Heating of natural gas before expander - generator unit

Abstract

The article discusses the replacement of throttling at the stations of technological lowering of the pressure of main natural gas by an expander-generator technology that allows the production of a cheap one with high environmental indicators. The disadvantage of this method of generating electricity is a significant cooling of the gas at the outlet of the expander, which necessitates its heating. The efficiency of the expander-generator set is largely determined by the adopted gas heating scheme. Achieving such heating temperatures is possible only by using high-potential energy resources, which are present in the technological equipment of gas distribution stations in the form of gas heaters with an intermediate heat carrier, designed to heat gas before expansion. Calculations of the amount of fuel gas required for heating the main natural gas in front of the expander-generator unit at the gas distribution stations under consideration have been carried out. The results of the study of the influence of the temperature of gas heating in front of the expander on the consumption of fuel gas supplied for heating and the numbers of heaters are presented. An analytical dependence of the electric power of the heat pump installation on the difference between the total power consumption of the compressor and the power of the air turbine is obtained.