Study of the performance of a centrifugal air compressor

The air compression stage is the beginning and one of the most important in the air fractionation process to obtain different gases such as Nitrogen (N-2), Oxygen (O-2) and Argon (Ar). Most of the energy required to carry out the separation process is given in this phase. The performance is favored in the isothermal regime and that is why multistage compressors with intermediate cooling are used, in order to keep the air as close as possible to room temperature. The correct operation of the compression process will influence the rest of the operations later. This work presents the analysis of the operation of a centrifugal compressor of the air fractionation plant of the company OxiCuba S.A. located at the municipality of Cotorro, province of Havana, Cuba; for which the behavior of different operation variables such as power and rotation speed within the limits of stability was determined, verifying the correct operation of the equipment. In addition, other thermodynamic variables of interest were determined. For this, a process simulation tool was used, as a support tool to obtain the results of this work.