PUMP
&
TURBOMACHINERY
equipment review
68
SEPTEMBER
2014
fuel stations, small scale marine, skids and customised packaging
solutions, etc.
Ebara Cryogenic pumps are applied in three configurations:
Serving aboard LNG carriers are Model EC units with
complete power feed and deck penetration assemblies.
Suction vessel mounted pumps (Model ECC) are single stage
transfer pumps or multi-stage for vaporiser and send-out for
land and floating services.
ECR retractable for LNG storage tank installations within
columns contain the pump and provide the discharge. Pump
weight opens a spring loaded suction valve allowing pump
removal from a loaded tank.
Ebara Cryodynamics’ expanders directly produce
approximately 3 - 5% increased plant output while generating
substantial electricity as a peripheral benefit.
Elliott Group
E
lliott Group has been a leading supplier of centrifugal
compressors for base-load LNG plants since the beginning of
the commercial LNGmarket in 1964. Today, more than 100 Elliott
compressors are operating in LNG plants around the world with
over 70million tpy of capacity.
Elliott’s reliable compressor technology is unmatched for the
temperature extremes encountered in refrigeration applications,
such as propane and mixed refrigeration services for LNG and
propane/propylene services for petrochemical processing. Large
frame centrifugal compressors are available in both horizontally
and vertically split designs.
Propane refrigeration applications in LNG service pose
extreme process demands. These applications generally entail
high molecular weights, low temperatures and variations in
volumetric flows. Large volume side-streams are common.
Elliott’s experience in meeting these challenging conditions
ensures an accurate fluid dynamic design, a broad operating
range, minimum pressure loss and maximum efficiency.
Customer-specific testing capabilities for LNG applications
are available at Elliott’s manufacturing facilities in the US and
Japan, including full-load string testing with a gas turbine driver
over 100 000 hp (74.6MW).
GE Oil & Gas
G
E Oil & Gas is a leading supplier of turbomachinery and pump
technologies for offshore and onshore applications.
For Australia’s Gorgon field, GE provided massive
turbogenerator train modules shipped from its advanced module
construction facility in Avenza, Italy.
GE turbocompression equipment is also supporting some of
the world’s first FLNG projects and its compression trains are vital
elements of the liquefaction process.
In 2013, GE announced it would supply Statoil with
aeroderivative gas turbine equipment, including LM6000
aeroderivative gas turbine technology for mechanical drive and
the innovative SeaSmart Offshore Package Solution. The
technology was selected for Statoil’s Aasta Hansteen project –
the first installation of an LM6000mechanical drive system for
offshore use.
For onshore projects, GE is supplying its turbomachinery for
the Yamal LNG project in Russia, and, in January 2014, GE
announced it would supply Total S.A. with two single-stage
Integrated Compressor Line (ICL) units for a new compressor
station project that will boost domestic natural gas development.
ICL combines GE Oil & Gas compressor technology and
GE Power Conversion motors and drive systems.
To support the development of unconventional resources, GE
is also expanding its portfolio by building its artificial lift and
industrial gears capabilities, as well as manufacturing capabilities
for smaller scale LNG systems, including through its recent
acquisitions of Lufkin and Salof.
Hitachi
H
itachi, a world leader in electronics and industrial machinery,
has manufactured over 3000 compressors, including 1000
sets of centrifugal compressors during the past 99 years. The
company’s compressor clients benefit from various technological
features, including in-house design automation (CAD) systems,
high performance and high efficiency impellers and vaned
diffusers, and the recent implementation of sophisticated rotor
dynamics analysis and high pressure compressor design.
Hitachi utilises advanced technology to reduce initial and
operational costs for compressor installations. The company
supplied the first unit to LNG service in the 1990s and it rapidly
became a major player in this field due to the company’s
emphasis on R&D, accurate project execution and well trained
customer services. Hitachi’s LNG application varies widely from
0.4 tpy to 4.7 tpy and contains the following compressor
applications in the LNG liquefaction process:
MR compressor.
Feed gas compressor.
End flash gas compressor.
Regeneration gas compressor.
Boil-off gas (BOG) compressor.
KANFA Aragon
K
ANFA Aragon is among the world leaders in FLNG
liquefaction solutions. Its technology is based on the Dual
Nitrogen Expander Cycle, providing safe, reliable and compact
liquefaction of natural gas for LNG export.
The technology comprises a nitrogen refrigerant stream
being pre-cooled in the cryogenic heat exchanger before a slip
stream is expanded over the ‘warm’ turboexpander to provide
bulk refrigeration in the warm and medium temperature range.
The turboexpanders are up to Frame 6 and are qualified with
active magnetic bearings to avoid lube oil to pollute the nitrogen
refrigerant. The remaining nitrogen is cooled further and then
expanded over the ‘cold’ expander to provide refrigeration in the
cold section of the system.
After the expansion, cold, low-pressure nitrogen gas streams
at -160°C are returned to the cryogenic heat exchanger, providing
refrigeration to the incoming nitrogen and natural gas to be
liquefied. The work generated in the expansion turbines, which
are loaded by compressor ‘brakes’, will be used to boost up the
