In September 2007, a major power generation company received the order from a Chinese steel manufacturer to build the first large blast furnace gas (BFG)-fired combined-cycle power station in China.

In 2008 the power generation company supplied, among other things, two gas-turbine driven centrifugal compressor branches with EagleBurgmann gas seals in a tandem arrangement and put them successfully into service in December 2009.

Blast furnace gas (BFG) is generated during steel production as a by-product of coal combustion and iron ore melting in blast furnaces and is normally burned off.

In this case, the BFG is conditioned and can be used as fuel gas in combined gas/steam power stations with high efficiency and simultaneously low emissions. The recovered energy can either be used in the steel mill or fed into the public power grid.

This seal solution is based on a previously used compressor application designed for the natural gas liquefaction in Qatar.

In addition to the maximum nominal seal size of 390 mm, the special challenge for EagleBurgmann was to prove to the power generation company that this EagleBurgmann gas seal can be reliably operated at a temperature of up to 250°C and a minimum speed of 95 rpm.

All tests, both at EagleBurgmann's test site and on the power generation company’s compressor test rig in Massa, were executed successfully.

This gas seal solution is the largest and hottest gas seal in the world and the first reference in operation worldwide. This reference is so significant to the power generation company that EagleBugmann received several letters of thanks after the successful commissioning, a true testament to prove you can rely on EagleBurgmann for quality seals to meet any application.