From Italy, to the US, passing through Belgium to finally arrive in Mexico. The journey of the Mattei compressors to be part of this innovative biogas recovery system is certainly a long one.
Glauber Equipment Corporation (GEC) is an American company, based in Lancaster (NY), specialising in the design and production of gas, air and fluid handling systems that meet the needs of a wide range of industries; from food to textiles and also chemicals. With extensive experience gained over more than 50 years, GEC offers both standard and highly-customised solutions as well as a full after-sales service. Founded in 1960, with its innovative solutions GEC is the industry leader on the north-east coast of the United States.
The other player in the project that involves the Mattei compressors is the Belgian company Waterlau, a specialist in the implementation of environmental solutions for industry and local government services, covering air, water, waste treatment and the sector of energy recovery.
The collaboration of GEC & Waterlau was born out of an important project for Grupo Modelo, the largest Mexican beer producer with a 63% local market share and exports extending all over the world of its brands such as Corona, Modelo and Pacifico. Today Grupo Modelo is a subsidiary of the Belgian multinational, Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world leader in the production of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages.
“GEC has a dedicated division (called Glauber Packaged Systems) of specialised engineers producing tailor-made systems for the project needs of our customers all over the world”, says Peter Glauber, GEC President, “Waterlau contacted us with a requirement for one of our systems to be integrated into a digester destined for the Mexican production plant of Grupo Modelo. In the industrial process of beer production, organic waste can be used to profitably deliver the gas requirements. How? Thanks to equipment such as that produced by Waterlau, which recover methane using the anaerobic digestion process to generate biogas. GEC is proud to be part of their system and this international project, which helps to optimise resources in industrial processes by reducing waste”.
At the heart of the system developed by GEC are the Mattei compressors, with their Made in Italy technology: “For the gas compression we needed a compact and easy to integrate machine and we found the solution with Mattei rotary vane technology. Their great efficiency and unquestionable reliability were the other factors influencing our choice” explains Glauber.
“Compressors play a key role in the entire process of methane recovery and as a result we chose a partner of indisputable quality in Mattei. During the anaerobic digestion phase, the Mattei compressor supplies the biogas at the required level to be used in boilers for the fermentation of beer”, adds Glauber.
“The versatility of our gas compressors was fundamental, as it made them easy to integrate into the existing systems”, continues May – “Other well-liked features are their super-sized filters, which allows you to have a high levels of air purity, and the three-stage oil separation which guarantees a longer life for the filtration elements in addition to lowering lubricant consumption”.
The system delivered by GEC to Waterlau in February 2017 is currently awaiting final completion before being delivered to Grupo Modelo in Mexico.