Professional Documents
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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.
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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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.
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-
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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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
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.
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)
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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Compressor Housings
Figure 3: Project Alternatives J Curves.
Environmental
Considerations
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
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
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