LNG Monitoring Software Winner of Atlantic CEO Sustainability Awards, Trinidad

A revolutionary engineering software programme that allows LNG producer Atlantic to monitor its natural gas liquefaction units on a real-time basis and prevent “compressor choke” was announced as the overall winner of the 5th Annual Atlantic CEO’s Sustainability Awards.

The winning project “Train 3 Online Choke Monitoring” was announced at the awards event staged on Saturday night (April 20, 2013) at the Trinidad Hilton and Conference Centre.

The project allowed Atlantic to remove previously imposed gas flow limits on its Train 3 unit while simultaneously enhancing surveillance of the unit’s process safety.  It was developed by a team of engineers and technicians from Atlantic’s Engineering and Reliability Departments, and was funded by GE, the manufacturer of the twenty-seven (27) Class 5 turbine compressors which drive Atlantic’s liquefaction process.

Atlantic’s Process Engineer Imtiaz Asgarali led the team and explained that the project helped to increase productivity at the plant, and also demonstrated Atlantic’s commitment to safety.

“The project gave us another opportunity to put into practice Atlantic’s safety slogan – ‘we will do it safely or we will not do it’,” Mr. Asgarali said.  “This project has given the company new software and new procedures that allow us to observe a critical component of our production process on a real-time basis, allowing us to prevent machine choke before it happens.  We were not able to do this before on a continuous, real-time basis.”

“The project also helped to develop our engineering capability in choke monitoring for turbine compressors and also expanded Atlantic’s response to managing process safety risks while maintaining plant productivity,” Mr. Asgarali further explained.

“Compressor choke” is the term used to describe the aerodynamic condition which results when the flow of gas through Atlantic’s plant becomes impeded when refrigeration rates exceed the manufacturer’s recommended limit (MRL).  For Train 3, the condition occurred during peak production periods, prompting Atlantic to institute a “cap” on the unit. This reduced gas flow and sacrificed production for safety.

In 2012, Asgarali and his team developed a software solution that gave the plant’s operations technicians the capability to see how their feed gas controls influenced flow limits on a real-time basis.  This software and its associated procedures significantly increased surveillance of the liquefaction process and allowed Atlantic to remove the cap on Train 3 and return it safely to full rates.  The system has since been installed on Atlantic’s Trains 1 and 2 and is being re-designed for Train 4.

Atlantic CEO Nigel Darlow described the project as an example of the many industry firsts achieved by Atlantic in 2012.

“Atlantic has achieved world-class rates in plant Reliability and Availability. Partnering with our service providers we have safely and successfully delivered some of the largest shutdowns in the LNG Industry,” Mr. Darlow said. “GE supports the majority of LNG facilities across the globe but they hold Atlantic out as best in class, and we are a reference site for many others to aspire to.”

The “Train 3 Online Choke Monitoring” project was also the winner in the Production category of the Atlantic CEO’s Sustainability Awards.

The Atlantic CEO’s Sustainability Awards was established in 2008.  The annual event honours innovative projects and programmes developed in the previous year by Atlantic’s employees to build sustainability in the company, its home community or Trinidad and Tobago.  a panel of independent judges, which also includes Atlantic’s CEO select the winning projects in a number of categories.  The awards programme has since grown to accept submissions from service provider and contractor companies who work on Atlantic’s facility, and also from NGOs which partner with Atlantic in social investment initiatives targeting youth, sport and community development.

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LNG World News Staff, April 24, 2013; Image: Atlantic LNG