Centrifugal Compressor

Shaft End Seals

Vasanth Bhat
Singapore Refining Company Pte
Ltd.
 Presenter/Author bios

Vasanth Bhat is a Integrity Manager at Singapore Refining

Company ( A joint venture refinery between Chevron &
Petro China ). During his last 6 years with SRC, his main
role has been support all technical and asset management
issues with regards to rotating machinery in the refinery.
Prior to this, Vasanth had over 19 years of experience in
various roles as consultant , Sales , Reliability &
Maintenance engineer in organizations in India , Middle
east and Singapore . Vasanth has a B.E. degree
(Mechanical Engineering, 1989) from Manipal Institute of
technology – India and is a certified Category IV Vibration
specialist by Vibration Institute USA . He is currently
pursuing a Masters Degree in Rotating Machinery From
University of Zaragoza ( Spain)
Centrifugal Compressor Shaft End Seals
• Types
– Labyrinth seal
– Carbon segmental seals
– Floating ring circumferential
wet seals
– Face contact wet seals
– Dry Gas seals
 Labyrinth Seals
• Simplest seals ( multiple orifices) Pros Cons
• Low pressures .
High Reliability , longHigher leakages
• Could be made of generally of softer material to prevent life compared to other seals
damage to rotor . Non metallic materials such as PEEK
Lower Cost $ Limited to low pressure
gaining popularity.
applications
• Bearing housing seals and separation seals in dry gas seals
Easy to install & In most cases would
are another commonly seen applications.
maintain in most cases need inert gases if
• In early times labyrinth seals were used as main seals with applied to applications
the help of barrier gas to prevent process gas to come out other than air
to the atmospheric side eg Wet Gas compressor
application in FCC units. Support System
requirements are
simpler
 Carbon Segmented seals
• In recent times actively replacing labyrinth seals in the Pros Cons
typical applications. Quiet Reliable Not suitable for higher
• The clearances are smaller and result in lower leakages. pressures
• Now commonly used in air compressors and low pressure Lower Cost $ compared In most cases would
gases .In case of hazardous gas application a barrier gas such to other seals need inert gases if
as nitrogen is provided to prevent leakage of process gas into applied to applications
atmosphere. other than air
• Very commonly applied in low pressure application such as Easy to install & Leakage higher
blowers and now commonly used in dry gas seals as tertiary maintain in most cases compared to other seals
seals or barrier seals to prevent lube oil contamination into with some
secondary seals. requirements on
mating shaft surface
Support System
requirements are
simpler

"Image provided courtesy of Flowserve Corporation, all rights reserved.”


• Wet seals need liquid barrier ,
in most cases lubricating oil to
prevent the gas from leaking
to atmosphere.
• They are of circumferential
and face type seals in various
arrangements.
"Image provided courtesy of Flowserve Corporation, all rights reserved.”
Wet Seals
Pros Cons
Can be applied to low to high Not suitable for higher pressures as it
pressures would need a seal oil system of higher
then sealing pressure
Lower leaks compared to carbon Life is dependent on quality of Seal oil
segmented seals ,operation and reliability of seal oil
system
Don’t fail in a catastrophic manner Will be expensive system and could
when gas gets contaminated increase exponentially with higher
pressures
Mixing of lub oil system with seal oil If seal oil contaminates process gas
system is not a major concern that would be a limitation to the seal
application
Start up & shutdowns are easily
managed and don’t need addition of
equipment to maintain ideal
conditions for the seal
 Face Contact Wet Seals
• Many OEMS would offer this seal design as it
has lower leakage rates .
• Works on same principle as pressurized
barrier mechanical seals in pumps with the
challenge of the speeds being much higher
compared to pumps.

Image Courtesy Elliott Ebara

 Dry Gas Seals
• Currently the default seal
selection for most
centrifugal compressor
application.
• Capable of handling any "Image provided courtesy of Flowserve Corporation, all rights reserved.”

type of applications as long

as there is clean dry gas
available for the seals.
 Dry Gas Seals
Pros Cons
Can be applied to almost entire pressure range The cost of the seal is highest in most cases for the
similar application
Lower leaks compared to other seal types best to Life dependent on quality of seal gas and how it is
meet most difficult emission requirements. maintained through out the operation of the
compressor
As compressor gas is used in most cases as sealing Migration of lube oil to seal side could be pose a
media the system is relatively simpler serious concern and need special barrier seals
Life of dry gas seals is generally better compared Failures in many cases are catastrophic in nature
to other seals when operated and maintained well. resulting in sudden outage of machines .
Sensitive to compressor gas composition changes
 Why Compressor End Seals are
important ?
• An analysis of un planned trips and events of
single line critical compressors in a typical
refinery indicates above 20% of incidents are
due to seal leaks .
• Some of these events could have quick
recovery but majority may involve outages in
the duration of 7 to 15 days resulting in
significant losses.
• The presentation explains some of these
events and share their behavior and lessons
learnt from these incidents
 Case Study 1 : Recycle Gas Compressor
•
Wet Seal leak
Compressor Introduction :
– A 5 Stage horizontal Single Case barrel
compressor.
– Max operating speed -11,000 rpm
– Driven by a 650 KW turbine
– Combined lube oil & seal oil system
– Floating ring circumferential low
pressure seal with guaranteed leak of
100 l/day for the case.
• For a year post TAR the seal leakage was
between 2.8 -3.2 l/hr
• There was decrease in seal oil leakage to
0.2-.6 l/hr for about 6 months post which
increase in seal oil leakage rate from 5-7 l/hr
for about a year post which increase in seal
oil leakage rate was observed to 7-10 l/hr
• As the compressor seal oil top up rate was
getting difficult to manage compressor was
taken for seal replacement found gas seal
rings damaged.
 Observations During Overhaul
• No major damage to the rotor .
• Both the Gas seal rings ( suction and discharge side ) found with the
babbit melted off. Compared to the required clearance of 50 microns
( diametrical ) the clearance was more than double.
• Atmospheric side seal rings found in good condition.

16 November 2015 12
 Seal Details and Failure Mechanism
• It is observed that the clearances on these
seals are on the lower side to ensure the
guaranteed seal leakages. The surface temps
computed are in excess of melting point of
the Babbitt metal . If the gap is uniform and
passages are clean there are no issues . But if
the seal surface gets contaminated affecting
heat transfer there is high chance that
localized hot spots will emerge and melt the
white metal.
• Also it was observed if the seal oil has
varnishing potential this could impact the
heat transfer process more and result in
premature seal failure.
 Lessons Learned
• Floating ring seals require a minimum
leakage for safe operation.
• A drop in seal leakage by 1/3 rd to 1/5th of
normal leakage is cause of concern as the
seal is likely to fail.( leak heavily). The drop
in leakage indicates clearance passage is
getting clogged.
• Regular monitoring of leakage rate is
essential to avoid being caught off guard.
• No serious damage to the seal and
machine even though the machine was
operating for a close to a year with high
leakage rate.

16 November 2015 14
 Case 2: High Pressure Recycle Gas
• Compressor Details:
– High pressure 6 stage compressor.
approximately 150 barg seal pressure. Turbine
driven
– High pressure seal oil system
– Machine speed :13000 rpm.
• Event 1 : Heavy seal leak just after overhaul
Findings:
– Seal oil was losing at rate of about 1 drum per
hour.
– Seal oil delta pressure (seal oil/reference gas)
control system was unstable – fluctuating.
– Discharge sour seal oil trap was empty and level
control valve was open.
– Suction sour seal oil trap was full and level
control valve was ‘hunting’ – close/open
16 November 2015 15
 Incident 1 : What did we find ?
Action taken:
• Compressor was shut down for investigation.
• Both suction & discharge side seal ring did not
indicate any wear though some deposit was found
at the seal.
• Discharge side sour oil trap level control valve
transmitter diaphragm was found damaged
resulting in malfunctioning of the control valve.
Consequences of level loss in the sour seal oil trap
• Gas breakthrough to degassing drum and waste
oil drum
• Upsetting of seal oil pressure control system
– Fluctuation of reference gas pressure
– Fluctuation of seal oil supply pressure
• Excessive sour oil flow/leakage:
– To degassing tank
Image Courtesy Dresser Rand Co : Olean
– To process side compressor/piping
16 November 2015 16
 Second Failure
• Seal leak found very high post a emergency trip of
the compressor .
• On dismantling found the securing bolts (part no 17)
sheared and the Babbitt on the gas seal ring melted.
• No damage to rotor although seal was damaged.

Image Courtesy Dresser Rand Co : Olean

 Lessons Learnt & Corrective Action plan
Likely Cause :
• Failure of the securing bolts due to sudden
depressurization caused the seals to loose orientation
this could have lead to gas seal clearance going down
on one side and resulting that to fail.
• The bolt failure was attributed to lag in seal oil system
response during depressurization ( control valve issue). Image Courtesy Dresser Rand Co : Olean
Age of the bolts was another factor , followed by
concentricity of the seal housing to the main barrel &
tightening of securing bolts.
Corrective Action Plan
• Considering to upgrade the seal to cartridge and
windback design to reduce leakage and eliminate
assembly issues.( as seen in this component seal)
• Improvements in seal oil system instrumentation and
filtration of buffer gas system for attending some of
the issues seen in both the incidents
 Case 3: Refrigeration Compressor leak
Machine Introduction:
• Motor driven four stage, single casing
centrifugal compressor through a speed
increase gearbox at 6000 rpm.
• Utilizes face contacting wet seal.
• Has a combined lube oil and seal oil
system.
What was the issue ?
• After about 3 years of service post
overhaul the seal leak was reported high. Image Courtesy Elliott Ebara
The adjoining picture shows the leakage
trend of the compressor seals
• Post this incident there have been
multiple occasions when the seal leak
would be high.
• The case study explains the findings and
what is our current practice.
 What did we do ?
• Stabilized the buffer gas pressure.
• Reduced pressure regulator setting to a lower
value in the allowable range.
• Inspected drainer vent gas orifice for choking
• Seal Oil Inlet pressure reduced from
3.9kg/cm2 to 3.5 kg/cm2.
• The seal leakage stopped at the suction side .
• Drum top up rate reduced.
16 November 2015
• Typical recommendations :
– Seal leak likely due to seal hang up.
– Could be due to poor buffer gas quality.
– Stop the compressor and increase the
seal oil pressure to double the existing
value .
– Start the machine and gradually bring the
pressure back to normal .
– Monitor the seal leakage and if not
dropped try this a few times to get it
back to normal.
20
 What was the cause & What was Found
• During an pit stop the compressor seals were replaced.
• What did we find ?
– Found both seals had scoring at the mating faces.
– The labyrinth seals were found dirty resulting in
contamination to the seal and the possible hang up .
– Post this incident we have seen multiple occasions of leak but
most of them were resolved when the compressor was
started post a stop or when we increase the seal oil pressure
and bring it back to normal.
• Actions for future:
– Upgrade to cartridge design which are designed for lower
hang up tendencies
– Installed filters on the buffer gas so that clean gas is present
on the seals
– Change oil type to a less varnishing type so that varnishing
tendencies are reduced and could extend seal life.

16 November 2015 21
 Case Study 4: Wet Gas Compressor
Compressor Introduction :
• 2 Stages opposed to each other with 4
impellers per stage running at 7700 rpm.
• The compressor is driven by a steam turbine
close to 5 MW rating.
• The compressor was initially provided with
floating ring wet seal as shown in case study 1
but due to poor reliability it was retrofitted
with a Dry gas seals.
• Due to the low pressure and need for external
gas source a double seal with nitrogen as seal
gas was used.
• In order to avoid issues due to Oring ( life )
PTFE rings were used as static and dynamic O
rings
 Failure Sequence
• During a sudden decrease in speed the seal 150.00
2/23/2012 14:46:32
New Plot Title @ 19m42s
2/23/2012 15:06:14

DP was lost and the compressor tripped.

9000.00
150.00
2.50
2.50
0.40

• A seal hang up was suspected as after a slow

roll of the machine the DP normalized.
• As we had spare seals we did a quick hystersis
check and found the losses were much higher - 50.00

compared to normal . This was rectified. - 1000.00

- 50.00
- 0.50
- 0.50

Initially based on requirement the DP for the

- 0.30

• ** #1
** #2
** #3
(R )
(R )
(R )
( (PC 73188.OP- 50.0) *2.2/23/2012 14:55:14 72.27 (Firs t @1 Min)
SI75300.PV
PD C 75A51.OP
2/23/2012 14:55:14 6353.53 R PM (R aw )
2/23/2012 14:55:14 33.41 % (R aw )
N o D es c r iption D efined
W GC SH AFT SPEED
SEAL GAS D IFF PR ESSU R E

seal gas was set at 2 barg . Due to this issue of ** #4

** #5
** #6
(R )
(R )
(R )
PD I75A52.PV
PD I75A54.PV
ZI75300B.PV
2/23/2012 14:55:14 1.14 KG/C M2 ( R aw )
2/23/2012 14:55:14 0.49 KG/C M2 ( R aw )
2/23/2012 14:55:14 0.14 MM ( R aw )
SEAL GAS D P D R IVER SID E
SEAL GAS D P TH R U ST SID E
C OMPR AXIAL D ISPLAC E

higher drag friction the DP was increased to 4

barg and since then the machine is running
without issues although there have been
multiple events when the compressor was
stopped and restarted . The increase in seal
leak was minor for the increased DP.
 Lessons Learnt
• It is important to review the Inspection and test plan from
vendors and ensure all the necessary checks related to the part
are done .
• Look for the nature of the trip and analyze before you conclude on
the cause of the failure.
• The tuning of control systems is critical a good balance in control
valve opening to ensure stable operation of the machine in
various conditions.
• For double seals it might be worth considering higher DP
compared to norm of 2 barg above seal chamber pressure to
ensure reliable operation.
Case Study 5 : Recycle Gas Compressor
Dry Gas seal Failure
• 8 stage compressor
• ~11,000 rpm
• Ps = 50 barg (725 psig)
• Pd = 80 barg (1160 psig)
• Tandem arrangement dry gas seals
• External seal gas from Hydrogen Make-up
compressors (lubricated recips) as primary source,
with the compressor discharge as back up in case of
Make-up compressor trip.
• Compressor was commissioned in 1995 and had no
failures prior to 2011.
First Failure
• Compressor was started post turnaround.
• No compressor work was done during turnaround.
• After about 13 hours of running the compressor
tripped on high primary vent pressure on the
suction-side seal.
Cause of Failure :
• Seal system found heavily contaminated with
water-like liquid.
• Suction drum steaming for vessel entry during
turnaround done with compressor suction and
discharge ESVs left open resulting in condensate
building up in the compressor and seal gas system.
• Seal gas take-off from casing bottom allowed for
additional condensate to reach the dry gas seal,
shattering the faces.
 Compressor Flow Scheme
To Compressor
Dry Gas Seal
Primary Dry Gas FI
From Hydrogen Make up
Compressor Discharge Header ESV
PDCV Comp
ESV
Filter

Discharge

Suction
Back-up Dry Gas From Compressor
(Piping pocket)
Recycle Gas
To System

Suction
Drum (Piping pocket)

27
Challenges in restoration
• Dry gas seal rotating face fragments (WC) caused
damage that impeded compressor disassembly.
• OEM’s previous experience with similar failure: 4
weeks to grind out the stuck sleeve with pencil
grinder.
• Spare rotor allowed for partially destructive drilling
method for sleeve removal. Rotor was removed
within two days and compressor was restarted in
11 days.
 Second Failure
• Compressor tripped on high primary vent pressure on suction
side exactly one month after the first post-failure start up.
• Damage similar to first failure with shattered faces and seal
stuck on the rotor.
NDE Primary Seal
• No liquid found.
Cause of Failure:
• Presence of particulate contamination in the system due to
improper cleaning following first failure.
• Seal gas system high flow excursion due to DP transmitter
failure.
• Dry gas seal system vulnerabilities to contamination (both
NDE Secondary Seal
solids and liquids).
 Restoration Challenges & Post Failure Work
Post Failure Work :
• No spare rotor & no spare seals.
• Complete review of the compressor and dry gas seal system
• Sleeve was drilled using same
identified major gaps from evolving industry and company
technique as the last time but with
practices. New gas seal panel and system changes provide
added precaution to prevent damage
improvements and new capabilities:
to rotor.
– Gas treating (separation, heating)
• Rotor was repaired at the seal seating
area using API recommended rotor – Filtration, coalescing, drainage
repair techniques. – Seal gas supply availability (booster)
• The seal vendor was able to re groove • Upgrades to the seals done in terms of groove design and
the discharge end seal from first material in line with latest industry trends.
failure, test and return the seals
within 4 days.
• Ensure the root cause is identified and
mitigate risks by completing as many
recommendations as practical.
• Compressor was restarted in 13 days
from date of failure.
 Key Lessons Learned
• Today there are multiple options available for sealing . Reliability and cost determine the
final choice.
• The five events highlight the various ways the seal types behave and how these were
analyzed and managed.
• Seal designs are constantly evolving and so we should always look at ways to upgrade them
on timely basis to take advantage in terms of lower leakage rates and higher reliability.
• Ensuring clean sealing medium is the key immaterial of the typical centrifugal compressor
seal type immaterial if the compressor is running or while maintaining it.
• A machine without failures does not mean it has no gaps. Constant review of systems and
latest industry practices helps to ensure equipment reliability. Dry gas seal system design
has evolved to consider off-design and unanticipated conditions.
• Challenging situations like these are best overcome with strong partnerships with vendors
who can provide unique and timely solutions.