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Turbomachinery
Classic networking
Natural gas: transportation of this sought-after raw material is based on efficient
technology, minimal environmental impact – and trust.
Chief engineer Heidi
Bernhardt – for more than
20 years Gascade has
relied on technology by
MAN Diesel & Turbo.
Natural gas – to ensure supplies of the important
commodity to industry and consumers
worldwide, we mainly rely on a
vast network of pipelines. In the case of Europe, for
example, it is especially the network in Germany
which is of strategic importance due to its central
position. Pipelines, gas storage facilities and compressor
stations – one of the main operators of
this key infrastructure in Germany is Gascade
Transport GmbH. Responsible for the transportation
of around one-fifth of the gas that flows
through Germany, Gascade is part of a consortium
of the industry giants BASF (Germany) and
Gazprom (Russia) – and a long-term customer of
MAN Diesel & Turbo.
According to engineer Heidi Bernhardt, who is in
charge of systems engineering at Gascade: “Almost
all our compressor stations are equipped
with MAN technology – whether turbines or compressors.”
And that is not a recent development, as
she emphasizes: “We have been working very suc-
[3]
cessfully with MAN Diesel & Turbo and its predecessor
companies for more than twenty years
since the establishment of our parent company
Wingas.” In fact, they have links with several MAN
technology locations, for example the turbomachinery
works in Oberhausen in the west of
Germanyor the Swiss site in Zurich.
In comparison with other fossil fuels, natural gas
is relatively environmentally friendly. However,
Gascade makes sure that this does not just apply
to its end use as a fuel. Thanks to the employment
of efficient technologies, energy consumption
and emissions in the transmission of the gas are
kept as low as possible. As a lighthouse project
Gascade has set up a compressor station in German
Mallnow close to the Polish border. “Mallnow
is a central hub in our transmission network,”
states Heidi Bernhardt: “Natural gas comes into
Germany here from the Russian gas fields via our
Polish neighbors.”
Four MAN compressors are used in Mallnow for
the onward transfer of the gas. These are driven
by three of the company’s gas turbines. The
special feature here is a steam turbine that acts
as the fourth drive unit, fuelled by steam
generated out of the gas turbines exhaust heat.
The innovative concept of Gascade and MAN
Diesel & Turbo is working well and the output
of the station has been increased by around a
quarter – all this without interrupting ongoing
operation, without additional energy inputs and
without additional emissions.
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