Safe, Reliable, and Cost-Efficient Compressed Natural Gas Refueling
Systems Use Revolutionary Ionic Liquid Pistons
Flowserve Corp. (NYSE: FLS), a leading global provider of flow control
products and services for the global infrastructure markets, today
announced it has entered into a joint venture agreement with The Linde
Group, a world-leading gases and engineering company, to commercialize
and deploy iKompressorTM natural gas and biogas
refueling systems.
Called Flowserve Compression Systems GmbH, the joint venture plans to
deliver at least 70 iKompressor refueling systems by 2009 to Germany,
Austria, and neighboring European Union (EU) countries. The iKompressor
systems are designed to reduce energy costs by up to 20 percent at
low-inlet pressures, substantially reduce maintenance costs, and deliver
high system reliability. As a result, station owners should be able to
profitably deliver compressed natural gas to customers.
“The joint venture between Flowserve and The
Linde Group demonstrates our continued engineering and manufacturing
leadership as well as our focus on technology growth opportunities,”
said Lewis Kling, Flowserve President and Chief Executive Officer. “In
addition, delivering safe, cost-efficient and environmentally friendly
natural gas refueling systems to EU countries signifies our commitment
to environmental sustainability.”
Flowserve believes that iKompressor’s ionic
compressor represents a significant leap in technology for multistage
gas compression technology. The iKompressor’s
breakthrough design includes two ground-breaking concepts: the use of
innovative and proprietary ionic liquid as a liquid piston instead of a
conventional fixed metal piston, and efficient gas compression at near
isothermal conditions.
“Combining Linde’s
pioneering technology with leading engineering, manufacturing and
service from Flowserve should revolutionize how compressed gas is
delivered to consumers driving natural-gas vehicles,”
said Tom Ferguson, President of Flowserve Pump Division. “The
Flowserve service and support network is prepared to provide the world’s
most sophisticated compression technology, at the lowest total cost of
ownership.”
“The demand for alternative fuels continues
to increase. In order to meet customer needs, the iKompressor is
designed to deliver the critical element to deliver reliable, safe
service at compressed natural gas and biogas refueling systems,”
said Dr Aldo Belloni, a member of the Executive Board of Linde AG and
responsible for the European business and global engineering operations. “We
are glad to team up with Flowserve in this promising joint venture and
bring in our longtime technology expertise in the further development
and environmentally friendly use of both fossil and alternative fuels.
This joint venture is another example how Linde technology contributes
to preserve our environment and to boost alternative fuels.”
According to recent reports from the European Commission, the EU is
targeting the use of renewable energy at 20 percent, by 2020, when
compared to its total energy consumption. This includes a 10 percent
biofuels target. In Germany, natural gas vehicles are expected to
increase to two million units by the year 2020, according to the
International Energy Association.
The joint venture will be headquartered adjacent to Flowserve (Austria)
GmbH manufacturing facilities in Brunn am Gebirge, a suburb of Vienna,
Austria. As part of the arrangement, Linde will supply the technology,
ionic liquid, and ongoing applied research and development.
In addition to manufacturing the iKompressor refueling systems,
Flowserve plans to service the iKompressors through its "Technology
Advantage" program, designed to help reduce lifecycle costs, increase
equipment life, and maximize reliability.
iKompressor’s Revolutionary Design
Instead of using fixed-piston compression technology, the iKompressor
replaces metal pistons with liquid. Use of liquid in place of solid
pistons significantly reduces the number of moving parts and frictional
losses contributing to energy efficiency and low wear and tear. Station
owners, as a result, can experience at least a ten-fold increase in
maintenance intervals – 10,000 hours between
scheduled maintenance versus 1,000 hours for conventional designs.
Further, the gas compression is performed at constant temperature using
a water-cooled jacket around the compression cylinders. Gas compression
at constant temperature or isothermal is the most efficient
thermodynamic compression cycle possible. Conventional reciprocating
compressors operate on the efficient nearly isentropic compression
cycle. This combined effect results is designed to use up to 20 percent
less energy consumption at low-inlet pressure.
About Flowserve Corp.
Flowserve Corp. is one of the world’s leading
providers of fluid motion and control products and services. Operating
in more than 55 countries, the company produces engineered and
industrial pumps, seals and valves as well as a range of related flow
management services. More information about Flowserve can be obtained by
visiting the company’s Web site at www.flowserve.com.
About The Linde Group
The Linde Group is a world leading gases and engineering company with
more than 50,000 employees working in around 100 countries worldwide. In
the 2007 financial year it achieved sales of EUR 12.3 billion. The
strategy of The Linde Group is geared towards sustainable earnings-based
growth and focuses on the expansion of its international business with
forward-looking products and services. Linde acts responsibly towards
its shareholders, business partners, employees, society and the
environment - in every one of its business areas, regions and locations
across the globe. Linde is committed to technologies and products that
unite the goals of customer value and sustainable development. For more
information, see The Linde Group web site at www.linde.com.
FLOWSERVE SAFE HARBOR STATEMENT: This news release includes
forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the
Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of
1934, which are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended. Words or
phrases such as, “may,”
“should,” “expects,”
“could,” “intends,”
“plans,” “anticipates,”
“estimates,” “believes,”
“predicts” or
other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking
statements, which include, without limitation, earnings forecasts,
statements relating to our business strategy and statements of
expectations, beliefs, future plans and strategies and anticipated
developments concerning our industry, business, operations and financial
performance and condition.
The forward-looking statements included in this news release are based
on our current expectations, projections, estimates and assumptions.
These statements are only predictions, not guarantees. Such
forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and
uncertainties that are difficult to predict. These risks and
uncertainties may cause actual results to differ materially from what is
forecast in such forward-looking statements, and include, without
limitation, the following: a portion of our bookings may not lead to
completed sales, and our ability to convert bookings into revenues at
acceptable profit margins; risks associated with cost overruns on
fixed-fee projects and in taking customer orders for large complex
custom engineered products requiring sophisticated program management
skills and technical expertise for completion; the substantial
dependence of our sales on the success of the petroleum, chemical, power
and water industries; the adverse impact of volatile raw materials
prices on our products and operating margins; economic, political and
other risks associated with our international operations, including
military actions or trade embargoes that could affect customer markets,
particularly Middle Eastern markets and global petroleum producers, and
non-compliance with U.S. export/re-export control, foreign corrupt
practice laws, economic sanctions and import laws and regulations; our
furnishing of products and services to nuclear power plant facilities;
potential adverse consequences resulting from litigation to which we are
a party, such as litigation involving asbestos-containing material
claims; a foreign government investigation regarding our participation
in the United Nations Oil-for-Food Program; risks associated with
certain of our foreign subsidiaries conducting business operations and
sales in certain countries that have been identified by the U.S. State
Department as state sponsors of terrorism; our relative geographical
profitability and its impact on our utilization of deferred tax assets,
including foreign tax credits, and tax liabilities that could result
from audits of our tax returns by regulatory authorities in various tax
jurisdictions; the potential adverse impact of an impairment in the
carrying value of goodwill or other intangibles; our dependence upon
third-party suppliers whose failure to perform timely could adversely
affect our business operations; our dependence on our customers’
ability to make required capital investment and maintenance
expenditures; the highly competitive nature of the markets in which we
operate; environmental compliance costs and liabilities; potential work
stoppages and other labor matters; our inability to protect our
intellectual property in the U.S., as well as in foreign countries;
obligations under our defined benefit pension plans; and other factors
described from time to time in our filings with the Securities and
Exchange Commission.
All forward-looking statements included in this news release are based
on information available to us on the date hereof, and we assume no
obligation to update any forward-looking statement.
Flowserve Corporation
Media Contact:
Lars Rosene, 469-420-3264
Vice
President – Global Communications and Public
Affairs
or
Investor Contact:
Zac Nagle, 972-443-6557
Vice
President – Investor Relations
