Nevada-based Electra-Therm announced February 23 that its Texas distributor, Gulf Coast Green Energy (GCGE), just completed a 2,000-hour test run on an organic Rankine cycle (ORC) waste-heat recovery device enabling distributed power generation at natural gas compression stations.

In the test, the ORC tapped waste heat from an internal combustion engine (ICE) driving the natural gas compressor. The ORC, dubbed the “Green Machine,” captures the heat from the engine’s cooling-jacket water, converting it into electricity.

“GCGE teamed with a natural gas compression services company and a South Texas natural gas field to show that the ElectraTherm machine could be used effectively on a gas compressor engine,” according to the company.

“This project marks the first commercial ICE application of the Green Machine, which captures surplus heat from a Waukesha 5794 [ICE] and generates emission-free electricity that can be used for on-site power needs or supplied to the local electricity grid.”

In an interview with Hart Energy, GCGE CEO Loy Sneary told us that the ORC employs R-245FA (pentafluoropropane) as the working fluid.

Asked about the cost of the technology and the payback for the operator, Sneary told us that “we don’t quote a [standard] price” for the technology. “Each project is different. Different heat recovery equipment is required. So the price is different on each project.”

Numerous gas compressor stations could be targets for ORC retrofits, he added. “This is energy efficiency at its best, and we expect to see many more ICE applications in the future,” he said.