Optimal operation of a multi-distribution natural gas pipeline grid: an ant colony approach

Adarsh Kumar Arya

doi:10.1007/s13202-021-01266-3

Abstract

The enormous cost of transporting oil and gas through pipelines and the operational benefits that the industry receives through optimization has incited analysts for decades to find optimization strategies that help pipeline managers operate pipeline grids with the least expense. The paper aims to minimize the pipeline grids' operating costs using an ant colony optimization strategy. The article constructs a multi-objective modeling framework for a natural gas pipeline grid based on data from the French gas pipeline network corporation 'Gaz De France,' using pipeline and compressor hydraulics. The gas pipeline grid comprises seven gas supply nodes and nineteen gas distribution centers. Seven compressor stations provided at various locations on the pipeline route raise the gas pressure. Two competing objectives of reducing fuel usage in compressors and increasing throughput at distribution centers are acknowledged to reduce the pipeline's operating cost. The 'multi-objective ant colony optimization (MOACO)' approach is implemented to the pipeline transportation model to reduce the natural gas pipeline grid's operating cost. The process variables include the amount of gas flowing through the pipe and the pressure at pipe nodes. This method provides the optimum solution for each fuel consumption level on each compressor, and it does so by producing a Pareto front for each of the nineteen gas distribution points. The blueprints of the methodology used and the findings collected intend to guide pipeline managers and select the best of the most preferred solutions.

Highlights

Energy usage has grown exponentially worldwide over the last few decades
The present paper develops a multi-objective gas pipeline model for a multi-distribution grid and further optimizes it using the multi-objective ant colony optimization (MOACO) method
The multi-objective ant colony technique is applied to the nineteen gas distribution points, and the Pareto points are generated for each delivery point

Summary

Introduction

Energy usage has grown exponentially worldwide over the last few decades. Energy consumption growth has been almost 50% (OECD, 2012). Most real case pipeline grids are highly complex, having numerous pipes, compressors, supply, and delivery points. In those cases, the technique becomes almost obsolete, as the time required to achieve the optimum solution is almost infeasible. These techniques depend on gradient search methods and have the drawback that they fail if the function is non-differentiable and discontinuous In these cases, the solution obtained is trapped in local optima and cannot further optimize the grid. The present paper develops a multi-objective gas pipeline model for a multi-distribution grid and further optimizes it using the MOACO method. The first section discusses the objective function equations used to reduce fuel expenditure in compressors and maximizes gas delivery at the distribution centers. In the third section, the pipeline and compressor modeling equations are presented

Objective function

C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 Total fuel consumed No of pareto points

Findings

Result and discussion

Conclusion