Standby 4

Major Problems Experienced by

Indo Gulf Fertilisers with the
Synthesis Compressor and Drive
Turbine
The Synthesis Compressor Train including the 26 MW drive steam turbine at Indo Gulf
Fertilisers, Jagdishpur was supplied by Nuovo Pignone (now GE Oil & Gas). The recycle
barrel of this compressor was revamped by modifying the recycle wheel by OEM and the
revamped unit was put into operation in April - May 2007. The performance of the compressor
after the revamp has not been satisfactory and finally resulted in failure of the thrust bearing
of the recycle barrel.

This paper highlights the problem of failure of the thrust bearing of the recycle barrel due to
its overloading caused by shortcomings during assembly despite deployment of possibly best
available resources including “Expert Supervision” from Nuovo Pignone. The paper also
explains design changes in the balance drum sizing. This was recommended by Nuovo
Pignone. After a detailed failure analysis. This replacement has been incorporated in April,
2009 Turn Around and the machine is running satisfactorily thereafter.

The paper also highlights other issues experienced by Indo Gulf Fertilsers during operation of
the synthesis gas compressor like two incidents of fire on synthesis compressor turbine due to
rupture of a flexible hose provided in the control oil line and wide cyclic variation of the thrust
bearing temperature with change in ambient conditions. Precautions taken by Indo Gulf
Fertilisers during fire fighting which helped in minimizing the negative effects of the fire and
the quick re-start of the turbine have also been included in the paper.

C.K. Datta and Ajit Kumar Srivastava

Indo Gulf Fertilisers

Introduction India. IGF produces prilled urea and converts

the entire ammonia produced in to urea. The

T he company Indo Gulf Fertilisers (IGF) plant where the compressor revamp project took
is a unit of Aditya Birla Nuvo Ltd, a place is situated in the eastern part of India in
flagship company of the Aditya Birla the state of Uttar Pradesh, at Jagdishpur.
Group – a global Fortune 500 company from

2009 311 AMMONIA TECHNICAL MANUAL

 Facilities
The plant facilities comprises of

™ 1520 MTPD ammonia plant

™ 2620 MTPD prilled urea plant
™ Power Plant & Utilities having 2X100
TPH Boilers, 2X18 MW gas turbines
™ Bulk urea storage of 45,000 MT
™ Ammonia storage of 15,000 MT.

The basic raw material is natural gas. The

process licensors are:

™ Ammonia - Haldor Topsøe A/S,

Denmark
™ Urea - Snamprogetti SPA, Italy
Process Description
Ammonia Plant
The natural gas is desulphurised via hydro
desulphurization and is mixed with steam before
it is fed into the steam reforming unit. The re-
formed gas is cooled and fed to the shift reactors
in order to convert CO to CO2. Subsequent to
this, converted gas is fed to a CO2 absorption
system, where the CO2 is removed and used as
feedstock for the urea plant. After CO2 removal
the gas is fed to the methanator to remove final
traces of unconverted CO and CO2. The gas is
then compressed and sent to the ammonia
synthesis unit. NH3 produced in the ammonia
converter is cooled and condensed by water-
cooling and refrigeration and sent to urea plant.
Excess ammonia, as per requirement, is
refrigerated further and sent to storage.
A View of Synthesis Compressor Train
The last compressor barrel incorporates one
recycle stage. The compressor train operates at
around 9000 RPM, to compress synthesis gas
from 25 Kg/cm2g (355.5 psi) to about 200
Kg/cm2g (2844 psi) to facilitate synthesis of
ammonia from synthesis gas - a mixture of
nitrogen and hydrogen. The synthesis gas
compressor is driven by a steam turbine with
inlet steam at 105 Kg/cm2g (1493 psi) pressure
and 515 0C (9590 F) temperature. Steam is
extracted at 38 Kg/cmgg (540.4 psi) and
condenser operates at 0.13 ata (1.9 psi abs). The
complete synthesis compressor train including
the steam turbine of 26 MW was supplied by
M/s Nuovo Pignone (now GE Oil & Gas), Italy.
The compressor employs an “oil film sealing”
system for end gas sealing.

Synthesis Gas Compressor

The synthesis gas compressor is a high speed
centrifugal compressor and consists of vertically
split compressor barrels
™ 2 BCL 508
™ BCL 408 a
™ 2 BCL 408 b and
™ Steam Turbine EHNK 40/45

AMMONIA TECHNICAL MANUAL 312 2009


Fig 1 – Schematic Diagram of Synthesis
Compressor Train
Revamp of Synthesis Compressor
In the year 2005, IGF undertook a study for
revamp of the plant for capacity enhancement as
well as reduction in energy consumption for
ammonia production. Revamp study was carried
out by M/s Haldor Topsoe, the technology
supplier and based on overall margins in various
equipment, targets were finalized. This study
also laid down process conditions to be met by
Synthesis Compressor.
These conditions were studied by Nuovo
Pignone and based on performance test of the
compressor train, design calculations and
simulations, it was recommended by Nuovo
Pignone to carry out a minor modification in the
recycle impeller to reduce its vane diameter. No
change was advised in disc and counter disc of
recycle impeller as well as other parts of the
compressor. With above change, it was
envisaged that the compressor would be able to
meet revised process requirements.
Modification of Recycle Impeller
Based on recommendations provided by Nuovo
Pignone, the order was placed in June 2006 and
the recycle impeller of spare rotor was modified
2009
as envisaged by machining of impeller vanes in
Nuovo Pignone works in Florence shop.
Fig 2 – Details of Impeller Wheel Modification
for Recycle Rotor
Installation of Modified Rotor
IGF took shut down the plants in April/May
2007 to carry out the modifications for the
revamp of the plant. The modified rotor was put
in the machine during above shut down under
supervision of expert engineers from Nuovo
Pignone. During above period, overhauling of
complete train was also performed. During the
overhauling, all clearances for seals, bearings
etc were maintained as per original protocol
Performance of Compressor Post Revamp
After completion of all activities, the plant was
restarted in the last week of May 2007 and the
synthesis compressor train was also re-
commissioned. After start up of the synthesis
compressor, it performed well from process
point of view and met process conditions as
envisaged in the revamp study. However, thrust
bearing temperature for the recycle barrel was
observed to be very high after commissioning of
the compressor post revamp. It was found to be
varying between 107 °C (224.60F) to 140 °C
(2840F) with change in ambient conditions in
day and night. Surprisingly the temperature
peaks for the thrust bearing was occurring
313 AMMONIA TECHNICAL MANUAL
 during coolest period i.e. late in the night. Oil
consumption in the compressor was also
abnormally high ie approx 300 liters per day (80
gallons per day) against normal expected
consumption of 20 – 25 liters per day (5 – 7
gallons per day). The problem was referred to
OEM for analyzing it and to provide corrective
measures to be taken.
After investigation, it was observed that balance
drum leak off pressure and hence differential
pressure between balancing drum leak off
pressure and suction pressure of final make up
stage was operating in the range of 15 – 16
Kg/cm2g (210 to 230 psi) against normal value
of 2 – 3 Kg/cm2g (30 – 40 psi) before revamp.
While the matter was still being investigated
and analysed with Nuovo Pignone, the thrust
bearing of recycle barrel rotor failed on 2nd July
2007, after operation of compressor for 40 days
in abnormal conditions. Subsequently, repair of
compressor was taken up.
1st Repair
On dismantling the free end bearing of the
compressor, it was observed that
™ Both Axial probes were damaged.
™ Lot of metal debris was found in the
bearing housing
™ Active side pads of thrust bearing were
in badly damaged shape - Babbitt metal
has flown.
™ The active side face of the thrust collar
has rubbed and was in badly damaged
condition.
™ Total axial float was found to be 5.85
mm (0.23 inch) against original set value
of 5.35 mm (0.21 inch):
AMMONIA TECHNICAL MANUAL
Fig 3 - Damaged Active Side Thrust Bearing
Trial Run of Compressor after Bearing
Replacement
The rotor was found to be freely rotating and
hence it was decided to take a trial of the
compressor after replacement of the thrust
bearing, thrust collar, axial probe etc. During
start up, the compressor was very stable with
axial displacement and radial vibration within
normal limits and Minimum Governor Speed -
MGS could be reached without any
abnormality. However, the compressor tripped
on high axial shift when it was being loaded. It
was then decided to carry out an internal
inspection of the compressor barrel and
accordingly, the compressor barrel was
dismantled. On dismantling, the following were
observed –
™ The thrust collar has rubbed against the
thrust bearing active side pads.
™ The rotor has rubbed against gas seal on
TB side thrust flange creating a deep
groove in the gas seal.
™ Rotor also rubbed against the labyrinth
seals for impeller suction eye.
™ Rotor has also rubbed against the
diaphragms - radially as well as axially.
314 2009
 ™ Impellers also show impressions of
rubbing resulting in flowing out of
material.
™ Many inter-stage seals were also found
damaged because of rubbing with rotor.
Final Repair
The modified rotor installed in the machine was
not found to be usable and hence it was decided
to replace the rotor with the original un-
modified spare rotor available at site.
Accordingly, the compressor was assembled
with the old spare rotor. All damaged
components like seals; bearings, thrust collar
etc. were replaced with spare sets. Orifice
diameter in oil inlet line to the thrust bearing
was increased from 13 to 15 mm (0.51 to 0.59
inch) to ensure adequate quantity of oil to the
thrust bearing after discussion with Nuovo
Pignone.
The compressor was started and taken in line on
9th July 2007. All the parameters of the
compressor parts were found to be within
acceptable limits. The thrust bearing
temperature was varying from 90 to 115 0C (194
to 2390F). Differential pressure between
balancing drum leak off and final make-up stage
suction was observed to be in the range of 2 - 3
Kg/cm2g (30 – 40 psi).
IGF had an opportunity of inspection of thrust
bearing of the recycle barrel after operation of
the compressor for about a week and the thrust
bearing was found to be in good condition
during inspection. However, as a preventive
measure diameter of Oil Control Ring was also
increased from 14 mm to 14.8 mm (0.55 to 0.58
inch) based on recommendation of Nuovo
Pignone.
2009
Subsequent to this repair, the compressor is
performing satisfactorily for the last 20 months
with a thrust bearing temperature varying
between 90 – 115 °C (194 to 2390F) and a
differential pressure between balancing drum
leak off and final make-up stage suction in the
range of 2 to 3 Kg/cm2g (30 – 40 psi).
The damaged rotor removed from the
compressor was sent to the Nuovo Pignone
works in Florence for inspection and repair.
During detailed inspection, three out of eight
impellers were found to have developed
multiple cracks and were replaced with new
impellers.
Root Cause Analysis (RCA)
As the temperature of the thrust bearing of the
recycle barrel was found to be running
abnormally high beyond acceptable limits, it
was concluded that the thrust bearing is
experiencing a thrust load much higher than its
capacity. This overloading would have been a
result of excessively high differential pressure
between balancing drum leak off and final make
up stage suction. Based on the root cause
analysis done by Nuovo Pignone, some
blockage was suspected in the leakage path of
the gas leaking across balance drum. However,
during inspection of the compressor barrel, no
blockage was found. Further, after start up of
the compressor after replacement of rotor in
July 07, the differential pressure as well as
thrust bearing temperature was observed to be
within acceptable limits indicating some other
factors responsible for the high differential
pressure and the high thrust bearing
temperature.
Nuovo Pignone, although they confirmed that
there were no issues with rotor design including
thrust balancing, advised for increase in balance
315 AMMONIA TECHNICAL MANUAL
 drum diameter from 274 mm to 285 mm (10.79
to 11.22 inch), as a preventive measure. As the
RCA carried out by Nuovo Pignone was not
conclusive, the IGF Team continued their effort
to ascertain root cause to eliminate the chance of
recurrence of a similar failure. Scanning through
history records revealed that during one repair,
the balance drum of one of the rotors was
replaced at BHEL, India because of scoring on
the original balance drum. History records also
revealed that during this repair final balance
drum diameter was made as 275.10 mm. This
rotor with balance drum diameter of 275.10 mm
(10.83 inch) was in service before installation of
rotor modified as part of revamp. The balance
drum diameter of Modified Rotor was measured
as 273.80 mm (10.78 inch), which means that
the diameter of balance drum, which was in
service before installation of Modified Rotor, is
higher, by 1.3 mm (0.05 inch).
After failure of recycle barrel rotor on 2nd July
2007, IGF had to use old unmodified rotor with
balance drum diameter higher by 1.3 mm (0.05
inch). During clearance checking exercise for
installation of unmodified rotor with 1.3 mm
higher balance drum diameter, the clearance
between balance drum and its seal was found to
(0.05 inch) be 0.50 – 0.55 mm (0.20 – 0.22
inch) which is within protocol values. IGF team
was surprised with this observation as same seal
was in service with the modified rotor and
clearance reported in the assembly report at site
during installation of modified rotor with
modified rotor and same seal was same as 0.50
– 0.55 mm (0.20 – 0.22 inch). This was
surprising for the IGF team as with balance
drum seal remaining common, clearance can’t
remain the same with two rotors having
different diameter of balance drum.
AMMONIA TECHNICAL MANUAL
A simple inference of above is “The seal
clearance of the modified rotor must have
been much higher than the protocol values –
of the order of > 1.5 mm (0.059 inch)”. To
understand the phenomenon better, the question
was raised to understand the exact effect of this
clearance on differential pressure, which was
considered as main factor responsible for failure
of thrust bearing. Based on an empirical relation
provided by Nuovo Pignone, the effect of
increased clearance was found to be matching
with the observation of the higher differential
pressure. Based on above it was concluded that
the reason for failure of the thrust bearing was
because of higher differential pressure caused
by the higher clearance between balance drum
and its seal. Reduction in differential pressure
across balance drum after replacement of rotor
maintaining seal clearance as per protocol,
reinforced our thinking.
Lessons Learnt
The overhauling and replacement of the rotor
was carried out under expert guidance of Nuovo
Pignone engineer. With availability of Nuovo
Pignone expert for taking care of overhauling
the IGF team developed very high level of
confidence, which allowed them to relax their
attention from the critical job. However, the
major miss experienced during the process of
overhauling indicates that the end user must get
fully involved during critical activities so as to
ensure that proper checks balances are in place.
IGF learnt this lesson the hard way.
Fire on Synthesis Compressor Drive Turbine
At around 10:00 p.m. on 3rd June 2008,
Ammonia Plant at Indo Gulf Fertilisers
including Synthesis Compressor, tripped due to
problem in CO2 Recovery Section. After
attending to the problem, the plant was
316 2009
 normalized. Synthesis Compressor was taken on
load at around midnight on the same day.
During start up, Synthesis Compressor once
tripped on high vibrations. On 4th June 2008 at
2.41 a.m., i.e. shortly after stabilization of
Synthesis Compressor, a fire was observed on
the Synthesis Compressor Turbine. Subsequent
to observing fire, machine tripped due to
burning of axial probe cable. It was observed
that the flames were emanating from Steam inlet
line, probably because of impingement of oil
stream on hot surface of inlet steam line.
Therefore, lube oil supply to the machine was
cut off by stopping lube oil pumps. Fire could
be extinguished with the help of steam, dry
chemical powder (DCP) and CO2 fire
extinguishers. The lube oil console, seal oil/lube
oil skids etc for the compressor train are located
directly beneath compressor train. To avoid any
chances of fire reaching and affecting these
areas, a water curtain was created to cordon off
these areas and cool/extinguish sparks that may
reach close to these areas. Care was taken to
ensure that water is not used in the areas close to
the extremely hot steam turbine to avoid
quenching. The fire was concentrated at the
front end of the turbine and it severely damaged
components of the turbine at the front end like
entire instrumentation including probes &
cables, hydraulic governor, components of pilot
piston & servo motor, amplifier, gauge glasses
etc. Figure 4 provide an idea about damage
2009
Fig 4 – Damaged HP Control Oil Hose – A
closer View
As plant and machinery are subject to a
comprehensive insurance cover, dismantling
activity could be started only after completing
survey of the damaged areas by insurance
company. After insurance clearance the steam
turbine was dismantled. A major concern was
the status of rotor as we were compelled to stop
oil supply with the turbine still very hot.
However, on dismantling all bearings were
found to be in good condition and no sagging
was observed in the rotor. The steam turbine
was assembled replacing the damaged
components. While most of the components
were available in stock, alternate arrangements
were made for some of the parts like instrument
cabling which was rerouted to shorten lead
between control room and field instruments,
vibration/temperature probes, gauge glasses etc.
After completing assembly work, the oil
circulation was done with wire mesh in the
return line, which was continued for almost 36
hours, and a lot of debris was removed. Entire
maintenance activities could be completed in
about 7 days time from starting dismantling
activities to the machine was put back in to
operation. Looking at the damage caused by the
fire, it was an appreciable effort to come back
317 AMMONIA TECHNICAL MANUAL
 into operation so quickly. This became possible
because of quick identification of the fire, care
taken during fire extinguishing and excellent
teamwork.
Reason for Fire
The steam turbine uses steam at 105 ata (1493
psi) and 515 °C (9590F) and has double inlet for
steam. The inlet connections for the steam line
are flanged.
Analysis of the Problem
In the control oil line as well as other similar
lines at the turbine front end, single braided
flexible hoses are provided to take care of
thermal expansion. During inspection of the
turbine after its stoppage, the hose provided in
the HP Control oil line was found ruptured at
the bottom end. Rupture in hose was found in
the area of hose facing steam turbine. Further
review of data revealed that shortly before fire
was reported, a small dip in lube oil pump
discharge pressure was visible in the history
trend. Based on these findings and other
observations at site and facts, it was concluded
that “because of rupture of the HP Control oil
hose carrying control oil at around 8 kg/cm2
(114 psi) a stream of oil emerged from the
hose. This oil after striking hot surface of
steam pipes and getting absorbed in
insulation caught fire. A small dip in oil
pressure was probably the time when the
hose might have ruptured resulting in sudden
increase in discharge flow and hence sudden
reduction in oil pressure.”
Past Failures
Indo Gulf had an experience of occurrence of
similar fire in the same machine on 16th July
1992. The reason of fire in that case also was
traced to a rupture of the hose provided in HP
AMMONIA TECHNICAL MANUAL
control oil line. As rupture of a flexible hose
was responsible for the fire, we implemented a
practice of replacing flexible hoses in every
turnaround with new hoses duly hydro-tested.
Corrective Actions to Mitigate the Risk
During interaction with similar Ammonia –
Urea Manufacturers, the Indo Gulf team was
surprised to know that at most of the plants,
only fixed stainless steel piping has been used in
Control Oil Circuit. It was also understood that
size of control oil piping in these cases is up to a
maximum of 1” Nb as compared to 1 ½” Nb at
Indo Gulf. This was also confirmed by Bharat
Heavy Electricals Limited BHEL, Hyderabad,
India – a reputed designer & supplier of
centrifugal compressors and turbines. As Indo
Gulf experienced two serious failures on
Synthesis Compressor Drive Turbine, GE Oil &
Gas was requested to provide their
recommendation for replacement of flexible
hose with stainless steel piping for which GE
Oil & Gas didn’t agree and Indo Gulf has to live
with this situation.
As usage of a flexible hose is inevitable, Indo
Gulf tried to work different options to relocate
the flexible hose so as to achieve a “fail safe”
condition to eliminate chances of recurrence of
such disasters. However, proposed solutions did
not meet detailed scrutiny mainly because of the
risk involved with the Aluminum body of the
cylinder for the pilot piston. This necessitated
installation of a fool proof design flexible hose.
And based on study of relevant standards for
flexible hoses, following facts came up:
1. Flexible hose comes in three categories –
“A”, “B” and “C”.
318 2009
 2. While category “B” specifies for “Cycle
Test” up to 5000 Cycles, “C” category
“C” hoses are tested up to 50000 cycles.
3. All the vendors have supplied hose of
category “B” only
4. As the hoses are connected to the
turbine, some vibrations are inevitable –
in-fact a U-bolt which was used to fix
the HP Control Oil Hose with its support
was found sheared during the inspection
after failure. This suggested that the hose
must have vibrated substantially before
its eventual rupture.
5. As indicated in the earlier sections of
this paper – shortly before failure the
turbine tripped on high vibrations during
its start up. Though tripping of the
turbine is because of high vibrations at
the bearing locations, which is
independent of HP Control Oil hose, it
gives an indication that there might have
been vibrations in the hose as well.

Based on above it was thought that the hose

needs to be upgraded to make them resistant to
fatigue failure.

Accordingly, we have procured hoses of

category “C” which have been designed and
tested to withstand high fatigue stresses.

These hoses have been installed in the

turnaround in the month of April 2009 and
performance of hose is under observation.

2009 319 AMMONIA TECHNICAL MANUAL

AMMONIA TECHNICAL MANUAL 320 2009