The Future
From its humble beginnings as a purpose made gas-powered battery charger, the scope of the ZoneGen is quite vast.
As the unit can easily be designed to operate at very high pressures and utilising the high gas flow rates available from a gas well, it is possible to obtain significant power output (megawatts) from the same basic design. This application will find a home on the larger manned production platforms replacing gas-burning generators. Where logistics permit, excess power produced on location may be sold to a national grid thereby offsetting installation costs and producing additional revenue for the life of the well.
It is worth noting at this point that no gas is lost from the system when operating a ZoneGen. Energy is extracted from pressure drop alone. As pressure drop is usually required anyway for distribution purposes, the energy recovered is the same energy previously wasted and given off in produced heat.
In addition to offshore production, the ZoneGen has an application in remote land based installations where it is difficult to use other forms of generation. A Diesel generator need regular fuelling and maintenance and contributes to pollution. The ZoneGen does not.