The energy sector is undergoing significant changes due to environmental concerns. This has stimulated the search for new energy sources, such as solar and wind power generation, and new energy carriers, such as biofuels, green hydrogen, or ammonia.

 

It has also increased efforts to improve and optimize existing technologies and processes, such as eliminating unnecessary emissions or improving efficiency. KNF is proud to play an important role in both areas and to be part of the solution to this great global challenge.

Future Hope with Challenges

Hardly any vision of a carbon-free energy economy can do without the use of hydrogen gas or hydrogen carriers like ammonia. The gas has great potential for both energy transportation and storage. However, Hydrogen also presents its share of challenges. In addition to being highly volatile and explosive, hydrogen has other challenging properties, including leakage and a tendency to cause hydrogen embrittlement.

 

With their extremely low leakage and very clean operations, diaphragm pumps are ideal for handling hydrogen. Combined with options such as special explosion protection or customization for hot gases, KNF offers the ideal pump technology for the challenges of this promising media. This also includes pumps for hydrogen carriers like ammonia.

Energy Carriers in Traditional Form, but With a New Origin

Biogas and synthetic gases also known as syngas are also elements of a future green energy sector. These gases are produced from biomass and therefore do not contain fossilized carbon. For these applications to be fully sustainable, it is crucial that no gas escapes into the environment. This requires gas-tight transfer and effective gas recovery, both of which KNF pumps are ideally suited for.

 

KNF pumps also give customers a competitive edge in the production of syngas and biogas. Both types of gas are produced in bioreactors with the help of catalysts that convert raw materials such as biomass or organic waste into valuable products such as synthetic gas or biogas. These reactions often involve complex transformations of carbon-containing compounds. In order to function properly, these catalysts must be fed into or recirculated within the reactor. Incorrect or inconsistent feeding or recirculation can lead to incomplete reactions, reduced efficiency and the formation of unwanted by-products.

 

The precise dosing, flow control and adaptability of KNF pumps ensure efficient reactions and the production of high-quality syngas or biogas. This in turn promotes sustainable energy production and process optimization.

Making Traditional Infrastructure More Sustainable

The energy sector not only produces gas, but also transports and stores it. There is still great potential in this midstream area to make the use of gas more environmentally friendly. The main reason for this is that the transportation and storage of gas inevitably involves the risk of leaks, which not only reduces efficiency, but also causes emissions that are harmful to the climate. Here, KNF pumps can help in the recovery and reinjection or conversion of methane into a system. This can reduce media loss, ensure compliance with environmental regulations, and allow energy solution providers to take advantage of economic incentives tied to methane reduction.

 

However, this is not the only way KNF pumps can help improve midstream efficiency. Content sampling is another area where high quality diaphragm pump technology helps. Monitoring the quality of media, both within pipelines and at compressor stations, ensures a quality final product that is free of contaminants. At the same time, content sampling can help detect leaks reliably and early on. In pipeline applications, for example, sniffers measure the oxygen content of the transferred media. Since leaks not only allow gas to escape into the environment, but air to enter the pipeline, an increase in oxygen is a reliable indicator of a leak upstream of the leak detection device called sniffer.

How Can KNF Support the Energy Transition?

Almost all existing and promising future energy technologies require high-quality pumps. Whether transferring fluids or generating vacuum, they must be leak-tight, clean, efficient, chemically compatible, robust, and reliable. With KNF, customers can customize their pumps to meet the specific needs of their applications, including explosion-proof options with the necessary certifications.

Get in touch to find out how our experts can support your energy technology with cutting-edge pump technology.

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