Hot gas expanders

Energy is the single largest operating expense for a renery (accounting for about 50% of total cost), and energy waste from system leaks and inefciencies can commonly be as high as 20%. Hot gas expanders can be used to recover otherwise wasted energy, particularly from the substantial heat generated in a renerys Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) unit. An expander acts very much like the power turbine in an aeroderivative gas turbine. The ue gas passes over the nose cone of the expander and enters the stator vanes, which direct the ow onto the rotor blades. The rotor blades extract the energy from the gas and convert it into rotational energy that can be used to drive plant machinery.

GE Oil & Gas

Global Headquarters Via Felice Matteucci, 2 50127 Florence, Italy T +39 055 423 211 F +39 055 423 2800 customer.service.center@ge.com Nuovo Pignone S.p.A. Americas Regional Headquarters 4424 West Sam Houston Parkway North Houston, Texas 77041 P.O. Box 2291 Houston, Texas 77252-2291 T +1 713 683 2400 F +1 713 683 2421

24-hour customer support Inside US: 866 GEOILGAS Outside US: 484 821 0400
For complete contact information, please refer to our website.

GE Oil & Gas

ge.com/oilandgas
The information contained herein is general in nature and is not intended for specic construction, installation or application purposes. GE reserves the right to make changes in specications or add improvements at any time without notice or obligation.

2010 General Electric Company All Rights Reserved

GE Oil & Gas solutions

GEs hot gas expanders are designed to get the most value from process waste gas recovering considerable energy from both heat and pressure sources. Our optimized designs include special metallurgy and features to ensure long life for virtually any process conditions, and guarantee 4-5 years of uninterrupted run time. Advanced handling capabilities for highly corrosive FCC ue gas help reduce maintenance requirements and enable close alignment with other renery equipment. An average 18-MW GE hot gas expander for power recovery can save approximately $9 million per year in renery electricity costs, and avoid more than 244,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions per year two key reasons why the product line has achieved ecomagination certication.

Hot Gas Expanders

Enhanced design and upgrades for increased productivity

GE imagination at work
HotGasExpander_101510

GE_HotGasExpander_101510.indd 1

10/15/10 10:10:18 AM

Hot gas expanders you can rely on

GE Oil & Gas provides specialized engineering services for hot gas expanders in the most challenging process conditions. Whether were building a new expander of our own design or uprating one from another manufacturer, our solutions are unique and highly reliable. Our innovative designs can satisfy all operating conditions including severe erosion, deposition, corrosion, performance deciencies and mechanical problems. For these reasons, they are the choice for the most demanding applications in the oil and gas industry. Using the latest design and manufacturing technologies, we have improved every aspect of the hot gas expander. Our installed base continues to grow as more users become familiar with the signicant advantages of our machines there are currently more than 150 GE hot gas expanders in operation around the world. Decades of turbomachinery experience enable us to design and construct hot gas expanders with the highest power levels, operating temperatures and pressure ratios in the world. Our units typically operate reliably with at least ve years between maintenance intervals.
FEX-125 power recovery train

Rigorous testing capabilities

All our hot gas expanders are tested for mechanical integrity by running the units at maximum continuous operating speed above 1,000F (538C) for four hours. Air at atmospheric pressure is heated in a recirculation loop by friction heating (windage) as it passes through the rotor blades. During this test, the hot gas expanders are also run at trip speed to verify operation of the over-speed trip system. Other specialized testing available includes dynamic stress, structural vibration, performance, erosion, corrosion and metallurgical evaluations. These broad capabilities ensure you of the best possible design, coatings and materials solutions for your application. Blade image analysis Our on-line blade photography and videography are economical methods of assessing the condition of a hot gas expander. Expert interpretation of the images enables us to draw conclusions about the operating condition of a hot gas expander. Scheduled maintenance can then be planned based on the actual condition of the rotor. Hot gas expander sizing A properly sized hot gas expander provides peak power recovery. We offer ve frame sizes to match your process conditions and optimize your results.
FCC Expander Frame Selection
3.5 3.0
PRESSURE RATIO
22 TBD 40 TBD 55 TBD 75 TBD 110 TBD
FCC Capacity (000 b/d)

Case history
Increasing the electrical capacity of a renery with zero emissions
Challenge As reneries expand and adapt to changing regulations, their demand for electricity can increase. This is especially challenging when the renery is located on an island where the plant energy consumption is four times the grid capacity. The St. Croix site needed an additional 50 MW of power and wanted to implement as green a solution as possible. Solution Our hot gas expanders are ecomagination certied products, which means they have passed a stringent qualication process covering both production and environmental performance criteria. The units recover energy from the ue gas and are capable of reducing a renerys Energy Intensity Index (EIITM) by as much as 7-10%. We supply both mechanical and generator-drive congurations. In either case, reliability is key to maintaining FCC availability. For mechanical drive applications, we also integrate expander, axial compressor, steam turbine and/or motor into a single train. The generator drive mode has the added value that the hot gas expander can be taken ofine without disturbing the process. We regularly install these expanders in new FCC units as well as during retrot of an existing unit for power recovery, as was done with the St. Croix renery. We installed the following systems: Hot gas expander model FEX-142 capable of producing over 75,000 HP (55 MW) of power at an inlet temperature of 1400F (760C) Synchronous generator rated for 32 MW of power Switchgear, generator breaker, electrical controls, electrical distribution and power control room PLC-based control system to ensure availability of the FCC unit through transients and various modes of power recovery fully automated start sequences and auxiliary vsystem controls Supervisory instrumentation and remote monitoring and diagnostic (RM&D) system, enabling advanced support by GE engineers
1. Lube oil console 2. Generator 3. Gearbox 4. Expander 5. Expander discharge line (cold wall) 6. Expander inlet line (hot wall) 7. Third stage seperator 8. Fourth stage seperator 9 Flue gas from regenerator (cold wall)

For more information, please visit ecomagination.com

We also worked with our approved suppliers to procure and integrate the following elements: 72" and 58" process valves with independent, high pressure hydraulic actuation systems capable of closing in a fraction of a second 120" motor-driven isolation valve, for performing maintenance on the hot gas expander without taking the process ofine Third-stage separator reducing the catalyst loading to the hot gas expander and ensuring long ow path erosion life Fourth-stage separator and storage hopper for dry collection of spent catalyst API lube oil system, including ASME code run-down tank Closed loop cooling system, including n-fan cooler and pump skid capable of providing 660 gpm (2,500 lpm) of water for heat removal Cooling and sealing skid to provide cooling steam and sealing air for the hot gas expander Benet GE supplied St. Croix with a hot gas expander and generator to meet its power and environmental objectives. Deliverables included all control and auxiliary systems, and process valves required to produce approximately 26 MW of power. For environmental benet, our installation included a third-stage separator that can reduce particle loading of the ue gas up to 80% to help reduce stack emissions. Our single source approach greatly simplied the process for St. Croixs engineering, planning and procurement personnel. In 2010, the unit completed its rst uninterrupted ve-year campaign between maintenance cycles.

3 2

5 6

Finite Element Analysis (FEA) Using the latest FEA software and advanced tools developed by GE, we optimize new designs and can safely push the design boundaries of your existing equipment. Areas of review range from transient heat transfer analysis of casings to steady state stress analysis of rotor blades and discs. Computational Fluid Dynamics Analysis (CFD) We use CFD to design more efcient ow paths while decreasing the effects of erosion and deposition. In conjunction with hot erosion testing, CFD enables us to predict ow path erosion and correlate it with eld data. Optimizing the ow path increases performance and reliability while reducing erosion and ow path deposition. In addition to our own equipment, we have analyzed and optimized ow paths of models by numerous other manufacturers.

2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0

FEX-81 up to 12 MW

FEX-97 up to 15 MW

FEX-107 up to 25 MW

FEX-126 up to 30 MW

FEX-142 up to 55 MW

Performance-driven engineering
1. Outer Casings Designed and manufactured in accordance with ASME pressure vessel codes Full solution and stabilization heat treatment for optimal structural margins and corrosion resistance Designed to withstand greater piping loads and to permit single lift of the entire outer casing assembly Upgraded fastener design and materials 2. Integral Stator Shroud Increases expander efciency by 2-6% over cantilevered stator designs Signicant reduction in nose cone stress levels (typically 40-60%) Easy removal from the back of the expander, eliminating the need to disassemble inlet or exhaust piping State-of-the-art chromium carbide coating on the entire pressure side and leading edge of stator vanes Special materials available to accommodate different high-temperature requirements, to reduce the effects of in-service aging and facilitate welding Designed for minimum ow-path erosion and deposition 3. Rotor Blades Optimized airfoil aerodynamic designs for high efciency and minimum erosion through the use of three-dimensional computational uid dynamics (CFD) software GE gas turbine technology applied in blade-to-disc attachment for low stress levels Increased structural and vibration margins due to reduced steady state and gas bending stress levels

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

FLUE GAS FLOW RATE lbs/sec

4 1
4. Nose Cone Improved aerodynamic design provides smoother acceleration of ue gas and more uniform distribution of catalyst in stator vanes New inlet strut design minimizes aerodynamic losses and improves catalyst distribution and structural integrity Increased structural margins with weld neck support anges in optimum locations Full radiographic quality welds 5. Exhaust Diffuser Highly efcient designs through computational uid dynamics (CFD) analysis Elimination of diffuser cracking and failures through Finite Element Analysis (FEA) of transient and steady state stresses, including diffuser natural frequencies 6. Upgraded Shaft Design Increased stress margins and torque capacity from larger journal diameters and coupling hub Shaft extends beyond the bearing housing to allow coupling installation or removal without bearing disassembly

Our eld performance questionnaire will help to properly size your hot gas expander. To request a copy or for further information, please visit geoilandgas.com

Improving your plants energy index

7 8

2 1
Improved aerodynamic nose cone design Velocity of catalyst particles through rotor blades Rotor blade contour map Generator drive conguration Mechanical drive conguration

GE integrated system

GE_HotGasExpander_101510.indd 2

10/15/10 10:10:23 AM