Feasibility of ORC application in natural gas compressor stations

M. Bianchi, L. Branchini, A. De Pascale, F. Melino, A. Peretto, D. Archetti, F. Campana, T. Ferrari and N. Rossetti

Energy, 2019, vol. 173, issue C, 1-15

Abstract: Natural gas compressor stations represent a huge potential in terms of waste heat recovery. Typical installations consist of multiple gas turbine units, in mechanical drive arrangement, operated most of the time under part-load conditions. The paper investigates the feasibility of Organic Rankine Cycle application as bottomer recovery technology in natural gas compressor facilities. The aim of the performed analysis is to obtain a detailed techno-economic and environmental scenario of the integrated system on yearly base. Different commercial gas turbine models, in the size range from 3 to 30 MW, have been taken into account as representative of mechanical driver units. Bottomer configurations (with & without intermediate loop) are modelled and compared assuming two different organic fluids. A sensitivity analysis of the bottomer cycle is carried out aimed at maximizing ORC shaft power output for each investigated layout. Off-design part-load operation of the integrated cycles have been simulated with reference to one minute data typical GT operation on a yearly base. The goal of this work is: (i) to assess the actual performance of merging gas turbines and ORC units for efficient power generation under variable operating conditions; (ii) to analyze the real potential of state-of-the art technology in the proposed innovative application.

Keywords: Organic Rankine Cycle; Gas turbine; Natural gas compressor station; Techno-economic analysis; Oil&Gas applications (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544219301410
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:173:y:2019:i:c:p:1-15

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2019.01.127

Access Statistics for this article

Energy is currently edited by Henrik Lund and Mark J. Kaiser

More articles in Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().