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Turbo Expanders
Contents
Introduction
Auxiliary Equipment
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Turbo Expander
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INTRODUCTION
A turbo expander can be referred to as a gas expander or turbo expander. It is used in industry
to harness excess energy from an industrial process. Since its first application in the early
1960's turbo expander design has evolved and improved. Today hydrocarbon process
designers use turbo expanders for almost all hydrocarbon liquid rejection and hydrocarbon
dew point control, ethane recovery, and liquefied natural gas production. Turbo expanders are
very efficient for energy recovery from large volume gas streams (natural gas or waste gas).
This energy can be used to produce electricity, drive compressors or provide power
transmission to a variety of equipment (refer to figure #1). In a refinery process hot
combustion gases from a catalytic cracker can produce 20000 to 200, scfm of combustion
gas. These gas products can be 20 psig and greater at temperatures up to 1400F. In some
cases these gases are vented to atmosphere, wasting valuable energy. A turbo expander could
recover 20000 hp from the greater of such a flow and produce electricity worth I million
dollars per year.
In a plant operation using cryogenics to cool and condense gases below -SOP, a
turboexpander is used to achieve extremely cold temperatures by letting the gas expand and
absorb energy. A turboexpander lowers gas temperatures by extracting energy from the gas
expansion process. This reduces gas temperatures lower than can be achieved by throttle
values .The energy imparted on the turbine wheel can be used to power other equipment. The
turboexpander has the ability to act as a refrigerator in the separation and liquefaction of
gases.
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Figure 2
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The Helium gas turbo expander is used in a cooling process. The cold high-pressure helium
gas passes through a turbine which itself drives a compressor in a secondary helium loop. The
gas therefore does work in the primary loop and is cooled still further. The energy extracted
is transferred to the secondary loop as heat, and finally removed in a water-cooled heat
exchanger. The speed of the turbine is regulated by means of a throttle valve, which controls
the flow rate in the secondary loop, which is also called the brake circuit.
The outstanding features of these machines are their long life, smooth running, compactness
and high reliability. They are essentially maintenance-free. The turbines are remarkable in
that they run at very high speeds (100,000 to 150,000 rpm) but do not need any active control
system. They use dynamic gas bearings, which are hermetically sealed against contact with
the atmosphere, and the process gas itself acts as a bearing lubricant. As the shaft revolves,
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special flow elements (pivoted segments, spiral grooves) create a pressure gradient, which
centres the shaft both radially and axially and prevents any direct metal-to-metal contact.
Built-in permanent magnets prevent mechanical contact between the turbine rotor and its
bearings when it is stationary, thus making for easy starting of the turbine. (Refer to figure #
6)
AUXILIARY EQUIPMENT:
All types of expanders will use a means of sealing the process gas from the lube oil or vice
versa. The means, which this accomplished, is with a labyrinth style seal (non contact), a
carbon ring seal (packing), a mechanical contact seal or a liquid film seal. A liquid film seal
uses metallic sealing rings and uses a liquid buffer in the clearance area to provide a seal.
Lube oil systems
All turbo expanders and their driven equipment will have a lubricating system to provide
lubrication to the bearings of the rotating shafts. This system will include a reservoir to
contain the oil, mechanical pumps to supply oil throughout the system, oil coolers to maintain
proper lubricating oil temperatures. The system will also include safety relief valves to
prevent system over pressurization and regulators to maintain proper pressures. The oil
temperatures will be controlled by thermostatic valves, which direct the oil to the coolers as
required. The systems must have strainers in the oil tank supply line and filters close to the
bearings being supplied with oil to filter out any dirt. The oil pumps in the systems may be
mechanically driven off of the rotating shafts or they be electrically driven. Some systems
might use a mechanical pump as the main oil pump and an electric pump of the same
capacity as a backup should the main unit fail.. This type of system might also use this
electric pump to supply oil in a pre-lube cycle and a post-lube cycle for the drive and driven
equipment. This will ensure that the bearings are supplied with cool, clean oil prior to start-up
and also upon shutdown. Timers and a specific control system will provide the proper inputs
for the pre and post-lube cycles. These lubrication systems will always have a mean to
monitor temperatures (gauges or electronic temperature pickups) as well as monitor oil
pressures that the bearings are receiving. These temperatures and pressures may also be
linked to a shutdown system, to protect all rotating parts and bearings. The oil coolers may be
an, air to oil cooler that uses a fan to cool the oil in a radiator style heat exchanger. The other
styles available may be water to oil style that uses cooling water from the plant to be
circulated within a heat exchanger.
(Refer to figure # 7)
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