Techno-economic-reliability assessment of a combined NGL refinery and CCHP system driven by wasted energy of flare and flue gases

Abstract

Due to their improved functionality and increased efficiency, hybrid flare and flue gas recovery methods have drawn attention. Applying these methods removes flare gas in the oil wells and hot flue gas in the power plant, and a combination of flare gas recovery with hot flue gas recovery is more environmentally friendly as it increases the energy efficiency of the technologies. Integrated heating, cooling, and electricity generation plants composed of a gas turbine, a natural gas liquids refinery, and an absorption chiller were proposed as a hybrid system for flare and flue gas recovery in an oil well. The generated cooling was used in the natural gas liquids refinery and inlet air cooling of the gas turbine. Thermo-economic analysis was applied to the system with consideration of the recovery of heat from the gas turbines’ hot flue gas. The reliability of its downstream installation was examined. The sensitivity analysis showed that the proposed system is very economical even at low electricity prices, and the most sensitive equipment is the NGL’s recovery section.