Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS
Content archived on 2022-12-27

REPLACEMENT OF STEAM TURBINES BY ELECTRIC MOTORS DURING AN AMMONIA PLANT REVAMP

Objective

In order to save energy, PEC-RHIN decided in 1985 to revamp the ammonia plant. Optimal use of this energy was calculated by BASF and led us to replace two condensing steam turbines driving piston compressors by electric motors in order to eliminate steam produced from primary energy.
The project carried out allowed for the replacement of the turbines during a 5 week planned shut down and for a reduction of 3,5 % of the ammonia plant primary energy consumption.
The project was started in 1985 and led to a revamp carried out in 5 weeks at the end of 1986 exactly according to the planned timetable. Vibration problems have been corrected after several series of measurements by the insertion of rubber pads between motor and chassis.
Since then, plant reliability (1 year without a complete day's production loss) has resulted in a greater reduction in plant energy consumption than expected, the calculated saving being amplified by the increased plant reliability and therefore in the reduction of high energy consumption during transitary periods.
The ammonia plant revamp comprised the replacement of turbines by electric motors, reliability improvement of the electricity network by installing a second 63 kV feed, the modification and partial replacement of the flue gas heat recovery exchangers, the shutting down of a 40 bar boiler and the reduction of 110 bar steam production.
The operation's originality lay in the replacement of the steam turbines and their gearbox by direct drive electric motors, works mounted on a chassis, requiring minimal fitting and aligning once on site. The motors selected are variable speed, synchronous, low, frequency autoregulating with a second stand by control and regulating system.
The motors have the following characteristics :
Power 4100 kW - Variable speed with maximum of 275 R.P.M. - 8 poles - maximum frequency 18.33 Hz.
The great advantage lay in carrying out this operation during anormal 2 year ammonia plant maintenance shut down. The energy savings and plant reliability are perfectly satisfactory and according to forecast.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.

This project has not yet been classified with EuroSciVoc.
Be the first one to suggest relevant scientific fields and help us improve our classification service

You need to log in or register to use this function

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

Data not available

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

DEM - Demonstration contracts

Coordinator

PRODUITS ET ENGRAIS CHIMIQUES DU RHIN
EU contribution
No data
Address

68490 OTTMARSHEIM
France

See on map

Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

No data
My booklet 0 0