L.A. Turbine Commissions Second ARES Unit
February 26, 2020
L.A. Turbine has commissioned its second ARES active magnetic bearing (AMB) turboexpander-compressor at a recently established cryogenic natural gas processing plant along the Panola pipeline in Texas.
The L3000 ARES AMB turboexpander-compressor can handle a gas flow of 200 MMcfd (5.6 X 106 m3/d) and features a skid-mounted AMB control system and a programmable logic control (PLC) panel. According to the L.A. Turbine, the cryogenic plant is running near 100% capacity and the ARES skid is handling the gas flow demands.
L.A. Turbine debuted the ARES turboexpander-compressor in July 2018 as part of a plan to make AMB-equipped turboexpanders popular and less costly for gas processing midstream applications. To bring the costs down,
L.A. Turbine eliminated the cables and wires and, because magnetic bearings don’t need a lubrication system, reduced the footprint of the skid by one-third of its oil-based counterparts (see COMPRESSORTECH2, August-September 2018, p. 29).
The company shipped its first ARES unit in late March 2019 to a North Dakota natural gas liquid (NGL) processing plant in the Bakken shale play (see COMPRESSORTECH2, May 2019, p. 7). In late October of that year, L.A. Turbine commissioned the unit, also designed for a gas flow rate of 200 MMcfd (5.6 X 106 m3/d).
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