Energy recovery from mechanical energy of high-pressure natural gas pipeline: a case study simulation
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Mahdi Khorashadizadeh
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Hamed Khosravi-Bizhaem
Abstract
The gas distribution system is a network designed to deliver natural gas (NG) from production to end users. A very high pressure is maintained at the production site to ensure efficient transportation through the pipeline system. It must then be depressurized at the point of consumption, typically through several stages. A significant amount of energy is wasted during the depressurization of NG at city gas stations (CGS), where throttling is employed. The pressure in the gas distribution system at many depressurization gates ranges from 400 to 700 psi. The problem is that a steep decline in temperature occurs while throttling resulting in NG hydrate formation due to the presence of water vapor in the stream. NG hydrate has been of importance for energy storage. However, it may cause disasters in gas pipelines during throttling in CGS. Therefore, removing the hydrate structure is vital to prevent the stream from blockage, for which large heaters are being used. The available kinetic energy within the flowing stream can be a source of heat to preclude hydrate formation. In this article, a simulation study is presented according to Birjand CGS measured data. The results show that during winter, almost 90 percent of the required energy for preheating can be produced using the NG high-pressure mechanical energy.
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to express their appreciation to the research facilities at the central library of Astan Quds Razavi, which provided the necessary space and internet access to support the scientific research conducted for this work.
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Research ethics: Not applicable.
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Informed consent: Not applicable.
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Author contributions: All authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.
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Use of Large Language Models, AI and Machine Learning Tools: None declared.
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Conflict of interest: The authors state no conflict of interest.
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Research funding: None declared.
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Data availability: Data could not be shared.
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Research Articles
- Numerical investigation of superheating secondary flow on performance of steam ejector by considering non-equilibrium condensation in renewable refrigeration cycle
- Analysis of pressure drop, energy requirements, and entropy generation in natural gas pipelines at dense and pseudo-dense phases: a CFD study
- Random Forest model for precise cooling load estimation in optimized and non-optimized form
- Energy recovery from mechanical energy of high-pressure natural gas pipeline: a case study simulation
- A numerical simulation of nucleate boiling of water on inclined and rough surfaces
- Optimization and modelling of process parameters for single pass plasma arc welded steel using response surface methodology
- Forecasting gasification process results via radial basis function optimization schemes
- Machine learning approaches for predicting syngas production in biomass gasification
