There are many examples of a blower being utilized to boost pressure into a subsequent higher pressure compressor. Whether it is a screw, centrifugal or recip. does not make a difference. What will make a difference is the gas characteristics that you are trying to compress and the robustness of the solution you are looking for.
Engine superchargers and turbochargers are essentially the same as what you are asking. In vacuum a pd blower is used to boost the performance of pump. The issue is that each system can only take so much boost before you exceed the capabilities of the downstream unit(compressor, engine,etc).
I've deployed several flooded screws in front of recips (never was thrilled with the screw-cip, the package looked like the worst of all worlds). A blower in front of a recip has most of the same issues.
It is crucial with this arrangement that you have VERY robust liquid removal between the machines. Water vapor in very low pressure gas is a big number, and a lot of it will condense between the two machines. If you are not ready for it, your recip will always be down on high inlet scrubber level.
there are many applications using a centrifugal compressor upstream of a reciprocating compressor. needs to have good controller logic to work well. this arrangement has many benifits. high volume flow through the centrifugal to boost pressure to achieve a volume flow more suitable for the recip which is quite good at boosting pressure further. this is good solution when the total flow is too big for the recip and you don't want to invest in a super large reciprocating compressor.
John
