VFD vs.

Vorecon
Success Story

Marathon Garyville, La
Refinery Expansion
USA

Variable Speed Drives Seminar

Abu Dhabi
2009-02-25
4 Powerful Reasons to Choose a Vorecon
Reliability: 99.97 %

Up to 2/3 save in space

MTBF: 39 years

System efficiency > 95%

Vorecon Success Story | | 2

Vorecon vs. VFD - Success Story
Marathon Garyville Refinery Expansion, La, USA
Project in 2006:
Variable Speed requirement
on 3 compressor drives:
ƒ Sats Gas Compressor
ƒ PSA Tailgas Compressor
ƒ H2 Recycle Gas Compressor

Direct competition to VFD.

Vorecon Success Story | | 3

Vorecon vs. VFD - Success Story
Marathon Garyville Refinery Expansion, La, USA
It all started with disappointment for us ...

ƒ In 1998 & 2000 two orders were lost to VFD

with Marathon Robinson Refinery, IL, USA
ƒ These were:
- 1 x 5000 HP water cooled VFD with extra power cells
on 1x FCCU Wet Gas Compressor (1998)
- 1 x 5000 HP air cooled VFD with extra power cells
on 1 x Coker Wet Gas Compressor (2000)
ƒ End customer Marathon had no references with Vorecon
ƒ Start of Production of FCCU Wet Gas Compressor in 10/2000
ƒ Start of Production of Coker Wet Gas Compressor 04/2001

Vorecon Success Story | | 4

Vorecon vs. VFD - Success Story
Marathon Garyville Refinery Expansion, La, USA

However, VFD really proofed its ‘reliability’!?

In only 8 years of runtime the ...

ƒ FCCU Wet Gas Compressor had 5 shutdowns
ƒ Coker Wet Gas Compressor had 10 shutdowns
ƒ due to power cell failures & communication faults

This resulted in ...

ƒ Several VFD service technician calls
ƒ Lost opportunity cost of about US$ 337,000
ƒ Maintenance costs of about US$ 113,000

Vorecon Success Story | | 5

Vorecon vs. VFD - Success Story
Marathon Garyville Refinery Expansion, La, USA

This lead Marathon into another round of drive system evaluation:

ƒ In 2006 Marathon did a major expansion on their Garyville Refinery

ƒ Upgrade from 256,000 bpd to 436,000 bpd refining capacity
ƒ 3 compressor drives with variable speed requirement were looked into:
- Sats gas compressor for propane & butane recovery
- PSA tailgas compressor for hydrogen recovery
- H2 recycle gas compressor for gasoline & diesel production

Æ Drive train set-ups were evaluated by end customer & Voith

Æ Vorecon vs. VFD payback studies were made
Æ Evaluation factors for drive system comparisons were considered

Vorecon Success Story | | 6

Vorecon vs. VFD - Success Story
Marathon Garyville Refinery Expansion, La, USA

A.) Voith payback study on H2 Recycle Gas Compressor

Vorecon Success Story | | 7

Vorecon vs. VFD - Success Story
Marathon Garyville Refinery Expansion, La, USA

B.) Marathon’s qualitative assessment of drive systems

Vorecon Success Story | | 8

Vorecon vs. VFD - Success Story
Marathon Garyville Refinery Expansion, La, USA

VORECON VFD
Mean Time 349320 h ≥ 39 years 30000 – 50000 h
Between Failure
Maintenance Simple mechanical Complex electronics
components
Operating life > 25 years 10-12 years

Spare parts Available through life of Technology changes

unit rapidly
Installation Easy installation and Numerous components
commissioning require specialist

Vorecon Success Story | | 9

Vorecon vs. VFD - Success Story
Marathon Garyville Refinery Expansion, La, USA
And it all ended with a big success story for us ...
Year Qty Type Driven Power Speed Customer, End User / Country
Machine (kW) (rpm) Plant
In / Out
2006 1 RWE 8 F 1 Compressor 1133 1780 / Dresser Rand USA
Sats Gas 13345 Marathon Garyville

2006 1 RWE 10 F 5 Compressor 3654 1780 / Dresser Rand USA

PSA Tail Gas 8307 Marathon Garyville

2006 1 RWE 13 F 9 Compressor 14066 1800 / Dresser Rand USA

Recycle Gas 9805 Marathon Garyville

RWE 13 F 9
Recycle Gas
Ready for despatch Marathon’s Garyville Refinery, La,Story
Vorecon Success USA | | 10
Vorecon Success Story | | 11