(48a) Retrofit of a Steam Turbine-Driven Centrifugal Compressor with an Electric-Driven Geared Variable SPEED DRIVE

Centrifugal processing equipment in refineries is traditionally driven by steam turbines powered by steam generated in the refining process or by auxiliary boilers.

As new environmental regulations continue to drive reductions in emission levels, steam utilization within plants and the combustion facilities used to generate steam have become a focal point in the effort to reduce emission levels.

In their ongoing process improvement review, a Southern California-based oil refinery identified multiple steam turbine driven applications as candidates for possible emission reduction projects. The first system selected to be modified was an acid blower drive.

The electrification of this drive would allow the refinery to retire an existing auxiliary boiler. This would allow the refinery to realize a reduction in overall emissions as well as avoid the costs of installing state of the art scrubbing equipment on the 30+ year old boiler.

The refinery process required the ability to control the speed of the blower, and an electric/hydrodynamic drive system was selected for this purpose.

The requirements and challenges for the electrification of this system included: providing an API compliant design, reuse of the existing foundation, and maintaining the existing equipment’s centerline position. Furthermore, the project timeline required demolition of the steam turbine and installation of the new system during a 30-day turnaround window.

In this presentation, the authors will discuss the solution selection process as well as identify the advantages of the electric motor-driven hydrodynamic variable speed drive system which was ultimately selected.