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Power generation and cooling capacity enhancement of natural gas processing facilities in harsh environmental conditions through waste heat utilization
Author(s) -
Eveloy Valérie,
Rodgers Peter,
Popli Sahil
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
international journal of energy research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.808
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1099-114X
pISSN - 0363-907X
DOI - 10.1002/er.3197
Subject(s) - environmental science , natural gas , waste heat , waste management , absorption refrigerator , payback period , electricity generation , cogeneration , power station , cooling capacity , water cooling , waste heat recovery unit , refrigeration , environmental engineering , engineering , power (physics) , heat exchanger , mechanical engineering , electrical engineering , physics , quantum mechanics , production (economics) , economics , macroeconomics
SUMMARY Most natural gas (NG) producers in the Persian Gulf face increasing challenges in meeting their domestic gas demands and therefore seek to reduce their NG consumption. Concurrently, the on‐site power generation and cooling capacities of local NG processing facilities are constrained by extreme climatic conditions. A combined cooling and power scheme based on gas turbine (GT) waste heat‐powered absorption refrigeration is techno‐economically assessed to reduce the NG consumption of a major gas processing plant in the Persian Gulf. The scheme utilizes double‐effect water‐lithium bromide absorption refrigeration activated by steam generated from GT exhaust gas waste heat to provide both GT compressor inlet air and process gas cooling. Based on a thermodynamic analysis, recovery of 150 MW of GT waste heat is found to enhance the plant cooling capacity by 195 MW, thereby permitting elimination of a 32.6 MW GT and existing cooling equipment. On‐site power generation is enhanced by 196 GWh annually through GT compressor inlet air cooling, with energy efficiency (i.e., 64%) improved by 35% using cogeneration relative to the existing power generation plant. The overall net annual operating expenditure savings contributed by the combined cooling and power system are of $US13 million to 34 million based on present and projected local utility prices, with an economic payback period estimated at 2 to 5 years. These savings translate to approximately 94 to 241 MMSCM of NG per year, highlighting the potential of absorption refrigeration to both enhance the power generation and cooling capacity of hydrocarbon processing plants exposed to harsh environmental conditions and to realize substantial primary energy savings. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.