Xebec is a company with more than 53 years of experience in air and gas purification, and started in the dehydration business for natural gas, afterwards they developed the natural gas dryers since the 90’s.
In 2004, new renewable gases purification divisions were created at Xebec, BGX for Biogas and H2X for Hydrogen for their respective solutions.
Then in 2009 they became a publicly traded company on the TSX Canada.
In 2014 they launched their Natural Gas Filtration line, and afterwards in 2016 they launched their Natural Gas Vehicle Filtration line.
XEBEC Project Bioloie France
A strategy for filtration before and after compression is very important in operations, according to Daniel. You have to take car of any residual oil or dust particles that can be found in the gas stream. But then there is water, but it can’t be removed with filtration, so that’s where the dryers come in.
The main proposal from Daniel is that once you share your inlet conditions, Xebec designers will determine and calculate what type of dryers a customer would need, up to even a fully automated dryer which doesn’t require any operators on site, because this type of systems regenerate periodically.
Particularly for CNG stations, is very important to guarantee that you understand that when you have even small amounts of water in your inlet flow, once you compress that gas it acts like a sponge. All that moisture will be squeezed and will be more noticeable making more vulnerable the main equipment in your station (the compressor), is not transferring water downstream and even to your vehicles.
Xebec dryers can guarantee 0.5pounds of water per million cubic feet. That’s about 7ppm, meaning -40ºC dew point.
Daniel explains that their adsorption systems work avoiding all of the moisture and dust to go into the compressor; the water will move to all of your piping, increasing corrosion; and ultimately can go into the vehicles implicating ulterior problems.
A very wide range of units are available, from ½ inch systems to even 8 inches diameter for any facility handling Natural Gas.
According to Daniel, it is very important to have present that CNG Stations that receive RNG (Renewable Natural Gas) need to be very aware that depending on the technology being used to produce that RNG, the water content in those streams often have a higher residual water content. Since this gas is not as dried, Xebec recommends a fully automated dryer that will regenerate every day. So from my perspective, countries that have not started having RNG injected to the grid, would eventually receive it, so having your station ready it’s a big deal.
Not only that Xebec is importantly collaborating with several RNG producers
Xebec has a lot of upcoming projects despite COVID-19. The balance sheets are strong, and Xebec continues to experience growth in 2020 in all of the business segments. On the industrial segment, they are putting all the effort and investment into building a good service network. Also they announced a couple weeks ago the acquisition of the AirFlow company in North Carolina, US with the scope to maintain all of their equipment. On the other hand, in the Clean Tech segment, it continues to expand, focusing on the renewable natural gas upgrading, also with the launch of the Biostream product, a containerized solution which is suited for the small scale biogas facilities (below 300SCFM). This unit complements the larger PSA units for flow rates above 300SCFM.
Xebec came up with this idea to tackle the need of many farm and dairy producers, and waste disposals, to transform the Biogas into Biomethane for reselling and reinjection into the pipeline.
PSA Systems
A PSA or Pressure Swing Adsorption System works on the principle of preferential “adsorption” or adhesion of certain gas molecules onto a solid adsorbent material under pressure, and the reversible nature of the process to release the adsorbed molecules at low pressure. Pressurized feed gas is introduced to a vessel filled with adsorbent and the gas stream is purified as certain molecules are adsorbed onto the material inside the vessel. The “purified” product gas flows from the top of the vessel at pressure. Once the vessel has reached its adsorbent capacity, the gas flow is “switched” to a fresh column and the pressure is reduced in the loaded vessel to release the adsorbed molecules at low pressure as “exhaust” gas, thereby regenerating the adsorbent for another cycle. This process is fully reversible and repeats itself to provide a continuous flow of purified gas. Multiple beds are used to allow for near continuous process flows.
Xebec Biostream
Xebec has conceptualized containerized and automated BGX BiostreamTM units, which generate renewable natural gas (biomethane) from biogas. This biogas comes from the anaerobic digestion of waste materials in municipal landfills, wastewater treatment plants, and anaerobic digesters processing agricultural and industrial organic wastes.
The BGX BiostreamTM unit has a capacity of 55 to 140 SCFM (90 to 225 NCMH) while the BGX Biostream+TM unit has a capacity of 55 to 280 SCFM (90 to 450 NCMH), allowing them to convert biogas into 97%+ pure biomethane, with 98.5%+ methane recovery.
These innovative and scalable small-scale BGX BiostreamTM units consume significantly less energy when converting biogas to RNG, which supports our clients’ goal to contribute to the worldwide investment in clean energy while enhancing project profitability.
Daniel explains that what’s coming next for Xebec is Hydrogen. There is a significant interest in using hydrogen as a transportation fuel and energy storage solution, and Xebec has the technology to purify Hydrogen up to 99%, which position the company in a wonderful place for the next few years.
Here’s what we discuss in this episode:
- On How Daniel Routhier got into the Natural Gas Business (3:39)
- About Xebec and the Biogas, Hydrogen and Natural Gas Divisions (5:30)
- What’s the importance of filtration and drying at your CNG station(11:00)
- About water content while compressing natural gas (16:15)
- What happens if your CNG station doesn’t have a dryer (21:15)
- What are the special filtration needs for RNG refueling stations (29:45)
- About the importance of tackling the small size dairy farms and Biogas producers (36:05)
- On the focus of Hydrogen for Xebec (37:45)
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