Wednesday 13 September 2017

First radial steam turbine fixed outside Europe

A radial steam turbine has been successfully repaired in North America for the first time.

Swiss engineering firm Sulzer has refurbished and rebuilt a Canadian pulp manufacturing plant's 25MW Stal Laval radial steam turbine without having to ship it to Europe, where turbines of this type typically have to be sent for repair.

Compared to fixing more commonly found axial flow turbines, which can be done locally, this is very time consuming and expensive.

The new shaft has been made with higher nickel and chromium content, giving it a higher yield strength and better resistance to heat and corrosion than the original.