International Scientific Electric Power Conference – 2019 IOP Publishing

IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 643 (2019) 012149 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/643/1/012149

Technology trends for LNG compression using innovative

electric solutions

Lionel Durantay1,* and Pierre Laboube2

1
General Electric Power Conversion, Technology Department, 54250 Champigneulles,
France
2
Baker Hughes General Electric, Technology Department, 71200 Le Creusot, France

* E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract. During the last 30 years, there has been a significant evolution and innovation of
electric driven compressors in replacement of steam or gas turbines. Technology trends are
highlighted in this paper with a focus on LNG Compression, covering standalone and integrated
compression fed by Variable Frequency Drives (VFDs), and the emergence of the induction
squirrel cage motor up to 120MW.

1. Introduction
Electric variable speed helpers used for Liquefaction Natural Gas (LNG) application in combination
with gas turbines to drive large compressors have well-known advantages, including reduced downtime
and accurate speed control, and are independent of ambient temperature [1-3]. A helper can also be used
as a starter, reducing the gas flared during startup. The full electric drive solution (e-LNG) is an
alternative to the traditional train driven by heavy duty gas turbine especially when it is necessary to
contain dimension and weight at site and to reduce environmental impacts. In addition, the LNG train
driven by Variable Frequency Drive (VFD) allows regulating the operating speed in a wider range giving
more flexibility and efficiency in term of compressor operating points and startup without
depressurization due to torque availability avoiding flaring of gas before start-up. After removing CO2,
sulfur compounds, water and mercury, the pretreated gas is first pre-cooled with propane (or ethylene)
refrigerant, then is sent to the Main Cryogenic Heat Exchanger, where it is further cooled by a lower-
temperature mixed refrigerant. Electric LNG plants are usually more expensive in terms of capital
expense, especially if power generation facilities have to be built. With the natural increase of the
demand and the selling price of gas in the coming years, and the new regulations governing the reduction
of greenhouse gas emissions, it makes sense to consider for new investments replacement of power
generation with turbines by islanded production of electricity from wind and solar farms supplemented
by the public electric grid when available.

2. Electric System
Based on a fixed grid configuration, the optimum system combines the input transformer, the drive, the
motor and the compressor, maximizing the return of investment and the availability.
Only two parameters must be considered as key drivers:
 the voltage defining the transformer, the drive and the stator of the motor,
 the speed defining the best compressor performance and efficiency, and the rotor of the motor,
in a gearless solution.

Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence. Any further distribution
of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd 1
International Scientific Electric Power Conference – 2019 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 643 (2019) 012149 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/643/1/012149

Only three configurations of drive and motor combinations are feasible (see fig.1):
 LCI (Load Commutated Inverter) with double-star synchronous motor adjusting the motor
Power Factor at PF=0.9 leading requested by the drive for the thyristor switch-off commutation
 VSI (Voltage Source Inverter) with single-star synchronous motor operating at PF=1
 VSI (Voltage Source Inverter) with squirrel cage Induction motor operating at PF maximizing
the torque generation.
Replacing the Load Commuted Inverter, the high power VSI inverter is available since more than 10
years in a 3-level topology with the Neutral Point Clamped by diodes delivering around 15 MVA with
an output voltage of 3.3 to 3.6 kV. In a refinement of the diode-clamped converter, the so-called Neutral-
Point Clamped (NPP) converter, the clamping diode valves are replaced by Injection Enhanced Gate
Transistors (IEGT) giving additional controllability. Each valve is commutating with only half the DC
bus voltage, reducing the devices commutation losses by three, downsizing the cooling unit. For power
above 15MW, the inverter is slipped into two identical 3-level inverters, cascaded in series and
controlled in such a way that their pulses are shifted providing thus at their AC output a 5-level
waveform (see fig.2). The rectifier of a VFD is connected to the supplying grid. The Diode Front End
rectifier (DFE) is composed of diodes bridges when the Active Front End rectifier (AFE) is composed
of IEGTs as a mirror symmetry of the inverter. The AFE does not require any reactive power from the
grid and can be used to support the weak grid in providing reactive power when the supplying voltage
drops in case of load impact, or in absorbing reactive power when the supplying voltage raises in case
of a sudden load shedding [4-5].

Figure 1. The three possible architectures of electric Figure 2. 9.9kV output voltage - 5-level NPP
compression. VSI topology.

3. Standalone electric compression for LNG

3.1. LNG train with electric starter helper

Large Load Commutated Inverter (LCI) systems utilizing 4-pole synchronous machines are a proven
and widely implemented approach for the helper system in LNG train applications. The system
efficiency is improved by 1 to 2% when using a 2-pole motor, eliminating the gearbox.
Nevertheless, the LCI absorbs reactive power from both the grid and synchronous motor when
commutating thyristors and generates current harmonics that flow back into the grid reducing grid
stability and interacting with source impedance to create voltage distortion. Additionally, inter-
harmonics on the load side of the LCI drive may induce main air-gap torque pulsations from motors [6].
Keeping in mind that the accidental loss of a helper motor is extremely intrusive to the process and that
a false trip can amount in production losses, it makes sense to improve the robustness and the reliability
of the helper system moving to VSI drive. The VSI induces overall very low torque ripples to the motor
and does not produce significant inter-harmonic interactions in between the grid and the motor as for
torsional sub-synchronous excitation improving a lot the system reliability. It highlights the
simplification of the electrical lineup and details the elimination of the large reactive power

2
International Scientific Electric Power Conference – 2019 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 643 (2019) 012149 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/643/1/012149

compensators (capacitors) and of the harmonic filters, the downsizing of the cooling units. Compared
to a VSI drive operating at PF=1, the capacitive reactive power (PF=0.9) requested by the LCI drive
over-sizes the weight of the active parts of the synchronous motor up to 25%, more rotor current
increasing the electromotive force, more stator current (see fig.3 and fig.4). The ultimate solution
consists of selecting a 2-pole induction motor VSI system, more advantageous in term of CAPEX and
OPEX. The squirrel cage induction motor compared to the synchronous motor has no system of
excitation and simplified rotor construction, leading to longer run-time with fewer maintenance issues
(see fig.5).

Motor#1 Synchronous Motor#1 Synchronous Motor#2 Induction

24MW@3600rpm 33MW@3600rpm 23MW@3600rpm
Motor Weight 87tons Motor Weight 87tons Motor Weight 59tons
Two-star stator winding 4.4kV One-star stator winding 5.5kV One-star stator winding 9.2kV
Power Factor 0.9 Power Factor 1 Power factor 0.87
Motor Efficiency 97.7% Motor Efficiency 97.7% Motor Efficiency 98.2%
Figure 3. 2-pole starter-helper Figure 4. 2-pole starter-helper Figure 5. 2-pole starter-helper
synchronous motor fed by LCI. synchronous motor fed by VSI. induction motor fed by VSI.

For starter-helper system, the selection of the speed is fixed by the turbine at 3600 rpm. When
feasible, the longest direct drive configuration of the gas turbine with three compressors and a 2-pole
induction motor is very attractive because it can accommodate all the services (propane pre-cooling,
mixed refrigerant Low, Medium and High Pressure) on the same shaft for a single liquefaction train (see
fig.6). The liquefaction plant can have several identical parallel train configurations, granting 365 days
of production including maintenance of one driver [7-10].

3
International Scientific Electric Power Conference – 2019 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 643 (2019) 012149 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/643/1/012149

Figure 6. Longest LNG liquefaction train

configuration using induction motor starter-helper.

3.2. Full electric LNG (eLNG)

The current biggest full electric LNG system (eLNG) in US is composed by three trains with a nominal
capacity of 4.64 MTPA each. Each train is composed by three motor driven refrigerant compression
lines with 75 MW shaft power. From the process point of view, each string is designed with three large
single compressors (Propane, Low Pressure LP Mixed Refrigerant, Medium/High Pressure M/HP Mixed
Refrigerant) on three independent shaft lines driven by a large 2-pole synchronous motor fed by the
60Hz public electric network through a Load Commutated Inverter (LCI) system requested by the
customer (see fig.7 and fig.8). The speed is 3000 rpm to avoid any risk of inter-harmonic coupling with
the grid and torque pulsations with the shaft-line. The selection of motor as prime mover is driven mainly
by necessity to contain dimension and weight to better adapt to plant characteristics. With respect to a
traditional solution driven by gas turbine, an electric motor of same power size allows a length reduction
to approximately half time and consistent weight reduction and the elimination of air filter chamber of
the gas turbine [11].

Figure 7. 75MW 2-pole synchronous motor fed by LCI for large scale eLNG
compression

The recent validation of an 80MW 2-pole induction motor demonstrator opens the door to the use of
direct drive squirrel cage motors for power above 25MW (see fig.9). With its rotor technology and
design robustness (no exciter), the induction motor can operate at much higher speeds of synchronous
motors: 4000rpm at rated speed and 4200rpm at maximum continuous speed for instance for this
demonstrator. Two choices of optimization of compression system are then possible. The first choice is
to increase in an identical way the speed of all compressors beyond 3600rpm. The second choice is to
optimize the speed and to cope with the volume flow of each compressor minimizing the weight and the
footprint and maximizing the efficiency of each compressor, introducing the use of centrifugal
compressors for high pressure and the axial compressor for low pressure of the mixed refrigerant for

4
International Scientific Electric Power Conference – 2019 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 643 (2019) 012149 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/643/1/012149

example. Due to the large flexibility of speed range of the induction motor, it is possible to use identical
electric systems for all compression services.

Exciter
Rotating
rectifier bridge

Stator part
of exciter
Rotor Stator
440 V
(Power windings)

Exciter Short-circuited,
Rotating
rectifier bridge resistive squirrel
cage

Stator part
of exciter
Rotor Stator
440 V
(Power windings)

Short-circuited,
Rotor Stator
resistive squirrel
cage

Rotor Stator

75MW@3000rpm Synchronous 80MW@4000rpm Induction

Two-star stator winding 11kV One-star stator winding 11kV
Weight 260tons - Power Factor 0.9 Weight 150tons - Power Factor 0.87
Motor Efficiency 98.2% Motor Efficiency 98.2%
Figure 8. 2-pole eLNG synchronous motor. Figure 9. 2-pole eLNG induction motor.

4. Integrated electric compression for small scale LNG (SSLNG)

Thanks to the development of high-speed induction motors and active magnetic bearings, integrated
moto-compressors (see fig.10) represent today an alternative solution to conventional compression for
SSLNG. The process gas handled by the compressor is used to cool both the motor and the magnetic
bearings making the unit fully hermetic, allowing to remove the gas dry seals and the associated
conditioning system, and reducing the footprint by 40% [12-16]. In addition, the integrated motor
compressors are not sensitive to the load start conditions and do not need to modify the processing
conditions to lower the Settle Out Pressure (SOP) before starting. This technology was developed during
the 80’s for pipeline stations requiring high gas flows and low-pressure ratio [17-18]. Since this time
more than 80 systems are in operation all over the world with cumulated hours over 4.000.000 hours.
The first mixed refrigerant integrated compression for Small Scale LNG was delivered in 2017 with a
capacity of 1.75 MSm3/day operating at 8MW@9400 rpm (see fig.11). This technology is scalable up
to 30MW.

5
International Scientific Electric Power Conference – 2019 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 643 (2019) 012149 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/643/1/012149

Figure 10. Integrated variable speed Figure 11. Mix-refrigerant SSLNG integrated
moto-compressor. compression 8MW – 5.6kV – 9400rpm.

5. Conclusion
This paper described the trends of technology about electrification of LNG compression. The availability
of IEGT high-power transistors makes possible to build VSI-AFE drives up to 120MW replacing first-
generation LCI drives, avoiding network inter-harmonic pollution and torque harmonic pulsations. 2-
pole squirrel cage induction motor compatible with Voltage Source Drive (VSD) are also available up
to 120MW, replacing synchronous motors more complex and less reliable. With the emergence of green
islanded grids combined with the public electric network, gas turbines can be replaced with full electric
systems. The speed range of each induction motor can be adapted to the best conditions of compressor
operability in efficiency, compactness and reliability. Below 30MW, standalone electric arrangements
can be replaced by fully hermetic integrated moto-compressor using high-speed-induction rotor (see
fig.12) more flexible, compact and reliable. Integrated moto-compressor can be also used for natural gas
storage up to 300 bars in serial-parallel arrangement (see Fig.13) and for the full electric off-shore
compression [19-20] improving the process operability through its flexibility.

Figure 12. High-speed induction rotor technology. Figure 13. Serial – parallel architecture of
integrated compression.

References
[1] Kleiner F, Kauffman S 2005 All Electrical Driven Refrigeration Compressor in LNG Plants
Offers Advantages, Gastech Conf.
[2] Martinez B, Meher-Homji C, Paschal J, Eaton A 2005 All Electric Motor Drives for LNG Plants,
Gastech Bilbao Conf.
[3] Verma M, Parker D 2015 Converting to Electric Motors & ASD: A case study of 20,000HP Gas
turbine driven compressor, PCIC Houston Conf.
[4] Durantay L, Taillardat J M, Pradurat J F, Velly N 2018 State of the art for full electric driven
refrigeration compressors solutions using adjustable speed drive, IEEE Transactions on
Industry Application 54 2992-3004
[5] Yin W, Durantay L, Zhang L, Haq S, Vannay F 2018 End Winding Protections Improvements
Helping to Downsize dV/dt Filter For Medium Voltage Machine Fed by NPP Multi-levels
Voltage Source Inverter, Int. Conf on Dielectric.

6
International Scientific Electric Power Conference – 2019 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 643 (2019) 012149 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/643/1/012149

[6] Svetti F, Sgro D, Rotondo P, Meuci F 2015 Practical Guidelines For O&G Plant Design Against
Sub-Synchronous Torsional Interaction Phenomena, TPS Conf.
[7] Pelagotti A, Baldassarre L 2017 Latest Advances in LNG Compressors, CompressorTech2
Journal
[8] Pelagotti A, Baldassarre L, Meher-Homji C, Masani K 2016 Future trends in LNG
Turbomachinery, LNG18 Conference.
[9] Gerada D, Brown N 2014 High-speed Electrical Machines: Technologies, Trends and
Developments, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics 61(6) 2946-59
[10] Mauffrey Th, Durantay L, Pradurat J F, Fontini J 2013 Comparison of 5 different squirrel cage
rotor designs for large high-speed induction motors, PCIC Europe Conf.
[11] Durantay L, Roth L, Spolveri N, Jalabert S 2018 Main Electro-Mechanical Design and Tests
Challenges for Large e-LNG LCI System, IEEE PCIC Europe Conf.
[12] Durantay L, Velly N, Pradurat J F, Chisholm M. 2016 New Testing Method for Large High-Speed
Induction Motors, IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications
[13] Alban Th, Pellerin O, Laboube P, Quoix B, Gelin A 2009 Mechanical and Performance Testing
Method of An Integrated High-speed Motor Compressor, TPS Conf.
[14] Alban Th, Guillemin S, Laboube P, Pellerin O 2014 Considerations to Optimize Electric Motor
Compression Stations, 9th Pipeline Technology Conf.
[15] Durantay L, Gelin A, Thibaut E, Vidalenc Y 2019 Integrated Motor Compressor versus
Conventional Solution, PCIC Europe Conf.
[16] Grignard J F, Poerner M, Durantay L, Galioto S, Krahn J. 2015 Corrosion Testing of a Subsea
Motor and Stator Winding Insulation, in ASME Turbo Expo.
[17] Gilon D C, Boutriau L 1988 Experience with high Speed Induction Motors foo Direct Driving of
Compressor, TPS Conf. 1-5
[18] Wainwright E, Upton C, Fagg J 1995 Electric-Powered Pipeline Compressor Station
TechApplication of EPRI Chemicals and Petroleum Office of Publication 2
[19] Durantay L, Alban T, Siala S, Billaud A. 2018 Selection and Tests of Innovative Variable Speed
Motor-Compressor Solutions for a 55MW Full Electric Off-shore Platform, IEEE PCIC
Cincinnati Conference Record
[20] Thibaut E, Leforgeais B 2013 Selection of Power from Shore for An Offshore Oil and Gas
Development, PCIC Europe Conf.

7
Reproduced with permission of copyright owner. Further reproduction
prohibited without permission.