Vimodrone, February 2023 - GraniteFuel Engineering is a Canadian company founded in the late 1980's. It specialises in the development, design and integration of biogas upgrading plants for various applications such as reciprocating engines, turbines, CNG and gas utility systems.
GraniteFuel Engineering chose Mattei as a partner for its production cycle operations that require the use of quality compressed gas.
Since the 1990s, the Canadian company has become part of the DCL Technology Group, a North America-based multinational that is a global leader in the design, manufacture and implementation of advanced emission control systems for stationary and mobile internal combustion engines and siloxane removal solutions, internationally recognised as an industry benchmark for quality and reliability.
The story of this strong multinational began in 1986 when it was established under the name Diesel Controls Limited. Just ten years later, in 1996, the company changed its name to DCL International to reflect its growth and entry into the stationary engine and alternative fuel (liquefied petroleum gas - LPG) markets. The Canadian company continued its expansion and in 2011 came to Europe, maintaining family ownership and management, and created DCL Europe GmbH, with a headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany. In 2014, it also strengthened its position in the United States, where it first set up a production plant and sales & logistics offices in Houston, Texas, allowing it to carry on expanding throughout North America and Europe.
DCL International pays special attention to environmental sustainability: its mission is 'To preserve and improve the environment in which we live'. A real and constant commitment that has enabled the company to obtain not only ISO 9001:2015 certification for its research, design and production of emission control technologies, but also American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) certifications for the construction of heat exchangers and other high-pressure vessels.
GraniteFuel Engineering is part of this international group, whilst also maintaining a family management structure. It has a unique approach that ensures maximum flexibility in plant design and integration, as well as maximum efficiency at every stage, from design to final implementation and commissioning.
The core business of GraniteFuel Engineering is the supply of turnkey continuous biogas recovery and preparation plants, designed to provide clean renewable natural gas that can be used as fuel or fed into the distribution network.
The plants include a system that draws in raw biogas which contains contaminants that must be removed. The raw gas is cooled by passing through a series of heat exchangers and filters, whereby the contaminants change state and are transformed into liquids and solids that can then be filtered and extracted. The biogas at this point is contaminant-free and ready for use.
The system is equipped with a series of Mattei Gas Compressors that automatically start up in sequence to match gas production to system demand.
The Mattei Gas compressors were selected after a careful examination of products on the market and were chosen for their simple, robust, compact and integrated design which made them easier to install than competitor compression technologies and allowed them to be placed outdoors despite adverse local weather conditions.
Thanks to the seamless integration with plant operations, the system selectively activates Mattei's compressors to minimise power consumption and maximise plant reliability and efficiency.
"Many biogas upgrading manufacturers rely on the end customer to source the gas compressors independent of the membrane system, and it is the end user who has to complete the system. Our approach benefits the customer through a complete turnkey installation with single source responsibility" explains Jay Daran, Marketing Manager at GraniteFuel Engineering. "What fascinates me about Mattei’s gas compressors are their simplicity and compactness: the entire system is packed into one integrated device”.
Mattei gas compressors also have other advantages which led the company to choose them: "they offer flexibility, as they can be started up sequentially to maximise energy efficiency while providing the necessary excess to ensure that the system remains operational, even if one machine should be unavailable or temporarily reduced in its operational capacity", comments Jay Daran.
Reliability is an essential feature of Mattei gas compressors, especially because of where they are located within the plant; feeding raw biogas into the plant pipeline and dispatching clean biogas into the network pipeline or to the engine that is to be powered.
"Furthermore, thanks to both the materials used and their design, the compressors can be placed outdoors and exposed to the elements without the need for additional dedicated protection", Daran continues.
Another factor also played a role in GraniteFuel Engineering’s final choice: "Mattei also beat the competition on the delivery schedule. With all the difficulties we are facing in supply chains, having a reliable partner with a product that fully meets our standards is an important competitive advantage."
Compact, integrated, efficient, reliable and robust: Mattei gas compressors are increasing market share across Canada and North America.
