Venture
into the world of industrial turbomachinery and oil & gas solutions
Issue 10 | December 2008
Focus
Simple, safe — and cylindrical
Monitor
New horizons for compression technology
Spotlight
Lofty logistics
Dear Reader,
In this edition we come closer to the nuts and bolts of our industry, looking at equipment both field-proven and new to the market. In Rotterdam, Netherlands, we visit
the third of a new type of FPSO, full of Siemens automation, control and power supply
solutions. We introduce a brand-new compressor (STC-SI) which will be a competitive
advantage for Siemens on the air separation market, and follow the pangs of ageing in
a compressor struggling to maintain its useful life.
We take a close look at the future potential of steam turbines which have been the
mainstay of the Siemens power generation business for the last century! They are the
workhorses of many of our industrial customers. We show how they continue to
advance to meet the technological demands of our changing world, and currently lead
the field in solar thermal technology. Our gas turbines, too, have been meeting some
lofty logistical challenges.
More on the inside pages. Enjoy reading!
Dr. Frank Stieler, CEO
Siemens Energy Sector, Oil &Gas Division
Inside
Inside
20
06
04 News flash Around the world
A solar tower plant in Spain, steam-turbine generators for India, and
an update on Siemens’ STC-ECO sealless motor compressor unit.
06 Focus Simple, safe — and cylindrical
Sevan Marine’s unconventional approach to FPSO design and Siemens’ contributions.
12 Monitor New horizons for compression technology
12
A new range of turbocompressors designed to match the requirements for the latest steam-turbine-driven air separation systems
18Faces Economic growth and ecological stability
Jan-Erik Rydén, head of the gas turbine business, and Markus Tacke,
head of the steam turbine business, have their fingers on the pulse of
market trends, customer wishes and technological potentials.
20Log The Linde Easter story
The demise and resurrection of a compressor at an air-separation plant
in China.
22Spotlight Lofty logistics
A German power authority didn’t want just the standard turbine
package, but expressed the desire for something a little out of the
ordinary.
Imprint
Publisher: Siemens Energy Sector, Oil & Gas Division, Wolfgang-Reuter-Platz, 47053 Duisburg, Germany Responsible: Dr. Uwe Schütz Editorial team: Lynne Anderson (Head),
Manfred Wegner Contact: lynne.anderson@siemens.com Contributing editor: Colin Ashmore Design: Formwechsel Designbüro, Düsseldorf Photography: Florian Sander,
Ralf Thees Lithography: TiMe GmbH, Mülheim Printing: Köller+Nowak GmbH, Düsseldorf.
© 2008 Siemens AG. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical photocopying, or otherwise, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.
December 2008 Venture 03
News flash
1.
1.50 tons of smart compression technology:
the STC-ECO about to be lifted to its testbed
at Siemens’ Duisburg Mega Test Center.
2.In a solar tower plant arrays of mirrors (heliostats)
concentrate the radiation from the sun onto
a receiver at the top of a central tower, and the
energy created is then fed into the power supply
system.
2.
04 Venture December 2008
News flash
Around the world
1. Canned, clean and smart
In its bright yellow cage, roughly 5 x 4 x 5 meters. the clean and
shiny new STC-ECO, together with peripherals such as the cooling
system, forms a neat and eye-catching, skid-mounted compact unit.
Manufactured in Hengelo, Netherlands, the compressor is currently
undergoing three months of in-house testing in Duisburg. This is a
midway stop on the way to Statoil’s renowned K-Lab testing facility
near Stavanger, Norway. Once there, the STC-ECO will be exposed to
all kinds of strain and stress, chemical and mechanical, in order to
determine its suitability for future upstream operations.
This second STC-ECO is the result of a contract agreed September 2007
between Siemens and Statoil, where Siemens undertook the qualification, development, and fabrication of a compact compressor for wet
and non-clean gas applications, and Statoil carried out the subsequent
stringent testing program of the completed compressor under non-clean
gas conditions, simulating real subsea environments.
Said Gerold Hake, responsible for STC-ECO sales and marketing: “At
Statoil’s K-Lab we have the unique opportunity to subject the STC-ECO
to the proverbial ‘acid test’. We expect first results by summer 2009.”
2. Steam turbine for Spanish solar power plant
Siemens has already sold over 40 steam turbines for solar thermal
power plants and is undisputed world leader in this field. This new
order, however, marks a departure from tradition, since it is the first
solar-thermal reference for an SST-600 steam turbine, and is a breakthrough into central tower technology.
The turbine will be a Siemens double-casing SST-600 industrial steam
turbine with a power output of 19 megawatts (MW). The double
casing will protect the turbine from seasonal and even daily variations
in solar radiation, preventing it from cooling and shortening the
pre-operation heating phase. The efficiency of the plant is further
raised by the use of a reheater between the high-pressure and
low-pressure parts of the turbine. This system also protects the turbine
from damp and corrosion. These advantages have also been demonstrated by the larger turbines (50 –80 MW) previously supplied to
thermal solar plants and integrated combined-cycle solar power
plants.
Markus Tacke, head of the Siemens industrial steam turbine business,
observes: “Solar thermal power is one of the fastest-growing markets,
and Siemens’ steam turbines are specially adapted to the needs of
this technology, producing high-efficiency, environmentally friendly
energy. We are proud to be market leader in this field and delighted
to work with Sener in establishing this reference both for the SST-600
turbine and for the solar tower technology.“
3. Steam-turbine generators to India
Illustrating the versatility of the SST-600, the Indian utility Vadinar
Power Company Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Essar Oil Ltd., has
ordered four SST-600 steam-turbine generators for installation in a
cogeneration plant in Vadinar in Gujarat Province.
Siemens will supply two 105-MW steam turbines, two 93-MW steam
turbines and four generators. The four steam turbines will be manufactured in Brno in the Czech Republic, and the generators will be
produced in Erfurt, Germany. In addition, Siemens will supply all instrumentation and control equipment, electrical systems and auxiliaries,
with delivery scheduled for completion by the fall of 2010. As of early
2011, the coal-fired plant will supply power and steam to the
neighboring oil refinery operated by Essar Oil. Commissioning will be
conducted from the Siemens facility in Vadodara, India.
December 2008 Venture 05
Focus
06 Venture December 2008
Focus
Simple, safe —
and cylindrical
Designed as an alternative to conventional ‘ship-shaped’ FPSOs, the Norwegian
company Sevan Marine has designed, developed and is now successfully operating
completely new floating production facilities based on an innovative, patented
cylindrical concept, with automation, control, safety, navigation and telecoms
systems — all supplied by Siemens Oil& Gas Offshore.
While so-called ‘peak oil’ production may
or may not have been passed, it is generally
acknowledged that the boom-times in the
North Sea and other prolific fields have become
a distant memory and ‘easy oil’ is long-gone.
Today, oil companies are being forced to move
to less accessible fields and operate under far
more challenging conditions. This is especially
true for the offshore oil and gas industry,
which has moved increasingly to the development of deepwater reservoirs, while at the
same time tapping smaller fields in shallow
waters. As existing recoverable reserves
continue to dwindle in large fields where
current and mature technologies for drilling
and production have hitherto provided
economically viable solutions, a select number
of specialist companies are now at the forefront of technological development. New and
improved systems are now being employed
which allow a new generation of equipment
suppliers and oilfield operators to exploit
existing marginal fields and ‘stranded’ reserves, as well as to develop new — and frequently
far smaller — discoveries at greater subsea
depths, the ‘final frontier’ for offshore oil and
gas exploration and development.
Floating choice
Among the many new engineering technologies
developed in conjunction with the oil industry
majors, giant floating “ship-shaped” production
and storage vessels have become the system
of choice for the development of an increasing
number of smaller, deepwater oil and gas
fields. These Floating Production, Storage and
Offloading vessels or FPSOs replace the fixed
production platforms and pipeline systems
which produce and export oil and gas from
shallower fields and which are not technically
or commercially viable for smaller, deepwater
applications. FPSOs on the other hand, either
in the form of ship-conversions using existing
hulls, or as new-build vessels, can be towed
out and anchored at the location of the offshore
reservoir to form a ‘hub’ for the producing
wells in the field.
Blowing in the wind
Although current-generation ‘floaters’ provide
a technically sound solution for demanding
deepwater and ultra-deepwater applications,
they include a number of very costly and
technically complex systems, require long
lead-times and are very time-consuming to
December 2008 Venture 07
08 Venture December 2008
Focus
build, demanding the specialized facilities of
a major shipyard. The necessary capacity to
build or convert such large vessels limits the
construction of conventional FPSOs to a small
number of yards worldwide. Ironically, the very
fact that most current-generation FPSOs are
conventionally-shaped ships, designed primarily to move through the water efficiently with
least resistance in one direction only, means
that they are less suited to provide a stable
platform. Under the action of waves and wind,
ship-shaped vessels will tend to swing around
their fixed moorings to point into the wind, an
effect known as ‘weathervaning’. For FPSOs
connected to multiple seabed wellheads by
vulnerable and highly critical umbilicals,
including the production risers carrying crude
oil or gas, excessive relative motion could
prove literally catastrophic. To mitigate the
problem, risers are connected through
swiveling couplings to a large and complex
mooring-structure known as a turret, which can
rotate to counter the effects of weathervaning.
The cylindrical solution
In the light of mounting technical and financial
pressures faced by the offshore oil and gas
industry, some eight years ago Sevan Marine
ASA, a leading Norwegian-based engineering
group specializing in building, owning and
operating floating units for offshore applications, took an entirely fresh look at the
requirements for FPSOs. Overcoming many of
the disadvantages in building and operating
a conventional ship-shaped vessel, Sevan’s
innovative solution was designed for maximum
stability with a favorable motion pattern. The
cylindrical deck can accommodate large and
heavyweight process systems and living
quarters, while the space below the deck is used
for oil and ballast tanks. Fabricated in steel,
this simple, modular, symmetrical design
eliminated entirely the need for complicated
and cost-driving turret and swivel systems. The
design-concept together with standard panel
and block fabrication reduced overall complexity significantly and eliminated the need for
very large-scale construction facilities. This in
turn allowed the widest possible choice of
shipyard, resulting in significant savings in
both cost and delivery time. Model testing was
undertaken in 2001, and the contract for the
world’s first cylindrical production and storage
unit, named the FPSO Sevan Piranema, was
signed with Brazil’s oil-giant Petrobras in 2004.
The hull was built at the Yantai Raffles shipyard
in China and towed to Keppel Verolme shipyard,
Rotterdam for outfitting and assembly of the
processing plant and topsides facilities before
being towed out to the Petrobras Piranema
oilfield off the coast of Aracaju in Sergipe, Brazil,
to start commercial oil production in October
2007.
Star performance
Operating in ultra-deep water, starting at
1,000 meters and later to be moved out to
1,600 meters, and carrying up to 25 risers and
umbilicals, this world-first cylindrical FPSO
passed its 12-month production milestone
Mutual relationship: after Sevan’s Piranema and Hummingbird, the Voyageur is the
third such cooperation between Sevan Marine and Siemens Oil & Gas Offshore, with both
partners learning and advancing from project to project.
December 2008 Venture 09
Focus
Busiest place on-board: the Sevan Voyageur’s control room just three weeks before the scheduled
date of sailing.
Siemens automation and control solutions at the heart of the Sevan Voyageur: 6,000 cables, 4,500 I/Os,
and — all in one row — more than 100 meters of switchgear cabinets.
without any major incident, despite weathering
severe storms. Performing far better than even
the most optimistic projections, the use of
standard, service-proven systems and equipment from long-established suppliers including Siemens, has resulted in outstanding
safety and reliability. With a hull diameter of
60 meters and a circular deck covering an area
of 3,220 square meters, the unit has a loaded
draft of 18 meters. Developed specifically for
operation in deepwater fields with relatively
low yields, the Sevan 300 incorporates larger
processing facilities than comparative conventional FPSOs and can handle a larger number
of risers. Together with the ability to take on
very large loads with large deck and storage
areas, this provides a significant improvement
in cost-effectiveness, while hydrodynamic
stability and overall safety are also significantly
enhanced. During its first year of operation the
Sevan Piranema produced 2.9 million barrels
of oil, exported by 14 shuttle tanker cargoes.
electrical power from the on-board generating
plant is fed to medium- and low-voltage networks throughout the vessel through Siemens
transformers and distribution switchgear,
with safety-critical services backed by uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems. Direct
current supplies for specialized equipment have
also been supplied from the Siemens range,
while all major electric drives are controlled
by Siemens motor control centers. Siemens
Oil & Gas Offshore has also supplied state-ofthe-art automation systems covering process
control and safety systems, including emergency shutdown (ESD) and fire and gas (F&G)
detection and control. Siemens power management and information management systems
have been installed as standard, together with
an on-board simulator for operator training.
In addition, comprehensive telecommunications
equipment from Siemens covers CCTV, video
conferencing and entertainment systems, radio
and satellite communications, telephone,
paging and public address systems, as well as
the FPSO’s navigational aids and general
administration network.
The Siemens connection
Processing up to 30,000 barrels of oil per day,
with a storage capacity of 300,000 barrels and a
gas injection capacity of 3.6 million cubic
meters per day, the Sevan Piranema relies on
Siemens’ systems and equipment to control all
vital operations. The 3.75 megawatts (MW) of
10 Venture December 2008
Four — and counting
Following the first FPSO contract for Petrobras,
Sevan Marine has been awarded four more
contracts for same-size units. Already in
successful production since September 2008,
the FPSO Sevan Hummingbird is the first unit
of this kind operating on Venture Production's
Chestnut field in the harsh UK Central North
Sea. In Fsebruary 2007, Oilexco North Sea Ltd.
awarded Sevan a letter of intent for the third
Sevan 300; at the time of writing, the unit is
ready for tow out and installation at the Shelley
field, also in the Central North Sea. Following
these three first units, another two hulls are
under construction in China, and a second
contract from Venture Production is signed for
one of these Sevan 300s.
Extending the concept
Although the cylindrical design for floating
storage and production vessels is not unique
to Sevan Marine, the company’s symmetrical,
modular, highly-standardized approach
coupled with conventional panel and block
steel fabrication methods has provided an
industry benchmark. Nevertheless, the company is now extending its patented concept
with the addition of an ultra-deepwater drilling
facility. The first of this new generation of
Floating Drilling, Processing, Storage and
Offloading vessels, the Sevan Driller FDPSO is
currently under construction at Cosco’s
Nantong shipyard in China. Designed to
include the most advanced capabilities in the
Focus
“Simple and safe — that’s the beauty of Sevan’s
concept.” Erskine Rozario, Sevan Marine’s site
manager.
industry and with the highest environmental
and safety standards, it will be capable of
drilling wells to more than 12,000 meters in
water depths in excess of 3,800 meters, and
will have a storage capacity of up to 150,000
barrels of oil. On completion the vessel will
be will be entering into a 6 year drilling for
Petrobras operation in ultra-deep Brazilian
waters.
Forward in partnership
As well as extending its world-beating cylindrical-hulled FPSO design to include drilling,
Sevan Marine is looking to use the concept for
a range of other offshore applications. These
include subsea installation and construction,
LNG and LPG gas treatment and as a mobile
service and accommodation platform. Plans
also include the construction of latest-technology ‘gas-to-wire’ power generating installations
with carbon capture and storage capability,
exporting bulk electricity to shore. Described
by Sevan Marine as “the obvious choice” as
a single one-stop-shop supplier, Siemens has
forged a long-term relationship with the
offshore company, working in partnership
through mutual and ongoing trust and collaboration for what is clearly a bright future; for
Sevan’s patented ‘simple, safe — and cylindrical’
concept.
December 2008 Venture 11
Monitor
New horizons for
compression technology
Combining eco-friendly energy efficiency with operational flexibility,
Siemens has developed a completely new range of turbocompressors
designed specifically to match the requirements for the latest steamturbine-driven air separation systems.
The past decade has seen an accelerating
trend in thermal-based industrial processes
towards the capture of ‘waste’ heat, using
thermal energy to generate additional steam,
raising overall thermal efficiency, reducing
fuel consumption and cutting atmospheric
emissions. A significant and increasing number
of these heat-producing ‘exothermic’ processes
incorporate integrated air-separation systems
to provide the very large volumes of highpurity oxygen on which they are all based. These
processes include coal-to-liquids (CTL) and
gas-to-liquids (GTL) conversion technologies as
well as power generation using the integrated
gasification combined cycle (IGCC) process.
Other applications encompass a range of industrial processes including steelmaking, while
12 Venture December 2008
the advance of ‘cleaner coal’ power-generation
systems, including the latest carbon capture
and storage (CCS) technologies, are creating
future new markets. The large majority of the
air-separation systems used in these applications employ the cryogenic distillation process,
which relies on the differences in boiling
points of gases to separate and purify them.
Cool compressors
Essentially a large-scale refrigeration system,
the single most important element in a
cryogenic air-separation plant is the compressor.
In typical operation, filtered air is fed to a
multi-stage compressor train, and contaminants
including carbon dioxide and water vapor are
removed. The compressed air is expanded and
Monitor
December 2008 Venture 13
Monitor
14 Venture December 2008
Monitor
The new STC-SI range of compressors features impellers with diameters of up to
1.8 meters, achieving a volume flow of up to 600,000 cubic meters per hour.
progressively cooled to around minus 185
degrees Centigrade and distilled to produce
process oxygen. The other principal constituent gases, nitrogen, krypton and argon, are
removed separately as saleable by-products.
The temperature of the liquefied oxygen is
raised by heat exchange with incoming hightemperature air, returning it to its gaseous
state before being fed under pressure to the
main production process.
Matching the market
As recently as five years ago around 90 percent of all compressors manufactured and
supplied by Siemens for air separation applications were integrally geared machines
powered by electrical drives and designed for
fixed-speed operation. However, over this
same timescale, the industry has seen a significant and continuing move towards exothermic applications, where steam turbines are able
to provide a more flexible, cost-effective and
technically viable solution as compressor drives.
Today, some 40 per cent of all new sales inquiries are for systems based on steam-turbinedriven compressors. Although rather standard
integrally geared turbocompressors are ideally
suited for fixed-speed applications, they do
not provide an optimal solution for air separa-
tion systems, where speed and outputs must
be varied to meet production requirements.
In order to meet this recent and growing market
demand, Siemens has developed a completely new and innovative range of single-shaft
air separation compressors designed for
either electric motor or steam turbine drives,
matching the operating parameters of exothermic processes and applications.
Innovative range
Designed and engineered by the development
team at the Duisburg production plant, the new
Siemens “STC-SI” range is the result of an
intensive 3-year research and development
program, aimed directly at meeting both the
current and future needs of cryogenic air
separation plants in exothermic applications.
Highly flexible in operation, smaller and more
compact than integrally geared machines
of similar rating, the new compressors in the
range currently comprise five units covering
volume flows from around 150,000 to 600,000
cubic meters of air per hour in power ratings
from 8 megawatts (MW) to 50 MW. The machines
are based on a conventional single-shaft design
incorporating standard and well-proven major
components, such as the overhanging 1.8-meter
diameter impeller, bearings and inlet com-
pressor stator, but also including a number of
innovative elements.
These engineering innovations include modular
integrated intercooling, enabling the use of as
many as three intermediate systems ensuring
exceptionally efficient cooling. This design also
provides increased efficiency of between 4 and
5 percent compared with existing single-shaft
compressors. A completely new and patented
high-efficiency water-separation system
provides an excellent energy balance, while a
new flow conduit minimizes internal pressure
loss. The entire range is based on just five
standard casings, enabling this highly complex
and key component to be pre-ordered and held
as a stock item. Together with modularized
assemblies and construction, this ‘off-the-shelf’
system not only provides a high level of
standardization, but a very significant reduction
in delivery times — a particularly important
advantage for international customers in the
air separation market.
Small size — big advantage
Although speed of delivery is a major sellingpoint, the modular design of the new STC-SI
compressors offers a range of benefits, not
least of which is the reduced cost, smaller size
December 2008 Venture 15
Monitor
“Listening to our customers, we identified a number of challenges to which the STC-SI concept is the perfect answer.”
and lower weight, especially when compared
to geared machines of equivalent rating. The
overall reduction in ‘footprint’ not only allows
easier handling and shipping, but faster and
easier installation and commissioning with
lower maintenance costs and reduced downtime which, together with optimized performance for specific applications and high
reliability from standard, well-proven modular
components, cuts the total cost of ownership
still further. While the new gearless design
allows the use of conventional electric-motor
drives, the compressors are specifically
matched to steam-turbine systems and are
capable of flexible operation over a range of
speeds from 70 to 105 percent nominal rated
maximum. This in turn allows the operator
to increase or decrease the output from the air
separation plant to compensate for seasonal
variations in ambient temperature, a crucially
important facility enabling the total plant effi-
16 Venture December 2008
ciency to be optimized over a range of conditions. As cryogenic air separation is an
energy-intensive process, the ability to operate
a compressor-based satellite plant, using a
steam turbine fed from steam generated by
‘waste’ heat from the main process, eliminates
the need for a separate electric-motor drive.
This in turn decreases the parasitic load, raises
overall plant efficiency and reduces its total
‘carbon footprint’.
Liquid assets
The market for specialized exothermic industrial applications and processes is growing
rapidly on a global scale. Designed to meet the
demand within these growth areas for bulk
oxygen supplied by cryogenic distillation plant,
principally for the production of synthetic gas
or ‘syngas’, the new STC-SI range of compressors is being targeted initially at both CTL and
GTL applications. In these processes raw
feedstock, including hard coal, lignite, natural
gas, petroleum coke or even biomass, is heated
in a stream of pure oxygen to produce syngas,
which consists of a mixture of carbon monoxide
and hydrogen. This is passed through reactors
to convert the gas stream into ammonia, which
is used to produce fertilizers, and methanol,
which can then be converted into ultra-clean,
sulfur-free petrol and diesel fuels, domestic
fuel supplies and a wide range of petrochemical
products, such as the olefins ethylene and
propylene, and other vital industrial chemical
feedstock.
The China connection
Unsurprisingly, the largest and fastest-growing
market for both gas and coal liquefaction
process plants is in the People’s Republic of
China, where explosive economic growth has
resulted in escalating demand for both energy
and allied petrochemical products, with
Monitor
particular emphasis on ethylene production,
where demand and shortage of basic feedstock
is outstripping production capacity. As part of
the country’s 11th five-year plan, a number of
construction projects — some completed,
others under way — are planned to more than
double China’s annual conventional ethylene
capacity to reach 14 to 18 million tonnes by
2010. Despite this massive expansion, by
2020 further investments already in the pipeline could see the installation of an additional
20 million tonnes of ethylene capacity. Every
indication shows that a significant part of this
total will probably be manufactured by a new
generation of plants producing petrochemicals
from coal, one of China’s most abundant and
cheapest energy resources. Although no
commercial-scale plants have yet been completed, there are 12 to 14 projects — some
under construction, but most in the planning
stage — to produce olefins from methanol in
China. The majority of these are based on CTL
technology. According to official Chinese
sources, the intention is to establish seven
dedicated coal-to-chemicals production
complexes and by 2020 to produce annually
66 million tonnes of methanol, 8 million
tonnes of olefins and 20 million tonnes of DME,
a petrochemical product with properties similar to liquid petroleum gas, which can be used
as a clean fuel or fuel additive. Representing
an investment of nearly euro 120 billion, China
is looking to become the world leader in the
production of chemicals from coal, using the
very latest developments in exothermic CTL
technology, creating a huge new market for
cryogenic air separation systems using compressors powered by steam turbines.
the brand-new STC-SI compressors are already
attracting very significant interest from major
international customers in the continuousprocess and petrochemical industries. Complementing the existing portfolio of products for
air-separation applications, the addition of the
STC-SI range means that the company now
leads the world in supplying high-power, highvolume compressor systems within four
separate engineering concepts. These cover
process-independent volume flows of up to
a staggering 1.3 million cubic meters of air per
hour. With reactions to the launch being
universally positive and the first requests for
quotations currently being processed, the
future for the new Siemens brainchild looks
bound for success.
Bright future
Launched officially in March this year at the
opening of the Mega Test Center in Duisburg,
An innovative design takes shape: gypsum model of the STC-SI concept.
Joint force: Jürgen Geisner (development) and Jörg Drüen (sales) are convinced that the STC-SI concept is bound for success.
December 2008 Venture 17
Faces
Energy efficiency — for economic
growth and ecological stability
Venture interviews the two leading players in Siemens industrial power generation, Jan-Erik
Rydén, head of the gas turbine business, and Markus Tacke, who heads up the steam turbine
business. Together they are a tough combo, with their fingers on the pulse of market trends,
customer needs and new technologies.
Venture Jan-Erik, people are crying out for more
energy, and at the same time we are accused of
destroying our planet by emitting pollutants into
the atmosphere whenever we light the boiler.
What are you doing to reconcile these apparently
conflicting demands?
Rydén Efficiency is the key to reconciling the
need for more energy, but producing it in an
environmentally friendly manner. Efficiency
just means getting the most out of your fuel
and your equipment, with less wastage in the
form of unused energy evaporating into the
atmosphere. Our industrial gas turbines can,
of course, be used as stand-alones in simple
cycle, but we actively promote cogeneration
or combined heat and power solutions since
they harness the full potential of the turbine.
The exhaust heat from the turbine can be
captured, for example, and used to power a
district heating or cooling system instead
of being simply vented off. And, of course, we
can combine our gas turbines with one of
Markus’ steam turbines to create a combined
cycle, to give extra power or to provide process
steam for industries.
Venture: This covers basic power generation. How
about for the Oil & Gas market?
Rydén Here efficiency is even more important,
as the oil and gas business has been shown
in a recent study to use up to 20 percent of its
generated energy in its own processes.
Interestingly, we even have a combined-cycle
concept for offshore applications which we
have co-developed with Sevan, the so-called
EPOS, electric power on sea. Electric-motor
18 Venture December 2008
compressor drive is another success story,
but that’s uncharted territory for a gas-turbine
man.
Venture Markus, the steam turbine is the
venerable old man of power technology. Has
it reached the peak of its development or is
there still more that can be tweaked to increase
and improve production?
Tacke You will be surprised, the old man is
alive and kicking! We continue to push the
boundaries of what the individual turbines can
achieve and to extend them to cover the gap
between industrial and utility power turbines.
For example we have recently extended the
output of our largest turbine, the SST-900, from
180 megawatts (MW) to 250 MW with the help
of advanced blading and steam-path technology.
The wider range helps us to find the exact
solution for the customer’s application, without
over-dimensioning and wastage. So from that
point of view we can say that efficiency is just
as important for the steam turbines when it
comes to utility power generation, while in
typical industrial applications highest reliability
comes into play.
Venture Jan-Erik, emissions must be the biggest
issue for an environmentally conscious gas-turbine
manufacturer to deal with. What methods do you
use to limit emissions?
Rydén Well, efficient machinery creates fewer
emissions, of course. But we do have specialized DLE (Dry Low Emissions) burners in our
combustors, which are standard in all our
modern machines using gas fuel, and available
as dual-fuel for gas and diesel. This is an area
that we constantly aim to fine-tune and we are
moving towards single-digit and ultra-low
emissions, especially with our smaller turbines.
We even have a turbine, the SGT-500, which
can burn heavy fuels, or indeed biofuels, advantageously, which enables customers to buy
such fuel cheaply on the spot market or use
indigenous fuel previously considered too
‘dirty’ to use responsibly. This turbine has
proven itself for marine applications, even in
harbor, burning heavy fuel oil with no visible
smoke.
Venture: Markus, the steam turbine is a clean
player, but you have to generate the steam
through some form of combustion. What is your
contribution to ecology and economy?
Tacke Actually, there are many ways to produce
steam. Combustion heat is certainly the most
common, but think also of heat from the sun:
solar thermal applications using our steam
turbines have become a technology of choice.
And there are many sources of waste heat that
can be turned into electricity by using steam
turbines. For combustion processes, the boiler
technology is significant, and anything, from
fossil fuels and residuals to biomass, can be
used as the heat source. We provide the
turbines to match the customer’s overall plant
concept, and each steam turbine is unique.
With the exception of our low-range predesigned models, which are virtually plugand-play, the steam path is designed to fit each
customer’s process, with exactly the right
number of steam extractions, for example, to
Faces
Mr. Jan-Erik Rydén (b.1957) has been with
the company since 1982 and has been head
of the industrial gas turbine business since
February, 2007. Jan-Erik studied electrical
engineering at the University of Chalmers in
Gothenburg, Sweden. He is married and has
one daughter.
Dr.-Ing. Markus M. Tacke (b. 1965) joined
the company in 1998 and has been head of
the industrial steam turbine business since
October 2007. Dr. Tacke studied engineering
and took his doctorate at the University of
Darmstadt, Germany. He is married and has
four children.
meet the needs of the specific industrial
application. Global sourcing also helps to give
us a competitive cost advantage, as does our
world-wide manufacturing network. To put this
all together, we design a machine that serves
ecological and economic requirements, giving
the customer more power for his money.
Venture: So, gentlemen, looking to the future,
what changes or improvements do you envisage?
Do your current products cover the market needs,
or will there be some revolutionary new designs
appearing that will boost performance and cut
emissions?
Tacke Our changes are more evolutionary than
revolutionary! Constantly honing efficiency
and reliability, using lighter and more durable
materials, leaving no gaps in our technology,
these are our concerns. We are also very aware
of the need to respond to market trends and
new technologies. Currently, for example, we
cover 85 percent of the market for steam
turbines in solar thermal plants with our reheat
mid-size turbines whose design is perfectly
adapted to solar thermal processes. And we will
continue to develop this technology to stay
ahead of future developments, be it in industrial, oil and gas or renewable steam turbine
applications.
Rydén Yes, our technology is sound, and is the
keystone to our success. All our products are
competitive in terms of reliability and performance. But performance is not only technical.
Processes and people are also important. We
are constantly working to update our processes
to respond to the needs of a rapidly changing
environment and to ensure that we continue
to recruit dedicated and professional people so
that we can maintain our momentum.
Venture: What are the environmental changes we
are talking about?
Rydén Changes in perception and behavior
patterns, and they have already begun. We
are all besieged by the image of a polar bear
adrift on an ice floe and know that we have to
act quickly to save the planet. Fossil power will
dominate for the next twenty years or so, but
resources are rapidly becoming depleted
and more difficult to access. We have to base
our technology on thrift, to eke out the world’s
resources and make them last longer. We also
have to find and make best use of other sources
of energy, so fuel, combustion and materials
technologies are becoming increasingly critical
to create a sustainable balance of life.
Venture: Anything to add, Markus?
Tacke Well, to summarize, I would say that
by taking care of what we sell, by working with
our customers to cater for their precise needs,
by fostering an innovative culture and increasing speed from innovation to product, and
by utilizing our global network of competence
we can continue to provide efficient and
eco-friendly power for a long time to come. But
increasingly, power producers and equipment
providers will have to work with each other, not
against each other, to follow a clear line of
ecological responsibility.
December 2008 Venture 19
Log
The Linde Easter story —
demise and resurrection
of a compressor
The fact that it is Easter, the most important
feast in the Christian calendar, is suddenly
irrelevant, although the symbolism may pass
fleetingly through your mind as you speed
through telephone lists and parts numbers on
the way to a solution.
This is exactly what happened in the Linde
(former BOC) Air Separation Plant in Maanshan,
Republic of China, earlier this year. 19th March
in fact. Within 24 hours the damage was
identified, recorded and analyzed. Impeller A
had suffered a 7 cm crack on one of its blades.
As no deposits had built up it could be deduced
that the crack had only recently occurred. The
crack had opened up as the impeller expanded
and very slight damage was caused to the
contour ring on the circumference of the
impeller.
The impeller needs to be replaced for service
to continue. Outage means lack of production.
But the customer has no spare rotor. What
should be done? The Linde branch in Nanjing,
just three hours away by road, has a similar
rotor with an identical impeller. Could that be
used as a substitute? This was the key question.
Some six months earlier, Siemens and Linde
had made the observation that such a swap
would be complicated by different tooth width
and higher rotation speed of the pinions. In
the event of a problem it would be necessary to
change the entire gear set, including contouring and volute inserts. Some adjustments to
the oil spray bars, the volute casings and
some stator parts would also have to be made.
Additionally just swapping the impeller and
20 Venture December 2008
the contour ring could be a practicable alternative.
But it is not just a question of resuming production, although that is the immediate
imperative. It is just as important in the long
term to find the root cause of the incident
and prevent the same thing from happening
again. It was decided that local engineers from
Siemens China would investigate Impeller A
in more detail when the compressor was
dismantled. This would be done on Easter
Sunday — March 23, 2008. Siemens China
asked the customer to send the damaged
impeller back to the manufacturing and service
center in Duisburg, Germany, for fact-finding
— and of course to clarify whether or not it was
a warranty issue.
Meanwhile, it was decided that the spare
Nanjing impeller could indeed be used. Telephones started buzzing, e-mails flew back
and forth. Not only Siemens China, but also
Linde’s own organization, were working flat
out, to secure the spare rotor, arrange balancing, to hire or liberate a crane for the disassembly. Four days of solid work ensued, to
disassemble the rotor, transport it to the
new site, and reassemble it. By 28th March —
nine days after shutdown — the replacement
equipment was installed and was tested in
situ the following day. The immediate crisis
was over.
The schedule was hectic as can be seen from
the log of Martin Stiegler, Siemens’ Service
Director based in Beijing:
19th afternoon — customer experienced first
shutdown
19th late afternoon — customer found crack
on Impeller A
19th (11pm) — call to Siemens (Martin) from
Linde Platform team in Shanghai (Bob)
19th midnight — advised local Siemens
engineer (Zhang Zhong Fei) to mobilize to site
immediately).
20th morning — got on first flight and arrived
at site at 11am. (Zhu Jun, Martin, Zhang Zhong
Fei).
20th afternoon — after discussion with
customer decided to dismantle compressor.
21st — mobilized two additional Siemens local
engineers (Yan Bing Guang and Meng Xiang
Yu) to help with dismantling.
22nd — mobilized Siemens local Senior
Engineer (Bu Shao Feng) to help with dismantling and assembly
23rd–26th — dismantling, balancing and
reassembly.
26th — demobilized two additional Siemens
local engineers (Yan Bing Guang and Meng
Xiang Yu)
27th — mobilized foreign Siemens engineer
(Mr. Ketteler) to site (called off from other site)
for final check and start-up.
28th — start-up of compressor
29th — check on running status
29th afternoon — demobilized Siemens
engineers
The relationship between Siemens and Linde
enabled the closest and unquestioning
cooperation based on mutual trust. Of paramount importance to all involved was to
Log
“Practice makes
perfect; and patience and people
make perfect performance!”
resolve the problem with a prompt and
satisfactory solution, and to take action to
prevent the same type of incident from
occurring again or elsewhere in the fleet.
In the aftermath of this crescendo of activity,
some conclusions can be drawn.
•Response — The response and mobilization
were very rapid as local engineers could be
deployed
•Priority — Because of proximity and networking it was possible to bring in a Siemens
engineer from another site.
•Preparation — The Linde platform team had
previously written general technical clarifications (2007) on the interchangeability of the
spare parts. This degree of preparedness
saved considerable time when the shutdown
occurred.
•Open communication and trust — Speed
was of the essence, so it was agreed to carry
out all work without purchase orders or
decisions on liability.
•Exellent Linde internal cooperation —
Maanshan site worked very hard, provided
cranes, mobilized the rotor from the Nanjing
site, balanced the rotor and provided support
labor.
As a corollary to the story, Siemens is currently
closely discussing spare parts and availability
strategies with Linde and has signed several
contracts for capital spare parts to ensure
availability in the unlikely event of damage.
The original VK125 compressor was delivered in
2005 to BOC, an English company purchased
by Linde in 2006.
Linde’s representative, General
Manager Gordon Wang,
comments on the incident:
“Obviously it is extremely unfortunate when your equipment
breaks down for any reason, but
we cannot complain about the
diligence and dedication of the
Siemens engineers once the breakdown had happened, especially
from service team China. We so
appreciated their great effort. The
cooperation with our engineers
on site was immediate and comprehensive. Within ten days our plant
was fully operational again, and we have every confidence that
Siemens will analyze the root cause of the incident to ensure that there
is no repetition.”
Martin Stiegler from Siemens’
service team China: “The root
cause analysis has taken longer
than we anticipated, but we do not
want to cut corners or there is no
point in carrying out the analysis.
Our customer understands that it
is in his and our best interests to
drive the analysis to a successful
conclusion, so that we can finally
shake hands on a job well done
and one that will not have to
be done again. Practice makes
perfect; and patience and people
make perfect performance!”
Spotlight
Summer concerts were held around the
event in front of the GuD1 building — with
the SGT-800 standing behind the scenes.
A massive 250-tonnes
mobile crane lifted the
two packages — 90 tonnes
each — through the
roof of Würzburg's HWK
combined heat and power
plant.
22 Venture December 2008
Spotlight
Lofty logistics
The Würzburg power authority had decided early in 2007 to increase the capacity of
their existing combined-cycle plant to improve its economy. However, they didn’t want
just the standard turbine package, but something a little out of the ordinary.
Tuesday August 5, 2008, the residents of Würzburg, Germany, gathered
to watch the breathtaking and uplifting spectacle of an imposingly large
and multi-tonne bright red box being winched slowly above their heads
by a gigantic crane — also red — dangle tantalizingly, and then descend
with infinite care through the roof of the power station where the turbine
it contained will be put into service. The crane lift was a public celebration in every sense of the word: this was their turbine, being delivered to
their local utility. Not only were the local inhabitants invited to the
event by the public-spirited utility, but in true German tradition, a beer
tent was erected on the nearby parking lot to celebrate the successful
installation.
And they were given a real show. This was not just a standard turbine
package: during pre-sales discussion, the client expressed the desire for
something a little out of the ordinary. Discussion oscillated between
British Racing Green or Maranello Ferrari Red, but of course it was the
Schumacher influence that was the winner!
The Würzburg power authority had decided early in 2007 to increase
the capacity of their existing combined-cycle plant to improve its
economy. This would be done by shaving off the heat and power peaks
with an efficient combined-cycle technology, replacing the older
gas-fired boilers. Having previously ordered a 43-megawatt (MW) SGT-800
gas turbine from Siemens in July 2003, to help cover its base load
demand, it was natural for the authority to revert to Siemens when they
needed to expand. This time the choice was for the smaller, recently
uprated 30.7-MW SGT-700.
SGT-800 and associated boiler are in Block GuD1. (GuD: German
abbreviation for combined-cycle). The SGT-700 is part of the new block,
GuD2, replacing an older boiler. The excess electricity from the original
block has been a source of income for HKW Würzburg, since they were
able to sell it to the national grid. The new turbine will increase that
potential.
This new unit is a so-called peak-shaver, which will operate in a cyclic
mode according to demand. The SGT-700 has a boiler connected to the
same steam circuit as the other boilers in the plant. This circuit supplies
the steam turbines and the district heating grid via extractions in the
steam turbine. It works on a daily cycle, at least during the summer, when
heat requirement is low. To cover a peak in electricity requirement
when the heat requirement is low, the output of the two turbines can be
combined and regulated from a single boiler.
The gas turbine had come a long way to reach its final destination. It
was delivered in two main packages by road transport from the manufacturing facility in Finspong, Sweden, where it was fully tested prior to
shipment. Each of the packages weighed almost 90 tonnes, which
required a mobile crane with 250 tonnes’ lifting capacity for the muscleflexing demonstration.
The installation was a challenge, since the power plant is located in
the heart of the town amongst its cultural buildings and surrounding
vineyards, but it was not insurmountable with modern technology at
hand. The turbine now rests securely upon its foundation and is due to
be in operation by January 2009.
The plant, HKW Würzburg (HKW: German abbreviation for combined
heat and power plant) consists of two blocks. The originally delivered
December 2008 Venture 23
www.siemens.com