USE OF EXPANDERS FOR GENERATING ELECTRICAL ENERGY IN NATURAL GAS PRESSURE REDUCTION STATIONS / USO DE EXPANSORES PARA GERAÇÃO DE ENERGIA ELÉTRICA EM ESTAÇÕES DE REDUÇÃO DE PRESSÃO DE GÁS NATURAL

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2009

RESUMO

The natural gas is compressed to high pressures in order to be transported in the gas pipeline and delivered to the clients at lower pressures, using pressure reduction control valves in an adiabatic process. It can be shown that the same natural gas thermodynamic output state is achieved if the control valves can be substituted by expanders, producing work and, therefore, electric energy, with heat transfer from natural gas burning, so that the output temperature remains the same. The payback of the needed investment in equipments is a function of the operational net saving, which is equal to the difference between the economical benefit of produced electric energy and the operational cost of the fuel burning. All the necessary calculations were made with the HYSYS software used to quantify the produced work and the needed heat transfer, from available daily values of temperature, pressure and gas flow rate for 34 pressure reduction stations operated by TRANSPETRO. The technical characteristics of the different expanders in the market were used to calculate the produced work and thermal energy. This dissertation presents a procedure which is useful to verify the feasibility of the utilization of expanders in pressure reduction stations operated by TRANSPETRO. This dissertation is, therefore, classified as a thermoeconomical analysis to determine the feasibility of the utilization of expanders in TRANSPETRO facilities, as they are used in other parts of the world. The results have a direct impact on the operational costs of the gas pipelines.

ASSUNTO(S)

geracao de energia eletrica hydrothermal power generation

ACESSO AO ARTIGO

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