GAS TURBINES

BY MARK MCNEELY

GEs LM6000 gas turbine in the test cell at the companys Evendale, Ohio, U.S.A., facility.

GE Demonstrates LM6000 as a Mechanical Driver

Turbine undergoes ABS endurance tests for oil & gas and marine applications At General Electrics aircraft and industrial aeroderivative gas turbine manufacturing center in Evendale, Ohio, U.S.A., the company is in the process of testing and validating its LM6000 gas turbine for mechanical drive applications in both the marine and oil & gas industries. One purpose of the testing is to qualify the LM6000 to ABS endurance requirements. This testing regimen requires a 1000 hour endurance test that includes 500 hours (68 cycles) in the power generation mode and this testing has been completed at GEs Houston, Texas, U.S.A., operations. A second part of the endurance testing includes 500 hours (68 cycles) in the mechanical drive mode and this testing is ongoing in Evendale. Each cycle is approximately eight hours at variable speeds along a 36.6 MW cubic and the tests are corrected to reflect a dry 100F (37.8C) Navy Day. Prior to the start of the ABS endurance test, GEs engineering team developed several facility/control modifications to support the LM6000 as a mechanical drive unit. The test cell generator was modified to provide a mechanical load, a combined low-speed sump evacuation system/single-stage air oil separator system was designed and successfully operated, and modifications to the facilitys Mark VI software were all significant developments in support of the ABS endurance test. Previous testing of the LM6000 demonstrated the need for sump evacuation of air oil mist at output speeds less than 1250 r/min. For the ABS test, the sump evacuation system was only used for the 800 r/min, or a 0.4 MW idle condition. At other points within the operating range, the sump evacuator acted as an air/oil separator,
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returning recovered engine oil mist to the engines main oil tank. Facility emission requirements also required that the ABS test be conducted with water NOx suppression, resulting in the need to operate the engine at powers well beyond the desired dry rating. To assure that the engine met the desired low-pressure turbine inlet temperatures throughout the ABS cycle, a facility auto throttle was developed that adjusted the throttle, power and variable geometry as required with a minimum of operator input. Data taken during the auto throttle controlled cycles was later corrected to assure the engine could meet its rating for Navy Day. Key to meeting the mechanical drive objectives of the ABS endurance test was demonstrating the LM6000s ability to provide power at speeds from 800 to 3600 r/min (22 to 100% speed) along a cubic power curve. This ability was demonstrated prior to the endurance test by optimizing the variable geometry for improved operability, operating successfully at speeds below 1600 r/min, operating across the speed range with either gas or distillate fuels (with and without water NOx suppression), and completing fast (<45 second) minimum to maximum speed changes along a cubic load curve. The operability test objectives not only were achieved without issues, but also exceeded the power target, according to Tayo Montgomery, technical sales support manager for GE Aircraft Engines. Our oil & gas customers are growing their capacity, therefore, trying to find ways to produce petroleum products at a lower cost. One of the ways that they can accomplish this is by increasing their economies of scale, thus there is interest in the larger LM6000. As a result of these tests, the LM6000 also demonstrated its capability to start up a fully pressurized LNG compression train from standstill condition, without the need for a starter/helper motor. In the oil and gas industry, there are two world geographies, or regions, that are looking to pump more gas, move more oil and produce more hydrocarbons and predominantly these two areas include the tropics or the artic,

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ABS Mech Drive Cycle.xls-LP Speed Chart
LM6000 Mechanical Drive Endurance Cycle

120 100 LPSpeed (% of 3600rpm) 80

120% 100% 80% Power (% of Max Load)

The LM6000 gas turbine demonstrated the ability to operate along a schedule

established by the American Bureau of Shipping. The first 60 60% six hours of each cycle were used to 40% 40 demonstrate constant power at vari20 20% ous pre-determined 0 0% speeds. The latter 0 60 120 180 240 300 360 420 480 stages of the testing Time (minutes) incorporated several fast accelerations and decelerations to demonstrate the ability to reach 100% power and speed from 22% speed and then return to 22% in less than 120 seconds. In all, each full cycle was completed in approximately eight hours.

explained Montgomery. Whether its the west coast of Africa, the Middle East, northern Australia, southeast Asia

or Venezuela, theyre all very hot climates. Conversely, from there you go to the other temperature extreme of

places such as Siberia and the north slope of Alaska. And as the remoteness of these oil and gas production sites increases, the advantages of the aeroderivative engines come into play because you dont have to plan for doing maintenance in those regions. When its time to do a planned or unplanned maintenance procedure, an aeroderivative can be easily exchanged on-site to maintain operation. The replaced engine may then be flown out to one of the standard established depot facilities, Montgomery said. As an example, Montgomery noted, if a plant needed 120 MW of compression, this could be carried out by using four 30 MW machines four LM2500+ units. Or you could use three LM6000s. When you start getting to these more and more remote areas, the

LMS100 for LNG Regas Applications

At a recent GE Oil & Gas customer event held in Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.A., the company introduced the concept of using its new LMS100 to vaporize LNG in a regasification (regas) terminal. The LMS100 is an intercooled gas turbine that combines heavy-duty Frame and aeroderivatve gas turbine technologies to provide 100 MW of power with thermal efficiencies from 44 to 50%. The turbine is designed to offer a wide range of operating flexibility for peaking, midrange and base-load operations with 10-minute start times, unmatched hot-day performance, load following and cycling capabilities. Our proposed solution integrates the LMS100 into the vaporization cycle, explained Jeremy Barnes, gas turbine product line manager, for GE Oil & Gas. The high efficiency and low emissions of the gas turbine, as well as the amount of waste heat available, provide a unique opportunity to take advantage of the synergy between LNG regas and power generation. In a 2 x LMS100 configuration, you can regas more than 1 Bscf/d (28.3 million m3/d) and generate 200 MW of power. Currently, LNG regas operations typically use two common technologies, including the open rack vaporizer (ORV) and the submerged combustion vaporizer (SCV). An ORV uses large amounts of seawater to warm the LNG by flowing the water over a series of racks, through which the LNG flows. While ORV is an inexpensive and proven technology, it also carries with it environmental issues. The drop in temperature and the chlorination of the seawater can contribute to killing marine life. Additionally, because of the offshore
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location and relatively large footprint required, projects can encounter resistance to siting. In an SCV, the operator uses gas to fire a combustor that heats a tank of water which is used to warm the LNG. The gas comes directly from the stream that has been vaporized, so about 1.5% of the product is burned instead of being sold. Additionally, emissions are a concern in terms of both NOx and CO, and the water becomes acidic and must be treated before it is discharged. GEs basic concept is to take an LMS100 package as it is today and integrate into the vaporization cycle. We add a couple of heat exchangers and an intermediate fluid to the gen-set to allow us to take advantage of the heat rejected from the innercooler and exhaust to vaporize the LNG. The result is a combined gas turbine cycle that is >90% efficient, considering both the power generated and the heat recovered. We also believe there is a significant savings in capital expenditures, as well as an advantage in operating expenditures, due to the additional revenue stream from sale of the electricity, Barnes noted. Our initial analysis has shown that the intermediate fluid is not a challenge, the heat exchangers can be more or less standard design, and treating the water that condenses from the exhaust is within our experience and should not be a problem, he said. Much of the initial conceptual design has been performed by our Global Research Center. Our next step is to move the concept into more of a preliminary design. This idea is just one example of an opportunity provided by the LMS100 a more environmentally friendly LNG regas terminal. A

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60 50
Power, MW

40 30 20

The LM6000 gas turbine was required to demonstrate the ability to operate

continuously at multiple part power 10 conditions at con0 stant speed of 3600 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 0 r/min from idle to Output Speed, RPM maximum power as Power-Mechanical Drive Defined Geometry part of the power Power-51.5 MW Cubic generation testing Output - Power Generation in addition to variable speed and variable power demonstrations. The mechanical drive testing required the engine to demonstrate power in excess of the cubic load curve in order to prove the ability to accelerate the driven load at predetermined rates.

oil and gas companies are giving these larger machines more consideration. Another example could be for LNG production applications. The engineexchange, combined with the ability to conduct fully pressurized start-ups could provide an availability step-up from 95 to 97%, thus gaining seven production days per year and consequently US$20 million additional annual revenue. Even though we have 10 million

hours on the LM6000 operating in power generation, we still had to demonstrate 500 more hours following a specific duty that was identified by ABS, Montgomery said. This is highly cyclical testing and is similar to the type of testing we have conducted for mechanical drive applications. The ABS testing was temporarily suspended after 22 cycles (166 hours) due to a mechanical fault with the gen-

erator, which was acting as the mechanical load for the testing. GE has since replaced the generator and the tests are ongoing. Overall, the LM6000 ABS certification and mechanical drive testing has achieved several accomplishments, noted Montgomery. We have developed variable geometry schedules that allow unrestricted throttle operation above and below the cubic load curve from 800 to over 3600 r/min. We have demonstrated marine idle operation at 800 r/min and 0.4 MW load. Engine operability has been great and vibration responses are well within new-build limits. And finally, the engine has been borescoped and all of the hardware looks good. Montgomery continued, The LM6000 is a capable mechanical drive machine, demonstrating very good speed flexibility at constant power. This is especially important to our marine and oil & gas customers. a
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