RANCH CRYOGENICS, INC.
BLACKSTONE, IL

decided to strike out on his own after a long career which began in Milwaukee WI. in 1966. During these 21 years Mr. Duffy worked for Northern Gases as a truck and trailer mechanic, installed customer stations and customer supply piping, operated and managed several air separation plants and finally found his calling when he was assigned to move 2 69 T/D gaseous oxygen plants from Chicago to Waukesha, WI. The compressors, dryers, refrigeration units and heat exchangers were successfully moved and retrofitted to an existing air separation plant to provide increased liquid nitrogen production for a growing market. Several other plant relocations followed in addition to involvement in new plant construction. In 1987 Mike decided to start his own company and to specialize in relocating existing plants for customers that didn’t have the time or budget to erect a new facility. Since then, we have relocated plants throughout the United States and world including: Korea, Turkey, Papua New Guinea, China, Malaysia, Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago, Peru, Canada and Mexico. We are continuing to provide operating assistance nationwide as needed. In the last few years we have expanded into fabricating control panels, analyzer panels and, very recently, equipment skids. We also have begun providing contractual operating assistance to owners of gas production plants in cases where gas production is not their main expertise. Since air is a simple mixture, liquefying and distilling air provides a process to successfully separate the Nitorgen, Oxygen, and Argon. All ASU’s use this process. The MAC compresses atmospheric air, generally to 60-90 PSIG and delivers it to the system. These compressors are normally driven by electric motors. Interstage coolers are provided to remove heat of compression between each stage of compressor, of which there are normally 2-3. All ASUs except some very small units have expanders. Expanders provide the required refrigeration to produce liquids in the distillation column system. Air, Nitrogen or Waste Nitrogen is fed to the expander, causing the wheel to turn and transfer energy to a compressor, generator or oil brake. This transfer of energy causes the gas to cool. As the process continues, the outlet temperature of the expander eventually reaches design temperature while cooling the column system. There are 2 common types of liquid Argon systems. Many plants don’t provide Argon separation equipment at all. In these cases, most Argon simply exits the ASU with the waste gas. The first type utilizes a crude Argon column that concentrates Argon to 2-3% O2 content from a feed from the low pressure column of 88-92% O2. This crude Argon is warmed and mixed with Hydrogen before entering a catalytic reactor, where the H2 and O2 combine to make water. This wet Argon is then dried and again cooled to cryogenic temperatures after which the H2 and N2 are removed in a separator and distillation column, respectively. All gaseous product. On site gas generators are by far the most common type of ASU. These plants can produce Oxygen only, Oxygen and Nitrogen or Oxygen, Nitrogen and Argon or just Nitrogen. In all cases the gases that are not fully purified are used for refrigeration and vented to atmosphere. These units separate the air in liquid form, but utilize the refrigeration from the liquids before they exit the coldbox. The products come off the coldbox at fairly low pressure and ambient temperature. Product compressors are then used to increase the products to required header pressure. In some processes, liquid products are pumped through the main heat exchangers where they are warmed to ambient temperature at the required pressure. Gas generators typically produce between 10-2000 short tons of combined product. All Liquid Product. This is normally considered a merchant plant. All desired product is liquefied for shipment in cryogenic transport trailers or rail cars. Generally, these units make liquid Oxygen (LOX), liquid Nitrogen (LIN) and liquid Argon (LAR), though in some oil/gas production areas there are large liquid Nitrogen only ASUs. These products are delivered into cryogenic tanks at the users site, where it is either warmed back to a gas before use or used as a liquid. Typically the only users that utilize liquid products are food freezers, oil field service companies or other processes that require very cold temperatures. Liquid plants are typically sized to produce from 150 to 1000 short tons per day of combined product. These ASU’s have an additional section of equipment called a Nitrogen Liquefaction Unit (NLU) to provide the necessary refrigeration to liquefy all products. The NLU is generally the largest power user by far in an ASU. Combined Liquid and Gas Product. Commonly called “piggyback plants,” these ASUs produce mostly gaseous product for pipeline use, but also have NLU’s to produce liquid products for shipment off site. Piggyback plants are generally sized from 300 to 1000 short tons combined product. Many Industrial gas users have made the switch from gas users to gas producers to decrease costs and increase product supply reliability. In all cases it is less expensive for the user to produce industrial gases than it is to purchase them. On site production eliminates the mark up transportation costs of delivered product. All of these units can be designed to run with a minimum of manpower and run unattended a majority of the time. This ASU is offered as a merchant ASU, producing a combination of liquid products or a 150 short ton Oxygen gas unit. The stand alone 300 short ton Nitrogen liquefier is available separately as an addition to gaseous Nitrogen processes where LIN is desired. 307 short tons of combined LOX/LIN/LAR liquid product @ 7700 KW. (Includes 7 short tons of liquid Argon) Liquid and gaseous product production can be easily adjusted to demand by adjusting the production of gaseous Oxygen to atmosphere or to a pipeline customer. ACD Turbo Expanders and cryogenic product loading pumps.