Session: 20-01: Compressor Operation and Process Design

Paper Number: 151226

LNG Applications for Turbomachinery 

Global natural gas consumption has been rising over the past decades. While natural gas is usually transported over large distances via pipelines, liquefying the gas allows transport in tanker ships across oceans, making natural gas a fungible commodity. It thus allows a worldwide gas trading market, and enhances supply security.   Liquefying natural gas significantly increases the energy density per volume, and allows transport at low, near atmospheric pressures. Because the liquefaction process is very energy intensive, it has led to advanced refrigeration processes, using advances in process design and  turbomachinery,  both for the compressors needed for refrigeration, as well as their drivers, such as steam turbines drives, gas turbine or large synchronous electric motors.  This paper discusses the current refrigeration processes which typically either involve vapor compression processes, often with several loops of integrated refrigeration cycles,and reverse brayton cycles. The cycle complexity is often determined by balancing capital expenditures and operting expenses. The compressors need to be match to drivers. This impacts control methods, both for ant surge control and for capacity control and starting complexity, as some drivers offer the capability to vary the compressor speed. The paper specifically discusses features of the specific turbomachinery required to produce liquefied natural gas. 

Presenting Author: Klaus Brun Ebara Elliott Energy Company

Presenting Author Biography: Klaus Brun is the Global Director of the Research at Ebara Elliott Energy Company. He holds four patents, authored over 100 papers, and published a textbook on gas turbines. Dr. Brun won an R&D 100 award in 2007 for his Semi-Active Valve invention and ASME Oil Gas Committee Best Paper awards in 1998, 2000, 2005, 2009, 2010, and 2012. He was chosen to the "40 under 40" by the San Antonio Business Journal. He is the chair of the ASME-IGTI Board of Directors and the past Chairman of the ASME Oil & Gas Applications Committee. He is also a member of the API 616 Task Forces, the Fan Conference Advisory Committee, and the Latin American Turbomachinery Conference Advisory Committee. Dr. Brun is an editor of Global Gas Turbine News, Executive Correspondent of Turbomachinery International Magazine, and an Associate Editor of the ASME Journal of Gas Turbines for Power.

Authors:

Rainer Kurz RKSBenergy
Klaus Brun Ebara Elliott Energy Company