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Compressor Station

Design Criteria
By Saeid Mokhatab, Process Technology Manager, Tehran Raymand Consulting Engineers,
Tehran, Iran; Sidney P. Santos, Senior Consultant, Petrobras Gas & Energy, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,
and Tony Cleveland, President, Cleveland Engineering Services Ltd, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
There
are
three main concerns that should
be addressed in
the liquid-handling design for
any compressor
station: safety,
environmental
impact, and economics. Another
point of consideration should
be operability,
which includes
hydrate formation, failure consequences, etc.

principal component of any gas transmission system is the compressor


station. Figure 1 shows a typical
compressor station. A given system
may have anywhere from a few stations up to
well over 50. These stations add enough energy
to the gas to overcome frictional losses and
maintain required delivery pressures and flows.
Compressor station design has been attracting
attention because it plays a crucial role on the
feasibility of gas pipeline projects. This article
covers the general requirements to be implemented in design of compressor stations.

Figure 2: Schematic P&I Diagram of


Compressor Station

Compressor Station
Facilities
Figure 1: Bolivia-Brazil Gas Pipeline
Compressor Station

Process Description
A typical compressor station design, as
shown in Figure 2, may consist of an inlet
scrubber to collect liquids and slugs that may
have formed in the gas gathering system pipeline. The scrubber consists of a primary section where liquids and solid parts are separated
from the gas stream and a secondary section
where oil mist is removed.
From the scrubber, the gas is taken to the
compressor unit(s) where it is compressed. At
the discharge point, or between compressor units
in case of a series arrangement, the gas is cooled
down, typically with an air cooler, and then it
passes through a coalescer filter, in case of the
reciprocating compressor, to remove lub oil mist
prior to discharging the gas to the pipeline.
The liquids collected from the suction
scrubber are handled a number of ways. A
typical simplified approach is to route the
liquids from the scrubber level control valves
to a low pressure (LP) tank. The LP tank can
be a pressure vessel operated at a relatively
low pressure (atmospheric to ~25 psig) or it
can be a simple industry standard 210 tank
(atmospheric tank with 210 bbls of capacity).
In either case, the vapors produced from the
flashing liquids are vented to the atmosphere
or to a flare. The low pressure condensate is
periodically trucked out and sold.

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Compressor stations may be small, situated


on gathering lines or laterals, or large facilities
on major trunkline transmission systems. All,
however, are built up from the same functional
blocks of equipment. Each functional element plays a role in the work of the station
so the design and sizing of each is essential
to the efficient and safe operation of the
plant. The elements include gas scrubbing and
liquid removal, compressor and driver units,
after-coolers, pipes and valves, controls, data
acquisition and recording equipment, venting,
compressor buildings and weather protection,
environmental controls and safety equipment.

Scrubbers
The gas in a main transmission line is
nominally clean and dry while that in minor
lines may contain loadings of liquids prior
to processing, but in all cases there can be
entrained liquids and particulates which have
to be removed before compression. Efficient
and safe handling of the liquids collected from
the scrubbers in a compressor station is one
of the keys to a good design. Poor handling of
these liquids can be the major source of operating and maintenance problems and have a
significant impact on the station economics.
The suction scrubber shall be equipped
with a mesh-type mist elimination section to
avoid liquid entrainment into the compressor.
Scrubbers can take several forms, inertial with
or without demister pads or the horizontal
cyclonic type. The latter are commonly used
on mainline transmission stations.

Pipeline & Gas Journal / June 2007 / www.pgjonline.com

Compressors
In gas transmission, two basic types of compressors are used: reciprocating and centrifugal
compressors. Reciprocating compressors are
usually driven by either electric motors or gas
engines, whereas centrifugal compressors use
gas turbines or electric motors as drivers. The
design philosophy for choosing a compressor
should include the following considerations:
 Good efficiency over a wide range of
operating conditions
 Maximum flexibility of configuration
 Low maintenance cost
 Low lifecycle cost
 Acceptable capital cost
 High availability
However, additional requirements and features will depend on each project and the
specific experiences of the pipeline operator.
In fact, compressor selection consists of the
purchaser defining the operating parameters
for which the machine will be designed. The
process design parameters that specify a
selection are: flow rate, gas composition,
inlet pressure and temperature, outlet pressure,
train arrangement, for centrifugal compressors: series, parallel, multiple bodies, multiple
sections, intercooling, etc., for reciprocating
compressors: number of cylinders, cooling,
and, flow control strategy; and number of units
(Akhtar, 2002).
In many cases, the decision whether to
use a reciprocating or centrifugal compressor, as well as the type of driver, will already
have been made based on operator strategy, emissions requirements, general lifecycle
cost assumptions, etc. However, a hydraulic
analysis should be made for each compressor
selection to ensure the best choice. In fact,
compressor selection can be made for an oper-

ating point that will be the most likely or most


frequent operating point of the machine.
Selections based on a single operating point
have to be evaluated carefully to provide sufficient speed margin (typically 3-10%) and surge
margin to cover other potentially important
situations. A compressor performance map (for
centrifugal compressors, this would be preferably a head vs. flow map) can be generated
based on the selection and is used to evaluate
the compressor for other operating conditions
by determining the required head and flow.
In many applications, multiple operating
points are available, e.g., based on hydraulic
pipeline studies or reservoir studies. Some of
these points may be frequent operating points
while some may only occur during upset
conditions. With this knowledge, the selection
can be optimized for a desired target, such as
lowest fuel consumption.
Selections can also be made based on a
rated point, which defines the most onerous
operating conditions (highest volumetric flow
rate; lowest molecular weight; highest head or
pressure ratio; highest inlet temperature). In
this situation, however, the result may be an
oversized machine that does not perform well
at the usual operating conditions (Mokhatab
et al., 2006).

Compressor Driver
Choices for drivers can be gas turbines, or
electric motors. The selection is usually based
on considerations of cost, both capital and
maintenance, fuel or energy cost, availability
of power supply, reliability and availability.
Gas turbines are high-speed machines and can
be directly coupled to the compressor. Electric
motors can be of several types with both fixed
and variable speed options.
In recent times the high-speed variable
speed electric motor operating at super synchronous conditions has become available at
powers of more than 25MW which makes this
option competitive with larger gas turbines
(Cleveland and Mokhatab, 2005). It is also
available in the VSPG (variable speed planetary gear from VOITH) that provides another
economic alternative to be used with fixed
speed electric motor.
Capital costs for gas turbines and electric
motors are generally similar and electric drives
generally have lower maintenance and operating costs than gas turbines. The decision to
use gas turbine or electric motor drivers comes
from the feasibility analysis for the alternatives available for the project and site logistics,
capital expenditure (CAPEX) and operating
expenditure (OPEX). The availability and reliability for the compressor units and for the
energy source are also key items.
Important factors in favor of electric-driven
compressor station that should be considered in
the feasibility analysis include the fact that the
fuel gas used for gas turbine-driven compressor
station will be transformed into capacity increase
for the electric-driven compressor station and
therefore will add revenue to this alternative and
also the overhaul cost for the gas turbines that
are expensive and will occur after completing
around 40,000 running hours, accounted in the
OPEX costs (Kurz and Ohanian, 2003).

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There will always be gas in the pipeline so


the question of reliability and availability of
the energy source for the gas turbine does not
enter into the question. For the electric drive,
there has to be a reliable electric grid within
a reasonable distance from the compressor
station so transmission line costs need to be
considered in the evaluation.
When there is a reliable source of electricity available, it would be worth evaluating both
alternatives (gas or electric drivers) supported
by failure statistics for the electric grid such as
LOLF (loss of load frequency), LOLD (loss of
load duration), LOLP (loss of load probability)
that will allow defining the reliability of the electric grid. Given that these conditions are satisfied, the decision then comes from the economic
evaluation of all the alternatives and selecting the
one that will give the best economic result.
The lifecycle cost must examine and test the
results for sensitivity to cost escalation in power
prices and gas price, taking into account the correlation between these two commodities. A longterm power supply agreement would be required
to mitigate risks. The question of using a diesel
engine as a power source has not been considered
as it offers no advantages over a similar gas engine
and introduces another fuel which invokes additional costs for transportation and storage.
Selection of the appropriate units must
consider all aspects of interest including operating cost, reliability and availability as well
as capital cost. The process of selection should
be formalized to remove as far as possible
subjective elements and ensure decisions are
objectively based (Kurz et al., 2003).

Piping And Valves


The compressor station will be connected to
the gas pipeline via a set of block valves with
a bypass. These will be typically ball valves
with a block-and-bleed capability. The piping
should be designed to minimize pressure loss
as this represents inefficiency. The supports
and anchors for the piping shall be designed
to allow for expansion following compression
and to keep the forces and moments on the
compressor flanges within the limits set by the
compressor manufacturer.
For centrifugal compressors there will be a
surge valve and recycle line for surge protection.
This recycle line will connect the discharge line
to the suction line adjacent to the compressor.
The sizing of this line and the valve is critical
and should be done in consultation with the
compressor supplier and with knowledge of the
compressor characteristics. Each compressor
on the station will have its own set of isolation
and block valves with a bypass.

Shutdown And
Venting Systems
For most compressor stations there are two
cases for shutdown and venting. The first can
be stated as routine, in which a unit or a station has to be shut down for repair or maintenance. The second is in the case of a failure or
emergency when the gas in the station must be
evacuated safely and as quickly as possible.
Most stations are now designed such that the
compressors will remain pressurized when idle
and routine venting will only be required when

Pipeline & Gas Journal / June 2007 / www.pgjonline.com

work has to be done on the units. Sometimes


recompression with portable compressors is
used to conserve gas in these circumstances.
All vents must be designed to be able to deal
with the volumes of gas involved and located
in safe areas. Local environmental limitations
also have to be taken into account

Emergency
Shutdown System
The compressor station shall be provided
with an emergency shutdown system by means
of which the station will be isolated from the
pipeline and gas flow through the station will
be stopped. A blowdown system will release
the gas from station piping to the atmosphere.
Operation of the emergency shutdown system
also shall cause the shutdown of all gas compressing equipment and de-energize the electrical facilities located in the vicinity of gas
headers and in the compressor room except
those that provide emergency lighting for personnel protection and those that are necessary
for protection of equipment.
The emergency shutdown system shall be
operable from any one of at least two locations
outside the gas area of the station, preferably
near exit gates in the station fence, but not more
than 150 meters (500 feet) from the limits of
the station. Blowdown piping shall extend to a
location where the discharge of gas is unlikely
to create a hazard to the compressor station.

Pressure Relief Systems


Pressure relief or other suitable protective devices of sufficient capacity and sensitivity shall be
installed and maintained to assure that maximum
allowable operating pressure of the station piping
and equipment is not exceeded by more than 5%.

Flare System
Flare lines shall be provided to exhaust the
gas from the pressure relief and vent valves to
atmosphere and shall be extended to a location where the gas may be discharged without
hazard. Flare lines shall be sized to provide
sufficient capacity so that they will not interfere with the performance of the relief and
vent valves.

Compressor Arrangements
The question of whether a station should be
equipped with compressor units in series or in
parallel cannot be answered universally. While
series arrangement may present some advantages when standby compressor units are not
required, parallel arrangement provides better
results when standby units are required and
also provides more operating flexibility under
failure scenario analysis.
The pipeline designer should evaluate different configurations and compressor unit
sizes and perform a technical and economical feasibility study to identify which configuration presents a better overall economic
result. The decision process has to take into
account issues such as capacity ramp-up, further expansion, back-up strategies, operational
strategy and transient analysis.
For any given pipeline compressor station,
two units in series will yield a higher specific
speed than two units in parallel. Thus, once the
driver size (and thus the power turbine speed)

and the desired head and flow through the


station are known, one can conceptually
decide whether the series or the parallel
approach would lead to better aerodynamic performance.
With modern compressors and stages
with a wide operating range, it is usually possible to have identical stages for
both the low pressure and the high pressure compressor in a series application.
Intercooling is usually not necessary nor
does it typically yield significant savings in power demand (Kurz et al., 2003;
Santos, 2004).

Station Spacing
Initially, compressor stations will be built
and spaced every few hundred kilometers
along the natural gas pipeline. If natural gas
volumes increase in the future, more compressors stations and compressor units will be
added. In fact, the final number of stations
is influenced by the amount of natural gas to
be moved in the pipeline. Compressor station
spacing is fundamentally a matter of balancing
capital and operating costs in order to meet the
planned operating conditions of the transmission system.
The process can become somewhat involved
and lengthy, particularly as the selection of
spacing needs to be designed in such a way
to address a capacity ramp-up scenario that
will cover not only the initial condition but
the future years associated to the economics
of the pipeline. In case of unexpected growth
opportunities, we can also rely on loop lines
that in some specific conditions may be a better choice to increase capacity and must be
considered under an overall expansion strategy of the transportation company.
For a given pipe diameter, the distance
between compressor stations may be computed from the gas flow equation, assuming
a value of pipeline operating pressure (station
discharge pressure) and a next compressor station suction pressure limited to the maximum
compression ratio adopted for the project.
Ideally, the pipeline should operate as close
to maximum allowable operating pressure
(MAOP) as possible, as high density in the
line of the flowing gas gives best gas flow
efficiency. This would point to the selection of
close compressor station spacing although this
approach would not be the best economical
decision. A decision based on the pipeline economics is the recommended one (Cleveland
and Mokhatab, 2005).
Based on the required gas flow, an initial
diameter is assumed that results in a reasonable compression ratio (usually around 1.3-1.4
for transmission lines) and gas velocity, and
the compressor station spacing is established
by setting the maximum discharge pressure
at the MAOP. Other diameters are tested and
compressor station spacing calculations are
performed again. The optimum diameter is
determined based on minimizing capital and
operating costs, resulting in a chart (the socalled J curves, because of their shape) that
will plot transportation ratio in US$/MMBTU
against transportation capacity, based on predefined economic assumptions and risks,
Figure 3 (Santos and Saliby, 2003).

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station control system will oversee the unit


operation and also provide the interface
between the operators and the plant.
It will provide video and print data
recording of all key station parameters. It
has become common practice to operate
stations and units remotely from central dispatch
stations and the station control systems will
report to the central station via a Supervisory
Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) link
(Cleveland and Mokhatab, 2005).

Compressor Housings
Figure 3: Project Alternatives J Curves.

Such assumptions include the design life


of the facility, required rate of return on capital employed and the discount factor used to
express the annual operating expenses incurred
over time to a present value. The total cost
is then plotted against compressor-discharge
pressure and a point of discharge pressure corresponding to the minimum total cost is picked
as the best operating pressure (see Figure 4).

Consideration must be given to buildings to


house the compressor units or at the very least to
provide some weather protection. In many areas
the question of noise is a primary concern. Noise
has to comply with local environmental regulations which will dictate the extent of acoustic
treatment needed in the enclosures or buildings.
Also, for some gas turbine units, more particularly high-performance aero-derivative types
where casings are hot, special attention must be
paid to unit enclosures with forced ventilation
to ensure adequate cooling. This is discussed
in the next section. The compressor housing
will include an inlet filtration system and an
exhaust system, both of which will incorporate
silencing. Many gas turbine installations have
adopted the pulse jet cleaning filters in place
of fixed or moving media screens.

Environmental
Considerations

Figure 4: J Curve Principle.

Station Control
Compressor station controls can be divided
into two sections, unit control and station control. Digital technology is now used throughout both systems. The unit control utilizes a
microprocessor which will control the turbine
compressor unit to run to set points under the
direction of the operator or the station control
system. The set points can be flow or pressure.
Commonly, a flow or suction pressure will
be the control parameter with discharge pressure and/or suction pressure as overrides. The
control protocol will include limits to ensure
safe operation. These limits will include pressure and temperatures on discharge and suction on the compressor as well as speed and
flow and pressure ratio in relation to surge.
The unit control will monitor the compressor
operation to ensure that it will not run into surge.
If the operation of the compressor nears the surge
line, the unit control will instruct the recycle
valve to open and so maintain safe operation.
Should the recycle condition continue for a time,
and if coolers are not provided in the recycle line
or compressor discharge, the unit will be shut
down on high discharge temperature.
In addition to control and safety, the unit control will monitor key operating parameters and
provide video output on demand and printout on
a routine basis to provide a continuous record of
operation. These readouts and records can be
used for troubleshooting and maintenance. The

Pipeline & Gas Journal / June 2007 / www.pgjonline.com

Noise is a significant environmental pollutant and reducing it is an essential part


of compressor station design. Noise-reduction
technology has reached the level that for most
practical purposes a compressor station can
be designed to contribute less than 3dB to the
pre-existing background noise level (Cleveland
and Mokhatab, 2005). Local requirements shall
be taken into account for a proper design. The
design of the unit enclosures, buildings, exhaust
and inlet silencers are subject to stringent specifications. Double-wall enclosures are frequently
used to control unit noise emissions.
Exhaust emission from the gas turbines now
have to meet the environmental limits of the
location. Modern gas turbines are designed
with low emission combustion systems to
meet these requirements. These systems may
be dry or wet low NOx and are becoming the
standard equipment for all gas turbines.

Design Considerations
The design of a compressor station is closely
related to the gas volumes to be transported, the
gas quality, (MAOP), compression ratio, power
requirements and the configuration of compressor units whether in series or parallel. A technical and economic approach must be applied in
selecting the best arrangement for the gas pipeline project as well as an availability study for all
the stations and units including failure analysis to
allow the definition of standby units.
When planning a compressor station or, for
a new pipeline, a number of stations, certain
considerations need be made. These include:
 Steady-state and transient capabilities
and requirements of the system
 Growth requirements and capability
 Total cost of ownership and delivered

cost to shippers and customers


The first consideration involves the capability
to cope with changes in flow capacity on all time
scales (i.e., hourly, daily, and seasonally). The pipeline hydraulics relate pressure losses to the flow
through the pipeline, determine the compressor
operating conditions in terms of head and actual
flow, and subsequently determine the required
power from the driver. Contractual requirements
and obligations, such as pressures and volumes at
transfer points, have to be considered.
The second consideration deals with the
fact that the nominal capacity of a pipeline
may grow when additional customers demand
a higher supply of natural gas. In fact, many
new pipelines start out with 50% and less
capacity and grow to full capacity over several
years, or are sized for easy expansion (Santos
et al., 2005). Often, the prediction of the rate
of growth shows a significant degree of uncertainty. The growth scenarios, if foreseeable,
drive a station layout to allow additional power
to be installed at the station or additional stations along the pipeline. The alternative scenario, where the pipeline usage declines over
the years (e.g., because gas supply from the
field declines), is also a possibility.
Depending on the compressor station
arrangements, compressor units size and the
installed power percentage of the standby
units per station, the effect of the CAPEX
and OPEX for the station may overcome the
advantage of having larger compressor units
with better thermodynamic performance that
require less fuel gas for operation.
The fuel gas cost is also very important to
be taken into account while doing the feasibility analysis for the gas pipeline project (Santos
et al., 2005). Fuel gas plays an important role
in compressor station and gas pipeline design.
Fuel gas must be transported through the
pipeline to serve the stations and therefore
will take away transportation capacity that
would be used for transporting gas to the
market and providing revenue for the project.
Fuel gas saved by an optimum compressor
station design will also lower operation costs
(Cleveland and Mokhatab, 2005). P&GJ
REFERENCES
 Akhtar, M.S., Selection and Optimization
of Centrifugal Compressors for Oil and Gas
Applications. GPA Europe Spring Meeting, Bergen,
Norway (May 2002).
 Cleveland, T., and Mokhatab, S., Practical
Transmission: Practical Design of Compressor Stations
in Natural Gas Transmission Lines, Hydrocarbon
Engineering, 10, 12, 41-46 (December 2005).
 Kurz, R., and Ohanian, S., Modeling Turbomachinery
in Pipeline Simulation, PSIG Annual Meeting, Bern,
Switzerland (Oct. 15-17, 2003).
 Kurz, R., Ohanian, S., and Lubomirsky, M., On
Compressor Station Layout, ASME Paper GT200338019 (2003).
 Mokhatab, S., Poe, W.A., and Speight, J.G., Handbook
of Natural Gas Transmission & Processing, 1st
Edition, Gulf Professional Publishing, Elsevier
Science, MA, USA (2006).
 Santos, S.P., Series or Parallel Arrangement for a
Compressor Station? A Recurring Question that
needs a Convincing Answer, Annual PSIG Meeting,
CA, USA (Oct. 20-22, 2004).
 Santos, S.P., Kurz, R., and Lubomirsky, M., Fuel
Consumption Impact on Gas Pipeline Projects, 2005
Rio Pipeline Conference and Exhibition, Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil (Oct. 17-19, 2005).
 Santos, S.P., and Saliby, E., Compression Service
Contract When Is It Worth? 35th PSIG Annual
Meeting, Berne, Switzerland (Oct. 15-17, 2003).
Pipeline & Gas Journal / June 2007 / www.pgjonline.com

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