Revitalising industrial steam turbine for sustained longevity

Customer Chemical Plant
Location Malaysia
Industry Downstream oil & gas
Key Services

LEAD-TIME REDUCTION OVER CAPEX BY

1 year

COST REDUCTION OVER CAPEX BY

250,000 US$

QUANTITY OF WELDING MATERIAL USED

350 kg

EQUIPMENT LIFE-EXTENSION OF AT LEAST

20 years

THE IMPACT

Catalyst for sustainable equipment life-extension practices.

The Challenge

Returning damaged rotor back to reliability

  • The chemical plant replaced the rotor on a 6MW capacity 8-stage steam turbine with its on-site spare.
  • To ensure that the removed rotor could still be used as a back-up, the customer tendered a refurbishment project.
  • Securing industrial steam turbine (IST) reliability is critical for ensuring production uptime.
  • Customer approached Sulzer for the refurbishment job on its American OEM IST.
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The Solution

Custom refurbishment backed by robust methodology and processes

Inspection & analysis

  • First step of the process would be a comprehensive inspection process which entailed magnetic particle testing, chemical composition, bearing journal assessments, ultrasonic testing and more.
  • Wear and tear was evident on the equipment with stages 2,3,4 and 5 displayed heavy pitting from corrosion and would required reblading.
  • Evidence of rubbing was also discovered on the rotor seal areas and bearing journals with extensive corrosion on the rotor.
  • Without a remedy, the damages may escalate and lead to a complete outage.

Refurbishment process

  • To ensure a rapid project delivery, Sulzer applied 2 advanced repair techniques simultaneously.
  • The first was reverse engineering and reblading of damaged stages with 542 blades being produced in-house.
  • The second technique was on restoring the dimensions of the rotor using Submerged Arc Welding (SAW), this process uses weld material to rebuild the rotor, in this case, the bearing journals and disks.
  • The four disks were particularly challenging as each required cutting, rebuilding and the machining of a new blade grooves.
  • Grooves had to exactly match the blades manufactured for the project, with a prototype blade used to ensure a correct fit.
  • Over 350kg of welding material was utilized and each weld was inspected using non-destructive testing (NDT) before the complete rotor was demagnetized.

 

 

Explore our solutions

  • Sulzer employee at final quality check after rotor repair
    Rotor repairs
    Over several decades, Sulzer has developed innovative repair methods for all types of rotating equipment. All these methods have been meticulously tested and qualified to ensure they provide optimal quality while remaining cost-effective.
  • Our welding procedures for components reduce costs for your machinery
    Weld repairs
    Decreased performance of your gas turbine means lost production. Sulzer has developed many proprietary welding procedures for components. They will restore performance, reduce costs, and increase the lifetime of your machinery.

The Customer Benefit

Exceeding expectations with fast turnaround and increased value

  • The robust repair techniques and execution delivered by Sulzer’s technical team offered exceptional lead time and value advantages.
  • A typical new rotor would take an 18 month lead time while Sulzer’s repair and equipment life-extension solution only took 6 months.
  • Lead time was reduced by a year with a cost difference and savings of US$260,000 compared to new replacement.
  • The rapid turnaround meant that the chemical plant safeguarded the availability of the spare rotor for its plat operations.
  • Quality of the refurbishment effectively equate to a equipment lifetime extension of at least 20 years.
  • With companies in the energy industries focused on sustainability, revitalizing existing equipment is an effective way on reducing CAPEX
    costs, impact on associated carbon footprint of entire procurement process while contributing the circular economy.
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