Investigation of Efficiency Deterioration Causes in Process Centrifugal Compressor Operation
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CASE HISTORY—PEER-REVIEWED
Investigation of Efficiency Deterioration Causes in Process Centrifugal Compressor Operation Waleed Al-Busaidi . Pericles Pilidis
Submitted: 14 October 2015 / in revised form: 10 December 2015 / Published online: 21 January 2016 ASM International 2016
Abstract The high operating efficiency of centrifugal compressor is a basic requirement to maintain the gas productivity and machine availability. However, there are several factors influencing the stage efficiency in the operating environment leading to a deterioration in the compressor performance in addition to its impact on the mechanical integrity of the internal components. These variables can be classified into three main groups which are suction parameters variation, flow profile distortion, and compressor component damage. The determination of the root cause will help for a proper maintenance plan and to reduce the machine downtime. Hence, this paper will introduce a new approach to identify the inefficient compressor operation causes based on the available operation data. The investigated case is a three-stage gas transport centrifugal compressor driven by 2.9 MW two-shaft gas turbine. The outcomes from the conducted optimisation are compared with the measured discharge parameters and the findings from the internal inspection observation to emphasize the outcomes from the derived approach. Keywords Centrifugal compressor Performance deterioration Inefficient operation List of Symbols g Polytropic efficiency nv Volume polytropic exponent nT Temperature polytropic exponent X, Y Compressibility functions
k Ab, Bb MW u hp s u bara MSCMD CMH _ V BHP Z N OP DP R q
Specific heats ratio Correlation coefficients Molecular weight Flow coefficient Polytropic head Work coefficient Tip blade speed Bar absolute Metric standard cubic meter per day Cubic meter per hour Inlet volume flow Brake horsepower Compressibility factor Rotational speed Operating point Design point Gas constant Density
Subscripts act Actual i Different rotational speeds Ref Reference conditions DP Design point condition OD Off-design condition s Compressor suction p Polytropic
Introduction W. Al-Busaidi (&) P. Pilidis School of Aerospace, Transport and Manufacturing, Cranfield University, Bedfordshire, UK e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]
The efficient performance and availability of centrifugal compressors is a key factor in oil and gas industry in order to maintain the gas productivity and to achieve the highest techno-economic value. Performance deterioration in
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J Fail. Anal. and Preven. (2016) 16:19–36
Fig. 1 Causes of efficiency deterioration
centrifugal compressors will result in low developed head so high power consumption and low discharge pressure are the two basic symptoms of inefficient operation. The API617 standards [1] require the vendor to guarantee the absorbed power within a ±4% tolerance only without ensuring the compressor efficiency [2]. Furthermore, the supplied performance data and the conducte
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