PHOTO
JEDDAH -- Siemens has manufactured the largest geared compressor rotor in the world, and testing conducted at its facility in Duisburg, Germany. The first-stage impeller has a diameter of 1.8 m. The STC-GV compressor rotor is part of an order placed by UK-based Air Products PLC. The order includes 19 STC-GV integrally geared compressors for the air separation unit of the Jazan integrated gasification combined cycle power plant (IGCC) in Saudi Arabia.
The air separation facility will supply 75 000 tpd to a facility in the Jazan province. The air separation plant will be operated by Jazan Gas Projects Co. Siemens will provide seven model STC-GV main air compressors, six STC-GV booster air compressors and six model STC-GV nitrogen. The nitrogen compressor power is significantly higher than normally seen on high pressure integrally geared compressors.
The air separation facility will supply 75,000 metric tons per day - 20,000 tons of oxygen and 55,000 tons of nitrogen - to a facility currently under construction in the Jazan province on the coast of the Red Sea.
The air separation plant, part of what will be the world's largest industrial gas complex, will be operated by Jazan Gas Projects Company, a joint venture between the local company Acwa Holding and Air Products, an industrial gases company headquartered in the US.
Each of the rotors that will be assembled inside the STC-GV compressors weighs more than seven tons. This impeller was balanced in Duisburg at a speed of 3,970 revolutions per minute. At its average operating speed, the outside diameter of the first-stage impeller rotates at a speed of 1,350 km/h - faster than most jet aircraft, it said.
"This project proves that we have the necessary capabilities to provide large air separation plants with the appropriate compression equipment," said ThomasMoenk, head of Product Development and Technology for the Dresser-Rand business, part of Siemens Power and Gas.
"The STC-GV compressors with their customized design are the largest integrally geared main air compressors ever built. This is a tremendous demonstration of our technical expertise."
"We appreciate the ingenuity the Siemens team brought to this project. We especially valued the Siemens and Air Products joint team dynamic and collaboration throughout the design, manufacturing and testing phases which resulted in a timely delivery," said David Edmondson, Vice President Global Engineering & Manufacturing and Jazan Project Director at Air Products PLC.
© The Saudi Gazette 2016
