Elliott Company
Compressed success
Elliott Company, founded in 1910, is preparing to celebrate a century of global leadership in steam turbine and compressor technologies.
The company designs, manufactures and services technically advanced turbomachinery used in the oil and gas, refining, petrochemical and process industries, as well as in power applications around the world.
Elliott’s equipment line includes centrifugal and axial compressors, single-stage and multi-stage steam turbines, turbine generator packages, power recovery expanders, lubrication systems, and a highly efficient global service network that installs, maintains, overhauls, repairs and rerates rotating equipment from any manufacturer.
Over the years, Elliott has pioneered many advances in compression technology. In the 1950s, the company developed the world’s first Fluidized Catalytic Cracker (FCC) power recovery expander and soon after installed the first successful, continuously operating power recovery expander. Today, Elliott power recovery expanders are helping processors around the world to reduce their carbon footprint. Likewise, Elliott has contributed many industry-leading innovations to LNG compression including the world’s first base-load
LNG refrigeration compressors, the world’s first mixed refrigerant process LNG plant, and the world’s first dual mixed refrigerant compressor service.
Currently, Elliott is building the world’s largest centrifugal compressor to date for hydrocarbon service. The 110M, horizontally split compressor will weigh in at 500,000 pounds when it is installed in a propylene plant in Houston, Texas, later this year. Concurrently, the company is also building one of its smallest horizontally split centrifugal compressors. This small 15M7I compressor is destined for a refinery in Russia.
In 2000, Elliott became a wholly owned subsidiary of Ebara Corporation, which is headquartered in Haneda, Japan. With primary manufacturing facilities located in Jeanette, Pennsylvania in the US, and in Sodegaura, Japan, as well as a strategic network of service and repair shops, Elliott has a strong global presence and is widely recognised for the quality, efficiency and reliability of its products and services. Today, Elliott employs 1900 people in 32 locations around the world.
In the oil and gas sector, Elliott offers precisely engineered compression solutions for all upstream and midstream applications, including oil and gas recovery, gas and oil separation processes, gas gathering and boosting, gas transportation, gas treatment and gas processing. Elliott equipment delivers consistent, outstanding performance combined with a high level of flexibility to meet future processing requirements. Elliott’s global network of service facilities and personnel provides expert and timely support for oil and gas equipment and operations, including cost-effective rerates and upgrades for changing operational needs.
In Europe, Elliott supports regional markets with aftermarket service facilities in Basingstoke (UK), Lachen (Switzerland) and LaSpezia (Italy) providing a full range of services over the lifetime of the equipment. “We are truly a ‘one-stop’ organisation for high quality service, 24 hours per day, seven days per week,” says Marco van Schaik, manager marketing and business development. “It is the aim of every plant manager and maintenance engineer to ensure maximum reliability and life span for their rotating machinery,” he continues. “Each day of downtime results in significant loss of revenue and productivity. Our goal is to ensure the efficient, trouble-free operation of all critical turbomachinery, regardless of the original manufacturer.”
Relative to the present economic downturn, the response by many refiners and processors has been mixed. Some are taking the opportunity to develop new partnerships and joint ventures, while others are reorienting their businesses to focus on core markets. “Some customers initially intended to postpone the scheduled overhauls of their rotating equipment for budgetary reasons however most actually pulled these activities forward to prepare their plants to be more efficient and competitive in the future. Lower market prices for commodities provide an excellent opportunity for refineries and hydrocarbon processors to prepare for a market upturn,” says Marco.
According to Marco, this requires a high degree of flexibility from Elliott as a service provider. “Although these maintenance interventions are relatively short in duration, it requires extensive and detailed preparation, in close co-operation with the customer, to ensure that the downtime is kept to a minimum,” he said. “This is one of the services upon which we measure our performance.”
As plants expand and new technologies are introduced, equipment performance requirements change. Equipment rerates are often a cost-effective answer to the new requirements without the expense of investing in new equipment. Elliott provides comprehensive site audits and engineering studies to help customers identify opportunities for performance improvements within their production facilities and to give their existing equipment a ‘second life’.
“Many of our larger customers are undertaking initiatives to improve plant performance and reduce operating costs by outsourcing maintenance of their rotating equipment,” Marco explains. “At Elliott we are geared up to fulfill these changed market requirements. We have a dedicated engineering group to advise on the upgrade potential of existing rotating equipment or to rerate the machinery to new performance requirements.”
Energy preservation and emission reduction continue to be a focus for many industries. “The use of small steam turbines as drivers for other machinery, such as pumps, has often been neglected in this respect,” Marco comments. “Steam turbines are critical to reducing our carbon footprint. Elliott has the experience and expertise to help customers with an integrated power solution.”
Looking to the future, Marco sees opportunities for progress and development in Elliott’s business. “As we begin our second century, we are focused on improving customer satisfaction by better understanding their changing needs. We are building strategic alliances and providing products and services to meet those needs.
“We are also examining our internal processes. We have dedicated permanent resources to process innovation in all aspects of our business, including production, transportation, engineering, field activities and administrative processes. As our customers execute their plans to turn around, Elliott is adapting accordingly,” he concludes.
Elliott Company
Services: Oil and gas compressors