L.A. Turbine Commissions Second ARES Unit

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).