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Podcasts

How accurate are advanced computational tools like CFD and FEA? Find out in part II of designing turbomachines with the Myth Busters.

TurboTime Podcast: Designing Turbomachines - Part II

In this episode of the TurboTime podcast, Myth Busters Klaus Brun and Rainer Kurz discuss the design of turbomachines. They describe the typical design process for a turbomachine, outline the required engineering tools, and explain each analytical tool's function: finite element analysis, computational fluid dynamics (CFD), and rotor and blade dynamics. They also discuss how compressors, pumps, and turbomachines were designed before these advanced computational tools existed.

TURBO: Can you describe the typical design process of a turbomachine and what engineering tools are required?

 You begin with what's known as a 1D analysis, then move to a 2D analysis, also called a blade passage flow analysis. After that, you proceed to 3D and conduct some testing before refining your geometry. In essence, that's the aerodynamics part, right? However, there’s an initial step that is often overlooked, which is your own experience. You start your design based on your experience and your existing machinery portfolio. If you’re a turbomachinery manufacturer with 50, 60, or 70 years in the field, you’ve likely worked on various types of machines. Therefore, before designing a new machine, impeller, or expander, you review your existing portfolio; that's usually your starting point. You examine what's closest to your needs within that portfolio to determine if you can build upon it or if you need to start from scratch. Besides the aerodynamic design process, there's also a review of structures and dynamics that runs parallel to your aerodynamic process. You perform aerodynamic design followed by structural checks. Essentially, you assess the solids and dynamics to ensure there’s no risk of failure due to vibration. You conduct these evaluations throughout to avoid potential failures. These are generally well-known considerations. Additionally, a third aspect that often gets overlooked is manufacturability. It’s crucial to ensure that what you're designing can actually be manufactured, as it wouldn’t make sense to design an impeller or a machine that ultimately cannot be produced due to a lack of available technology or machinery. This consideration relates closely to materials, so manufacturability and materials fall into the same category, requiring a review of your materials, coatings, etc., throughout the design process to ensure that your design is feasible for production.

 I’d also like to point out that, as engineers, we don't design these machines out of thin air. There’s usually a use case, a customer, or a market assessment that indicates we need something that fits specific requirements. This could be a gas turbine that produces 20,000 horsepower or a compressor that can deliver more throughput than what my competitors can achieve within a given casing size, and so on. Then, we enter a process where engineering is asked, "Hey, can you guys do that?” Of course, someone also inevitably asks if we can achieve that at a cost that makes the project feasible. Yes, Klaus is absolutely right; this essentially defines the playground we work within. From there, we move from what could be considered a rough draft, using our experience, to increasingly refined concepts. Ultimately, you'll end up with some CFD simulations, and after building the first machine or prototype, there will be some testing to follow.

Do engineers overrely on computational tools? The Myth Busters deep dive into engineering tools, such as CFD and FEA, used to design turbomachines. 

TurboTime Podcast: The Turbomachinery Design Process - Part I

This episode of the TurboTime podcast features an onsite interview from our Turbo Tour of EthosEnergy’s Light Gas Turbine and Performance Center Facility in Houston. Assistant Editor James Cook talks with Daniel Tegtmeier, Director of EthosEnergy's Performance Center, about remote monitoring and operations, the changing energy landscape, and the benefits of remote start/stop and virtual capabilities.

Q: How does remote monitoring keep simple-cycle assets viable in a market focused on renewable energy?

 If you think about a machine built 20+ years ago and its efficiency, it still has a place in the market when competing with renewables. It’s not like it used to be though—these units used to run wide-open, 24/7. They’re now intermittent assets competing with renewables and zero-cost fuels, but once the wind stops blowing and the sun stops shining, that load is gone.

These are simple-cycle configurations, so they can come online quickly and be at 100 - 120 MW in less than an hour. So, you’re going to staff a facility 8,000 hours per year in case they call you up? That’s part of what we do and the justification for remote operations—you need the intermittent load from simple-cycle assets in rapid fashion, but you can’t afford to staff these places full-time.

Q: In addition to that justification, are there any safety improvements delivered through remote start/stop and control capabilities?

 Economics seems to drive most decision processes behind whether you’re remotely operating a facility or not; however, there’s a huge safety aspect. You don’t need people there 24 hours a day around equipment with a lot of pent-up energy, so exposure levels drop dramatically. For the most part, these machines are designed so well and over-engineered from day one that they’re conducive to [remote monitoring].

In this episode of the TurboTime podcast, Daniel Tegtmeier, Director of EthosEnergy’s Performance Center, talks about remote operations and monitoring. 

TurboTime Podcast: Remote Monitoring with EthosEnergy

In part two of this episode of the TurboTime Podcast, Klaus Burn of Ebara Elliott Energy, and Rainer Kurz of RKSBenergy LLC, discuss surge and choke on a compressor map. They explain where they occur on the map, what happens to the compressor when they operate in these extremes, and about transient operation of a compressor.

Brun explained surge: “On the left side of the map you have surge, and on the right side is choke, overload, or stonewall. The most basic definition of surge is the compressor head cannot overcome the system-imposed pressure, i.e., pressure on the outside on the suction and discharge, and the compressor is not making enough head to overcome that pressure differential. So instead of the flow moving forward through the compressor, the flow suddenly turns around and goes backward through the machine until that pressure balances again, at which point the machine can overcome that head. Then it starts a process again. And that becomes a circular process—you get into these surge cycles, and it's a fairly complex thing.”

Kurz emphasizes that surge is an interaction between the compressor and the system around it, “meaning the compressor by itself doesn't surge,” he said. “If the system forces the compressor to make more pressure ratio than under whatever conditions the compressor is going to make, then the gas thus what it wanted to do in the first place, which is go from the high pressure to low pressure, meaning it goes backward through the compressor. The tricky part with that is on the compressor map, we show what the compressor does. So, the map by itself and that surge line on the map is essentially something you derive from the compressor performance.”

The Myth Busters, Klaus Brun and Rainer Kurz, talk about surge and choke on a compressor map. 

TurboTime Podcast: Part II: Surge and Choke with the Myth Busters 

In this two-part episode of the TurboTime Podcast, Klaus Burn of Ebara Elliott Energy, and Rainer Kurz of RKSBenergy LLC, discuss compressor maps. The duo explains what compressor maps are, what they are useful for, how they fit into the process, and where head, flow, and efficiency islands fit in.

“In its most basic form, a compressor map is a graphical representation of how a centrifugal compressor behaves,” Brun said. “It's somewhat of an oversimplification because more factors play into it; but overall, it gives an accurate representation of what a compressor does within the system that it operates. A standard compressor map has an X and Y axis. The Y axis has something called head—isentropic or polytropic head. Sometimes you also see pressure ratio or a discharge pressure or a fixed section pressure. On the X axis is flow, and most of the time it’s volumetric flow. Sometimes you see mass flow, but that's not very common. Compressor maps also have a surge line on the left and on the right side of the map you have a choke or stonewall area. And finally, you have efficiency islands, and they correspond to the efficiency of the compressor. Not all compressor maps show them.”

Kurz further described efficiency islands: “Efficiency islands refer to the fact that these maps are three-dimensional, but we can only put them in two dimensions on paper. The three axes you want to display are head, flow, and efficiency. You use the efficiency lines in a very similar way to elevation lines. Also, the coordinates of the map that are directly affected by the compressor aerodynamics are head and flow. You can translate head into pressures or pressure ratios, and you can translate actual flow into mass flow, but ultimately what happens aerodynamically in the compressor is described by head and actual flow.”

The Myth Busters, Klaus Brun and Rainer Kurz, talk about compressor maps—what they are, how they are generated, and what they are useful for. 



TurboTime Podcast: Part I: Compressor Maps with the Myth Busters 

In this episode of the TurboTime Podcast, we talk with Giuseppe Tilocca, Scientific Officer at ETN Global, a non-profit member association in the gas turbine technology space. ETN Global’s recent global report, 

Decentralized Energy Systems: Toward Carbon-Neutral Energy Solutions for Gas Turbines

, compares decentralized systems to centralized heat and power units and highlights its advantages—including modularity, the possibility to exploit waste heat avoiding energy transmission losses, and reducing energy distribution costs. Tilocca reviews these advantages in detail, as well as trends and emerging market opportunities, and he dives into gas turbines and how they fit into decentralized energy systems.

“Considering this specific report, we all know that the energy sector is transforming very quickly, and it's mainly driven by the increasingly high share of renewable energy sources,” Ticolla said. “In this scenario, which is dominated by variable sources whose daily, weekly, and seasonal flexibility are set to go dramatically, to meet the system requirements while accomplishing the ambitious decarbonization goals, we need to support traditional centralized generation with a mix of the centralized components.”

So, how does ETN Global define decentralized energy systems, and what are their advantages?

“Historically, we established centralized energy systems, meaning large plants located far from consumers,” Tilocca explained. “The reason behind it is merely economy of scale and efficiency, so it is cheaper to have one big plant than many small ones; however, with the increasing integration of variable renewable energy sources, which are inherently decentralized, we now need to adapt our infrastructure and incorporate technologies that are traditionally used for centralized energy. By definition, a decentralized energy system is located close to the consumption nodes—so on the end user side of the network—and therefore it's connected to the distribution grid rather than the transmission grid. The advantages of a decentralized energy system are mainly modularity, the possibility of exploiting waste heat, and a positive contribution to stability. In particular, one of the main advantages of being close to consumption nodes is avoiding transmission and distribution losses and also costs compared to centralized generation. Centralized energy systems are pivotal in meeting the pillars of the energy trilemma, which stress the principles of affordability, security, and climate neutrality and hence it aligns with the requirements for the transition toward 2030 but also 2040 and 2050.”

ETN Global’s Scientific Officer, Giuseppe Tilocca, talks about the association’s recent report on decentralized energy systems—their advantages and challenges, trends, and where and how gas turbines fit in.  

TurboTime Podcast: Decentralized Energy Systems with ETN Global 

In this episode of the TurboTime Podcast, the Myth Busters discusses the role of turbomachinery in energy transport and storage, including how gas turbines maximize energy density. They dive into various forms of energy storage—including batteries, hydrogen, and mechanical and thermal energy—for various energy sources such as wind, solar, fossil fuels, etc., and more.

During the energy transport and conversion processes, for example in the case of hydrogen, there are significant energy losses. The lowest losses are with coal, then oil and fossil fuels. As a result of these losses, “Hydrogen is a viable solution for storage, but it’s not a great solution to power a large-scale electric power plant by itself,” Kurz said.

Really, energy comes down to sustainability, affordability, and sustainability of supply – and in this equation, renewables are typically intermittent and not a reliable full-time source of energy.

So where does turbomachinery fit into all of this?

“From a turbomachinery perspective, if you exclude electric—because as Rainer said, it's not always applicable, as you can’t transport energy from Venezuela to Florida along an electric line—then you have to convert your energy stored material, be it natural gas, oil, coal, or from an alternative source then you have to convert it into hydrogen or ammonia or something else, and then transport it,” Brun explained. “All these convergent processes utilize turbomachinery. We have maybe 100 years of experience transporting oil in pipelines and ships and trucks and that involves a lot of pumping—we're very good at pumping – it’s very efficient. We also have about a similar amount of time compressing natural gas, which over the last 40 - 50 years we've used a lot more centrifugal compressors for transporting natural gas. Now we're running into the challenge of sustainable alternative energies where basically you're saying, ‘OK, I'm going to take my wind and solar electric and convert them to let's say hydrogen or ammonia or dimethyl ether or methanol—there are a lot of fluids that you can make from electricity that are energy carriers—but then they have to be transported. Hydrogen is the lightest gas (We had a previous podcast where we talked about the challenges of 

). Similarly, ammonia is a liquid that has to be transported at slightly refrigerated temperatures, and it brings its own challenges because it's highly poisonous and very corrosive to a lot of materials. Dimethyl ether is not that hard to transport—it’s similar to diesel—but it's very expensive to make. Methanol is also highly poisonous. So there are a lot of other challenges that you now face with these energy carriers that you worry about when transporting your original form of energy to the end user.”

Klaus Brun and Rainer Kurz dial into energy storage and transport—why they are necessary, how turbomachinery fits into these processes, and more. 

TurboTime Podcast: Energy Transport and Storage with the Myth Busters 

This episode of the TurboTime podcast dives into carbon capture and storage (CCS) with Spencer Schecht, the Senior Business Development Lead at the Global CCS Institute. We discuss how these facilities are at an all-time high, the role of carbon capture networks and hubs, and some of the challenges and hurdles it’s facing.

, said that CCS has ramped up to an all-time high— a 102% increase in scheduled deployments since 2022—due to supportive and enabling policy, as CCS is becoming a more prominent feature of public policy.

“At a high level, we need CCS and CO2 removal to meet our climate targets to achieve climate neutrality,” Schecht said. “So, while we require an all-of-the-above portfolio of climate technologies and solutions, it is the versatility of CCS—the fact that it enables both emissions mitigation and removal—that makes it such a unique and important resource in our climate toolkit. For example, CCS can be applied across emissions-intensive industries, including hard-to-abate sectors such as steel, cement, chemical production, and power production, to achieve decarbonization that is not otherwise technically nor economically possible. This enables the reduction of low-carbon hydrogen, and it can also be retrofitted on fossil-fuel power plants or incorporated in the design of new power plants providing baseload low-carbon dispatchable electricity. And when combined with bioenergy or direct air capture, with permanent geologic storage, CCS is an enabler of delivering negative emissions, and we need negative emissions to scale massively in the years ahead. This lays out a very clear picture that CCS and CO2 removal must scale up to gigatons, which is billions of tons per year, to achieve our climate targets.”

Check out the Global CCS Institute’s insights in 

Turbomachinery International’s May/June cover story

Carbon capture and storage’s versatility enables both emissions mitigation and removal, making it a unique and important resource as a climate solution.

TurboTime Podcast: Carbon Capture and Storage with the Global CCS Institute 

During this episode of the TurboTime podcast, we discuss digital ecosystems with Jim Nyenhuis, the Performance Consultant at Emerson’s Power and Water Solutions Business. We focus on software, including AI-based software, detection and monitoring technologies, software’s influence on a turbomachine’s life, as well as cybersecurity and potential risks that power plants are exposed to.

Q: How does a digital ecosystem improve operational efficiency, plant safety, etc.?

 Digital technologies allow us to address all those issues. We work with customers to understand what operational efficiency means to them based on their objectives. Plant safety is without question built into everything we do. We want to understand and leverage what the underlying technology can tell us and let that information feed up through the digital ecosystem—how do we understand what's working well at the plant level, how do we identify if there are control problems or if individual pieces of equipment are having issues? A lot of that information is lying within the automation infrastructure, and I don't think we've leveraged that to the degree we want to. We find many customers do not understand the performance characteristics of their closed-loop controls or areas to drive additional improvement, efficiencies, etc.

Performance and control management is another big area that we look at. Our information, such as the automation system, will oftentimes track what operators are doing within the system. In the past, that information was stored in text-based logs, but there's a lot of valuable information stored in those log files that if we expose that information, we can understand how operators are interfacing with the system during different periods of operation, be it startup, shut down, various operating modes, etc., and based on that we can determine where operators are spending a lot of their time.

In this episode of the TurboTime podcast, we talk about digital ecosystems, including AI-based software, cybersecurity, and more with Jim Nyenhuis from Emerson. 

TurboTime Podcast: Software & Cybersecurity with Emerson 

In this episode of the TurboTime podcast, the Myth Busters, Klaus Brun, the Director of R&D at Elliott Group, and Rainer Kurz, a recent retiree from Manager of Gas Compressor Engineering at Solar Turbines, discuss turbomachinery codes and standards. The two differentiate codes versus standards, which are important for turbomachinery, and what to do if an operator or manufacturer disagrees with a standard.

Brun broke down the four components: standards, codes, specifications, and guidelines. “A standard is somewhat of a generic requirement; you can almost call it the minimum requirement that industry associations agree on for a piece of equipment,” he said. “There's a lot of gray area between here. Next are specifications—they are often related to a specific customer—one of the major oil companies may have its own specifications, and they often tie in standards. For example, let's say Shell or Chevron has their own machinery specification, and they may refer to standards, such as American Petroleum Institute (API) 616 or the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) standards, material standards, etc. And then you get into things like codes, where the gray area becomes even bigger. But codes traditionally refer to something a little stricter. These can be test codes, where there is a process that you have to follow, and you don't deviate from this process. There are codes related to OSHA requirements or legal requirements. Codes tend to be a little more rigid, more relevant, and more richly followed. Finally, there are industry guidelines from the API and other professional societies. They give advice and guidance on how to handle testing processes, design, etc.”

Kurz stressed that standards are not legally enforceable unless included in a purchasing agreement: “What makes a standard enforceable is if a customer in the purchase specifications says ‘Thou shalt follow such and such API requirement or these ASME standards.’ And then it becomes part of the contract and enforceable” he said.

Kurz also pointed out that one purpose of codes and standards is for system integration. “If you build a refinery, there's one manufacturer who builds the compressor, then there are people who build the pressure vessels, others who build the piping, and maybe the steam turbines. So, there are a lot of different parties involved that have to come together. And one thing that these codes and standards do is create a reasonable definition of the interfaces. At the end of the day, somebody needs to integrate all that equipment.”

The Myth Busters, Klaus Brun and Rainer Kurz, discuss turbomachinery codes and standards on the TurboTime podcast. 

TurboTime Podcast: Turbomachinery Codes and Standards with Myth Busters

The partnership includes LNG supply-chain integration, FSUs development, natural gas power generation, downstream energy applications, and more.

Bosowa Energy, BK LNG Solution Collaborate on Energy Infrastructures in Indonesia

The large-scale Asian buyer will obtain 1 MTPA of LNG over a 20-year term from the 9.5 MTPA LNG liquefaction and export facility in Cameron, LA.

Commonwealth LNG Enters Long-Term LNG Sale, Purchase Agreement with Unnamed Asian Buyer

Technip Energies’ design includes large-scale offshore platforms, flare platforms, connecting bridges, and related infrastructure.

Technip Energies Designs Offshore Compression Platforms for QatarEnergy LNG’s North Field

The upgrades will improve electricity output, response time, fuel efficiency, and more as Michigan enters its summer peak-generation period.

Consumers Energy Installs Gas Path, Fuel System Tech at Zeeland Gas Plant

Ansaldo Energia’s MXL3 upgrade lowers emissions by up to 20%, boosts power output and efficiency, and enables 45% hydrogen co-combustion on its GT26 gas turbine.

Ansaldo Energia Improves Output, Efficiency at ENGIE Plant with MXL3 Tech

Welcome to the seventh edition of the Turbomachinery News Network. I’m James Cook, assistant editor at 

The Turbomachinery News Network, for the week of April 28, 2025, covers news from GE Vernova, ExxonMobil, Ansaldo Energia, and Woodside Energy.

GE Vernova Upgrades AGP XPAND, Supplies Gas Turbines to Duke Energy, ExxonMobil Stores CO2, Ansaldo Energia Builds Plant, Woodside Energy Approves LNG Facility

GE Vernova launched an upgrade for its advanced gas path technology, the 

, designed to improve the power output and incremental efficiency of its 9E.03 gas turbine fleet. The first installation will occur at Taurus Energy’s 1,250-MW Bazyan Power Plant in Iraq. GE Vernova also agreed to deliver 11 7HA gas turbines and related equipment to 

 to accelerate the company’s unspecified power projects across six states.

ExxonMobil will transfer and permanently store up to 2 MTPA of CO

 near Houston, TX. From the cogeneration facility, the carbon will be transported through ExxonMobil’s CO

 pipeline system to support oil recovery applications and deliver a continuous supply of low-carbon electricity and steam along the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Ansaldo Energia signed a contract to design, develop, and construct a combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plant at the 

 in eastern Hungary. Once commercial operation starts, the 1,000-MW CCGT power plant will use its two-block construction to generate 7,500 GWh of electricity per year for Hungary’s power grid.

Woodside Energy submitted the final investment decision to develop its $17.5 billion 

, with first LNG scheduled for 2029. The facility will initially feature three LNG liquefaction trains with 16.5 MTPA total capacity. bp will be the Louisiana LNG project’s integrated 

. Louisiana LNG Gas Management will purchase up to 640 Bcf of natural gas from bp, with deliveries starting in 2029.

Welcome to the sixth edition of the Turbomachinery News Network. I’m James Cook, assistant editor at 

The Turbomachinery News Network, for the week of April 21, 2025, covers news from Capstone Green Energy, bp, Chevron U.S.A., and TMC Compressors.

Capstone Delivers Microturbines, bp Loads LNG Cargo, Chevron Kickstarts Ballymore, TMC Equips LNG Carriers

The City of Winona ordered two C65 integrated combined heat-and-power 

 and a remote monitoring controller from Vergent Power for its wastewater treatment plant. The new turbines, set to be commissioned by April 30, will replace an existing C65 model that operated for over 15 years and had more than 100,000 hours of runtime.

bp successfully loaded its first LNG cargo from the 

 Phase 1 project, located approximately 120 km offshore Mauritania and Senegal’s maritime border. The cargo, designated for export, was loaded onto bp’s floating LNG vessel 10 km offshore. This loading follows first gas flow from GTA in early 2025.

Chevron began producing oil and natural gas at the 

 in the Gulf of America. This subsea tieback is estimated to contain 150 million barrels of oil equivalent recoverable resources to be extracted over the project’s lifetime. The project is slated to produce up to 75,000 barrels of oil per day across three wells connected to the Blind Faith facility.

TMC Compressors is supplying marine-based 

 to Hanwha Ocean to construct 12 new-build LNG carriers. The company’s compressed air systems are designed specifically for offshore and maritime applications and enable the vessel’s crew to perform on-board maintenance while at sea easily.

Welcome to the fifth edition of the Turbomachinery News Network. I’m James Cook, assistant editor at 

The Turbomachinery News Network, for the week of April 14, 2025, covers news from EnBW, the Port of Rotterdam, Venture Global, MAN Energy Solutions, and GE Vernova.

EnBW Commissions Plant, Rotterdam Conducts Pilot, Calcasieu Pass Enters Operation, MAN Supplies Propulsion, GE Vernova Equips Plant

EnBW commissioned a power plant equipped with hydrogen-ready gas turbines, one of Germany’s first, at the 

 waste incineration site. EnBW modernized the site with a 62-MW turbine construction featuring waste-heat boilers and hot-water boilers. The new plant will generate 124 MW of electrical energy and 370 MW of thermal energy for Stuttgart.

 between two vessels that transferred 800 cubic meters of liquefied ammonia at -33 ºC. It took approximately 2.5 hours alongside a newly constructed concrete quay. The demonstration validated the Port of Rotterdam Authority’s safety system for ammonia bunkering, with the first ammonia-bunker-fueled ships arriving in 2026 - 2027.

 export facility into commercial operation, allowing long-term customers to offtake low-cost LNG just 68 months after reaching final investment decision. The facility, among the fastest greenfield LNG projects completed to date, holds numerous multi-billion-dollar contracts with key European trade allies. These customers will receive North American LNG for 20-year terms.

In the maritime sector,MAN Energy Solutions will deliver 10 

 to Hindustan Shipyard in India, which will build five fleet support ships for the Indian Navy.

 in Japan kicked off operation using three GE Vernova 9HA.02 gas turbines, three heat recovery steam generators, and steam turbines and generators from Toshiba. The HRSGs were manufactured as pressure part modules in GE Vernova’s factory in South Korea and assembled into prefabricated supermodules in Tongyeong before maritime shipment to Japan. The Goi Thermal Power Station may reduce CO

 emissions by 16% compared to the original plant.

Welcome to the fourth edition of the Turbomachinery News Network. I’m James Cook, assistant editor at 

The Turbomachinery News Network, for the week of April 7, 2025, covers news from Baker Hughes, Concepts NREC, GE Aerospace/MTU, Shell, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

Baker Hughes Installs Software, Concepts NREC Updates AEDS, MTU’s Fort Worth Expansion, Shell Produces Oil, MHI Completes Refurbishment

 to install its Cordant Asset Health digital solution at 10 chemical production facilities in China. This provides Sinochem’s diagnostics teams with centralized data to minimize unplanned downtime, identify failures proactively, and reduce production losses across the portfolio. Also, Sinochem will develop and scale best practices, apply operational learnings, enhance asset performance, and establish efficiencies at the highest organizational level.

 for its Agile Engineering Design System. The update includes multiple software modules tailored to computer-aided engineering and computer-aided manufacturing; advanced rotating machinery dynamics software, which can be launched in real-time from within AxCent to analyze rotordynamics during the design phase; CYCAL thermodynamic cycle analysis software; and Code LEO, a new computational fluid dynamics code powered by a graphics processing unit that operates 15 - 120x faster than current CFD solvers.

GE Aerospace and MTU Maintenance Dallas agreed to continue GEnx aviation engine maintenance at the new 

. The agreement supports MTU Maintenance Dallas in expanding maintenance variety and Fort Worth shop capacity for customers using GE Aerospace engines. In 2023, MTU Maintenance transferred its maintenance work to the Fort Worth location: a 43,000-square-meter facility with engine testing capable of up to 100,000 lbs. of thrust.

Shell Offshore started oil production at the 

 tieback, located 170 miles offshore of New Orleans, LA, in the Mississippi Canyon in approximately 7,500 feet of water. Expected to produce up to 20,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, Dover is the second tieback to the Appomattox production hub. The subsea development’s two production wells will be connected to Appomattox via a 17.5-mile flowline and riser.Shell’s current Dover estimates claim approximately 44.5 million barrels of recoverable oil equivalent.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Environmental & Chemical Engineering successfully finished the refurbishment of several facilities at its 

: a waste-to-energy plant in Kyushu, Japan. Following refurbishment, the plant attained a 31.86% CO

 reduction rate compared to the lower 17.25% targeted rate. This was achieved by replacing a feeder and boiler piping, allowing higher durability when exposed to lower air ratios. Additionally, the increased power generation made efficient use of waste steam through a denitration catalyst.

Baker Hughes Installs Software, Concepts NREC Updates AEDS, MTU’s Fort Worth Expansion, Shell Produces Oil, MHI Completes Refurbishment 

Welcome to the third edition of the Turbomachinery News Network. I’m James Cook, assistant editor at 

The Turbomachinery News Network, for the week of March 31, 2025, covers news from MTU Maintenance, GE Vernova, Rolls-Royce, Homer City Energy Campus, and bp.

MTU Expands Facility, GE Vernova Launches TM2500, Rolls-Royce Updates Automation, Homer City Uses Gas, bp’s First Gas at Cypre

MTU Maintenance is constructing a new maintenance, repair, and overhaul production section at its 

, supporting a 30% increase in shop visit volumes in the coming years. This expansion aims to improve workscope customization, satisfy customer requirements, and meet growing market demand. The new addition is slated to commence operations in January 2027 after completion.

 dry-low emissions aeroderivative turbine: a mobile, water-free 34-MW power-plant solution with up to 39% efficiency, lower NOx emissions and waste, and the ability to deliver power on and off the grid. It operates on a two-trailer frame that enables easy shipping, on-site flexibility, and a 30-day lead time from contract to commissioning.

Rolls-Royce and the Singapore Institute of Technology

 announced a partnership to develop and improve equipment health and fleet management technologies for autonomous ships, harbor crafts, and vessels with hybrid propulsion systems. The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore will dedicate a multi-purpose, hybrid patrol craft for the pilot project: the MPA Guardian, equipped with two mtu Series 16V2000 engines.

Homer City Redevelopment and Kiewit Power Constructors will transform the previously coal-based Homer City Generating Station into a large-scale, natural gas-powered data center complex, leveraging seven GE Vernova 7HA.02 gas turbines to be delivered in 2026. The 3,200-acre 

 will support increasing AI and high-performance computing demand in the PJM and NYISO power grids. Site construction will begin in 2025, with power generation slated for 2027.

bp Trinidad and Tobago began gas production at the 

 project which, at its peak, is expected to deliver approximately 45,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. The Cypre field is 78 km off Trinidad’s southeastern coast in the East Mayaro Block, with water depths of nearly 80 meters. The total project scope will include seven wells, with the additional three assets scheduled for construction later this year.

Welcome to the first edition of the Turbomachinery News Network. I’m James Cook, assistant editor at 

The Turbomachinery News Network, for the week of March 17, 2025, covers news from Chart Industries, Cheniere Energy, the U.S. Department of Energy, Rolls-Royce, and Baker Hughes.

Chart Delivers Equipment, Cheniere Completes Train 1, DOE Funds Nuclear, Rolls-Royce Powers Sea Vessels, Baker Hughes Designs Piping

Blue Spruce Operating recently selected Chart Industries

 to supply the nitrogen rejection unit (NRU), helium process technology, and related equipment for its Dry Piney Helium and Carbon Sequestration Project in Sublette County, WY. The company also completed the front-end engineering and design for both the NRU and helium plant. The project will produce bulk liquid helium and natural gas.

Cheniere Energy, in cooperation with Bechtel Energy, substantially completed and commissioned Train 1 at the 

Corpus Christi Stage 3 Liquefaction Project

 (CCL Stage 3), obtaining care, custody, and control for the completed asset. CCL Stage 3 consists of seven midscale liquefaction trains, with an expected total production capacity of over 10 million tons per annum of LNG. Once substantial completion is finished for all seven trains, the facility’s projected total production capacity will be over 25 MTPA of LNG.

The Department of Energy granted a second loan disbursement to Holtec for the 

. Once online, the Palisades reactor will generate 800 MW of low-cost, reliable baseload power for Michigan residents. The Palisades project is expected to support or retain up to 600 high-quality jobs in Michigan, representing America’s first restart of a commercial nuclear reactor that previously ceased operations.

German Customs Administration selected Rolls-Royce

 to supply 15 mtu 16V4000 gas engines for four newbuild customs vessels, satisfying a modernization, propulsion, and on-board power program for maritime transport in the North Sea and Baltic Sea. Rolls-Royce also signed a long-term service agreement for 11 fleet vessels, ensuring reliable operation for its mtu engines.

 established a collaborative technology program to develop and test next-generation flexible pipe systems to address stress corrosion cracking due to CO

. The pre-commercial agreement will be executed at Baker Hughes’ Energy Technology Innovation Center and local flexible pipe systems manufacturing plant in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Greg Gammon, Director of Global and Corporate Partnerships at Texas A&M’s Engineering Experiment Station, gave us a detailed and historical account of College Station’s Turbomachinery Laboratory and its associated programs during our tour in mid-February.

Gammon addressed the Lab’s extensive industry partnerships and research consortia, as well as the role of symposia and short-course programs in shaping students’ and professionals’ education.

Greg Gammon of Texas A&M says that partnerships across hydraulics, vibration, power, and propulsion allow for direct industry engagement.

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