robustness and ability to handle very humid air the Prism membranes are well-suited for marine applications. The documented track record of Prism is indeed outstanding. Air Products AS designed and delivered its first marine type membrane N2 Generator System more than 25 years ago and several of the initial systems are still in daily operation.
Firsts for the Application of Membranes
Air Products AS has introduced several “firsts” with regard to application of membranes for onsite/on board N2 generation.
• The first industrial application of membrane for N2 generation
• The first shipboard membrane based N2 generation system for general application (purging, padding of cargo tanks)
• The first shipboard membrane based N2 generation system for cargo tank inerting (“Full inert gas system” in compliance with IMO resolution)
• The first N2 generation system onboard an LNG vessel – replacing the liquid N2 systems
• The first N2 generation system for controlled atmosphere onboard a reefer ship
• The first of “mega size” N2 generator membrane system for “Costa Azul, Mexico” – modification of natural gas supply
• The first membrane based system for natural gas dehydration
The Market Leader
Air Products AS is the market leader with more than 800 marine systems supplied in addition to be the company providing the highest accumulated capacity of all shipboard nitrogen systems.
Thirty years of onboard experience has contributed to offer well-proven, standardized products for marine and offshore oil exploration, fulfilling all major classification societies’ requirements and following IMO resolution for inert gas systems.
Air Products’ experience covers systems in size from 1 m3/h to + 22.000 m3/h. Nitrogen purity can be selected between 95% to 99.9% and feed air by oil lubricated screw compressors is normally in the region between 8-12 bar(g).
