Subsea boosting

Aptara subsea boosting systems

The Aptara™ modular compact pump (MCP) is a completely new and leading-edge technology platform for subsea pumps, representing a world-first for rotating equipment. It has been designed to provide the flexibility to handle an unrivalled range of fluids and applications—from multi-phase boosting to water injection to CO2 injection—simply by changing the internal hydraulics of the pump, from helicoaxial for multiphase boosting to centrifugal for water and CO2 injection. The motor stage sizes and variable speed drive (VSD) units are identical across all variants of the pump, emphasizing the flexibility and structured nature of the design.

Innovative compact architecture

The innovative architecture of the Aptara MCP makes it compact, and its modular construction means that we can supply pre-qualified designs for a wide range of pump sizes.

Reduced total cost of ownership

Our life-of-field approach to design is evident in the Aptara MCP’s unique features, which reduce your total cost of ownership. The stages are controlled individually by local VSDs that allow the pump to react and adapt dynamically to changes in fluid conditions. The pump also provides inherent redundancy as it can operate with one or more non-operational stages, if required.

Unique integrated architecture

The MCP breaks convention by using no barrier fluid, reducing topside footprint by 50% or more and lowering overall system cost. Unlike a conventional subsea pump, which uses one high-voltage motor to drive a long shaft connected to a series of impellers, the MCP’s unique architecture features integrated motor impellers that rotate around a static shaft. This eliminates potential rotodynamic issues. In contrast, the motor in a conventional pump is connected to the shaft that drives the impellers, which limits the numbers of stages that can be stacked.

High inherent reliability

Each integrated motor or ‘stage’ is clad with permanent magnets and generates 250 kW of drive power. The stages are stacked to provide a range of power densities, from 1 MW with four stages, to 6 MW with 24 stages—and more if required. Because each stage experiences a relatively low load, the pump can operate without a barrier fluid, and instead uses specialized synthetic diamond bearings that are cooled by the process fluid. The hermetically sealed motor also ensures high inherent reliability, as high-risk items such as mechanical seals are not needed. The standard pre-qualified building blocks enable the Aptara MCP to be configured to a range of different field requirements.

Ideal for brownfield modifications

With subsea VSDs and no need for a barrier fluid system, all that is required to link the electric pump system to topside is a simple and light power umbilical. This can reduce your topside footprint by more than 50% and CAPEX by more than 25%, making the Aptara MCP an ideal solution for brownfield modifications and long step-outs with topside space and weight constraints.

Lowered carbon footprint

The Aptara MCP also helps you manage your environment, health, and safetypriorities and lower your carbon footprint. The absence of a barrier-fluid system eliminates the risk of accidental release of fluid into the environment, while the fluid-less design removes the need to transport barrier fluid to your platform or floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) unit.

Features and benefits include:

• Up to 35% reduction in CAPEX
• Simplified umbilical
• Reduction in topside space requirement of 50% or more
• Flexible and efficient operation over the life of field