The engineering principles behind each E4 innovation — from ultra-high-speed rotary mechanics to cryogenic separation and additive-manufactured heat exchangers.
The ECC skid is designed to match the footprint of a small to medium compressor package — 8′ × 25′ — making it deployable at virtually any compression station without civil modifications. All major high-speed components mount on a single rotating shaft, minimizing complexity, reducing maintenance access points, and maximizing operational uptime.
Using ultra-high-speed centrifugal separation, CO₂ is isolated from the engine exhaust stream without solvents or chemicals. The captured CO₂ is discharged in supercritical liquid form at 1,100–5,000 psi — ready for pipeline injection, EOR, or geologic sequestration. At a 15,000 hp compressor station, the ECC system can extract 75,000 tons of CO₂ per year from 70 million CF/day of exhaust.
SOx, NOx, CO, and methane slip are simultaneously captured in the integrated Rotary Separator and released as separate product streams. The system can also generate electrical power from waste heat using an integrated motor-generator — improving overall site economics beyond the 45Q credit alone.
Exhaust capture piping is analogous to standard waste heat recovery installations, and the pilot will be conducted at an active compressor station — demonstrating CO₂ removal rates, processed CO₂ conditions, electric generation output, and overall system efficiency.
The centrifugal supercritical CO₂ separator is the heart of the ECC system. Rotating at 10,000–20,000 rpm, the separator efficiently isolates greater than 99% of CO₂ from the exhaust stream at supercritical conditions — eliminating the need for added compression stages downstream.
Operating at supercritical conditions means the CO₂ is already at pipeline-injectable pressure when it exits the separator, significantly improving the energy economics of the overall system compared to solvent-based capture approaches that require separate compression trains.
The ECC system's heat exchanger is custom-sized to each installation's exhaust temperatures and volumes. Fabricated using additive manufacturing with a lattice-optimized internal geometry, the design increases thermal power exchange by more than 85% compared to conventional heat exchangers — in a dramatically more compact form factor.
Critically, the design operates across both high-temperature exhaust inlet conditions and the cryogenic separation stages within the same skid architecture — eliminating the need for separate heat management equipment and simplifying installation.
Reciprocating compression is responsible for nearly 20% of total methane emissions in the oil and gas sector. Newly installed conventional rod packing can leak up to 60 CFH of process gas to atmosphere; worn packing regularly exceeds 900 CFH. E4's solution eliminates this entirely.
High-pressure nitrogen is injected into two separate porous media packings that encapsulate the compressor rod. A microscopic gas film forms between the rod surface and the media — only pure nitrogen escapes to atmosphere. The process gas side remains sealed at all times. On shutdown, the packing forms a tight, leak-free mechanical seal with no process gas release.
The oil-free piston seal complements the Zero Methane Rod Packing by addressing the other primary source of cylinder contamination — piston lubrication oil. High-pressure gas from the compressor is distributed into porous media on the piston, forming a thin film of gas between the cylinder bore ID and the piston OD.
This frictionless, non-contacting gas film fully supports the piston assembly during reciprocating motion without any oil lubrication. The result is zero oil consumption, zero piston-side lubrication emissions, and reduced friction losses — improving both environmental compliance and mechanical efficiency simultaneously.
The Moving Wall is a patented ultra-high-speed positive displacement rotary machine that functions as both a compressor and an expander. Its design delivers exceptional power density — significantly exceeding conventional rotary technologies at equivalent shaft speeds — enabling a compact form factor without performance compromise.
As the core mechanical component of the ECC system, the Moving Wall Expander recovers energy from the cryogenic CO₂ separation process while the Moving Wall Compressor drives the supercritical output stage — all mounted on a shared rotating shaft. This integrated shaft architecture is fundamental to the ECC system's compactness and energy efficiency.
The E4 high-speed rotary scrubber delivers superior gas-liquid separation in a compact, modular package. Fluid-laden gas enters through the bottom center of the unit and contacts a proprietary rotating separating turbine spinning at high velocity.
The centrifugal force field generated by the turbine drives liquid droplets radially outward to the scrubber wall, where liquid is discharged at high pressure. Liquid-free gas — cleansed to sub-micron particle levels — exits through the top center at line pressure. The modular design allows rapid deployment across compressor inlet, fuel gas, and production separation applications.
Raw well pad gas is a variable-composition fuel with unstable Lower Heating Value and entrained liquid droplets that cause premature cylinder wear and unplanned shutdowns. The E4 Fuel Gas Conditioner solves both problems simultaneously.
Well pad gas is accelerated through proprietary nozzles into an expander that drives the rotor. The isentropic expansion at supersonic speeds drops the gas temperature into the phase envelope, condensing and nucleating liquid particles. Under the high centrifugal loads, these particles collect on the outer wall and are recovered through a pump diffuser at high pressure — routable to the flowline, sales line, or flare header as appropriate.
The E4 Rotary Production Separator delivers 3-phase wellhead fluid separation (oil, water, gas) with integral oil stabilization compression in a single compact unit. Wellhead fluids enter the separator and oil and water are separated rapidly at high centrifugal loads. Lighter oil flows over a weir and is expanded through a bi-phase nozzle into an impulse expander that drives the separator rotor.
Gas expands and moves to the center where rotating structured packing removes liquid to sub-micron levels, delivering liquid-free gas to sales. The integral compressor reduces oil vapor pressure to sub-atmospheric — stabilizing the oil, eliminating associated gas in the stabilized product, and making the oil monetizable while eliminating the need to flare.