Algeria is the 10th largest country in the world, and here you find the warmest summer and the coldest temperatures during winter in Africa. Bordj Bou Arréridj is considered a crossroad between east and west, north and south. Here SARL MGI own and operate three self-generating CO2 plants, all in super-water-saving-design.
A strong merchant CO2 supplier
SARL MGI is an Industrial gas company created in 2002 approved by the Ministry of Energy and Mines, located in the industrial area of Bordj Bou Arreridj and specialized in manufacturing food grade carbon dioxide intended primarily for manufacturing of beverages in the first place and other industrial activities.
The same year, they were able to press the start button to their first self-generating CO2 plants and sell food grade CO2 to the Algerian market, both as bulk and in cylinders for all relevant customer. The CO2 plant has a capacity of 1,000 kg/h and Pentair Union Engineering delivered the technology. Normally this is a standard CO2 technology, however since water is expensive in this region, a redesign was made as to anticipate this.
90% water savings obtained
Mr. Mecheri is one of the owners of SARL and he recalls; “We considered CO2 technology from different suppliers, the critical issue for us thought was the water consumption. Despite our own water well, and water treatment plant, this is still costly and we wanted to save on this scarce source.
Finally, we chose the solution from Union Engineering, as they understood our need and made a solution that gave us huge water savings. More specifically, we reduced our water consumption from 12 m3/h to 1.2 m3/h, which is at least 64.800 m3 drinking water saved annually or 90% of our water usage in the plant.”
The modified super-water-saving-design in Algeria was the first of its kind. Subsequently approx. 10 of these proprietary technologies have been installed in regions with high focus on saving water.
The remaining water used in the plant is in a closed loop, and the main cooling units are air coolers, which gives only a marginal higher power consumption.
NOxFlash eliminates use of PPM
The demand for merchant CO2 grew and in 2010, SARL MGI bought their second CO2 plant. Once again, the need was a 1,000 kg/h capacity, in the meantime a new and pa-tented technology allowed the plant to operate without use of Potassium Permanganate (PPM) in the purification process – this is called a NOxFlash and has since 2008 been delivered as a standard from Union Engineering in all self-generating plants.
Sales Manager for Pentair Union Engineering, Tom Larsen explains: “The NOxFlash has been a huge success and extremely well received by the market since day one. It allows our customers to avoid the use of PPM, that is both costly to buy and dispose of, damaging to the environment and under strict regulations (UN list of restricted chemicals) when used in most countries worldwide."
The second plant was installed next to the first plant, and in 2016 a third CO2 plant followed, this time a 2,000 kg/h capacity and with same technologies.
Future-oriented CO2 purification
To make sure that SARL MGI could serve their customers at any time and fulfill their commitment, they have chosen to invest in the best possible service package from Pentair Union Engineering; Serious Service GOLD. This allows instant assistance in case needed, as the service department at Pentair Union Engineering has online access to the plants. Every months SARL MGI receive recommendation for adjustments and they have access to 24/7 hotline service.
For further safety, SARL MGI added a CARBOSCAN 300, which is a turnkey, factory-calibrated system for the online process monitoring of CO2 gas, ensuring end-to-end quality assurance.