The future hold for compressor technology

• Given their fundamental role in transporting gases, compressors will continue to be vital to the energy industry's future. 
  
• Accordingly, in the face of global challenges to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and conserve natural resources, compressor technology will continually evolve to operate with greater efficiency and lower energy consumption. 
  

Since compressors are often driven by electrical motors, they fit well within the progression toward renewable-generated electrical power. Moreover, as alternative fuels such as hydrogen come into the carbon-neutral mix of energy sources, compressors will adapt to move that gas too. 

The challenge of compressing hydrogen fuel gas is maintaining gas purity (which requires non-lubricated components) and achieving high compression ratios. The stress and demands on sealing materials under such conditions exceed those in typical industrial hydrogen compression applications. 

As technology evolves to meet the challenges facing hydrogen fuel gas compressors, the resulting material technology is expected to feed back into many traditional downstream compression applications for further reliability, safety and efficiency advances.