Siemens Energy opened a new laboratory in Redmond, WA, focused on developing and testing turbomachinery-based technologies designed to support industrial decarbonization at scale. It is commercializing several rotating equipment technologies to accelerate the energy transition: an advanced rotor hydrogen compressor, a Turbo Heater, and a rotating olefins cracker (ROC).
Advanced Rotor Hydrogen Compressor: Utilizing turbo-compressors for low-mole-weight gases like hydrogen presents challenges such as needing a large amount of work to achieve meaningful pressure ratios – there is a comparatively lower pressure rise per stage relative to heavier gases, such as methane or CO2. Siemens Energy’s STC-SVm single-shaft turbo-compressor addresses these limitations. The platform has a multi-stage rotor that permits circumferential speeds at the impeller outer diameter of up to 600 m/s without exceeding material stress limits as specified in API 617. This enables compressor stage count and a reduced footprint by up to 50%.
Siemens Energy’s Turbo Heater employs high-speed gas dynamics to directly heat gas through a shock wave train. The machine is driven by an electric motor and does not require the direct burning of fossil fuels or a heat exchanger. With the Turbo Heater, fluid is accelerated to high velocities using several stages, each consisting of rotating blades followed by stator vanes redirecting the flow into subsequent stages. The flow is then directed to a stationary diffuser that rapidly reduces the flow velocity and converts the fluid’s kinetic energy into thermal energy, producing a rapid increase in static temperature.
The Rotating Olefins Cracker(ROC) utilizes the same fluid dynamic principles as the Turbo Heater to produce olefins without the combustion of fossil fuels. The technology is being developed as part of a joint effort between Siemens Energy and Technip Energies. The two companies have already validated the fundamentals of reactor chemistry in a laboratory setting and successfully tested a turbomachine prototype operating with inert gas. Prototypes have been developed for several of these innovations
