John Crane, a global leader in rotating equipment solutions, and a business of Smiths Group plc, today announced the launch of the Type 93AX Coaxial Separation Seal – a next generation dry gas sealing solution engineered to help customers reduce emissions, improve equipment reliability, and lower operational costs.
The Type 93AX builds on John Crane’s legacy of industrial sealing expertise with a robust, fail-safe design that remains operational even in the event of multiple failure scenarios. Designed based on direct customer feedback, test data indicates the mechanical seal reduces nitrogen consumption by up to 80%, compared to conventional radial separation seals – offering significant efficiency and sustainability benefits.
Addressing real industry challenges
Research has shown that contamination is a significant contributor to dry gas seal failures, making it one of the leading causes of unscheduled maintenance and equipment downtime. The Type 93AX is engineered to prevent oil ingress from the compressor bearing chamber, minimising this risk and supporting more reliable, continuous operation.
According to Deloitte, unplanned downtime costs the global process industries an estimated US$50 billion annually, with equipment failure responsible for 42% of that unplanned downtime. In energy and process applications, this can result in losses of up to US$42 million per facility per year, on average.
The Type 93AX is designed to mitigate both performance and financial risks by extending the reliability of the dry gas seal system and reducing demand on supporting infrastructure such as nitrogen (N2) generators and air compressors.
Three operating scenarios for added resilience
The seal supports three operating modes and automatically adapts in failure situations to minimise disruption and contain gas or oil migration:
- Scenario 1 – standard operation: non-contacting operation provides positive oil ingress mitigation.
- Scenario 2 – separation gas loss: maintains non-contacting operation and oil control even without separation gas.
- Scenario 3 – dry gas seal failure: restricts process gas leakage during compressor shutdown (up to 35 bar), while maintaining seal integrity up to 70 bar.
Supporting operational and sustainability goals
The Type 93AX helps contribute to sustainability goals through reduced emissions and lower energy usage. By cutting nitrogen use by up to 80%, it decreases demand on N2 generation systems – a source of both energy consumption and cost. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), improving industrial efficiency could cut global energy use by 12% by 2040, further underlining the importance of solutions like the Type 93AX.
Mike Eason, Chief Technology Officer at John Crane, said: «Our customers told us they wanted a separation seal that increases safety, efficiency, and reliability. The Type 93AX delivers on these priorities. It is designed to keep working in real-world failure conditions to protect their most critical assets, and reduce environmental impact, while driving down OPEX and CAPEX.
Eason continued: «The new seal is compatible with John Crane’s dry gas seal portfolio and is supported by a global network of over 200 facilities, including manufacturing, sales and services, and 13 global turbo service centres in more than 50 countries. It can be sold as part of a bundled first-fit order or compressor upgrade, or supplied as a stand-alone product to meet customer-specific requirements.”
