Design Of Production Facilities Research Articles

Construction and Sustainable Development of Oilfield Production Facilities in the Middle East

The Middle East is renowned in the world for its abundant oil resources, and the oilfield production facilities, as the core facilities for oil extraction and production, have an important position in the construction and operation in this region. This paper aims to explore the design and construction of oilfield production facilities in the Middle East, with a focus on the factors of sustainable development, including technological innovation and environmental protection, in order to achieve the long-term sustainable development of the oil industry.

Determination of hydrogen fuel production from GIS-based selected ponds using hybrid renewable energy systems in Kayseri

This study offers the feasibility study of large-scale hydrogen production to establish environmentally friendly hybrid energy facilities based on wind and solar energy resources in the vicinity of lakes and rivers within the Kayseri region of Türkiye. The ultimate objective is to enable hydrogen production from lakes and rivers and identify optimal locations for the installation of hydrogen fuel stations. The precise selection of locations for the designated province is based on geographical, environmental, and infrastructural considerations by utilizing GIS technology which allows spatial analysis and superimposition of various layers. The methodology also involves the utilization of the HOMER software to facilitate the integration of wind and solar power, along with hydrogen production, providing a platform for environmentally friendly energy system design and optimization. A comprehensive evaluation has been conducted for the sizing and placement of renewable energy systems based on microgrid analysis, the design of hydrogen production facilities, and the establishment of hydrogen refueling infrastructure. The study also incorporates a financial analysis to assess the economic viability of the project over its lifecycle. Among the five water sources considered, the highest annual hydrogen production is 830 tons in Zamantı River, while Kızılırmak River has the lowest value according to LCOE and LCOH values, 0.030 $/kWh and 3.85 $/kgH2, respectively.

Techno-economic optimization of renewable urea production for sustainable agriculture and CO2 utilization

Urea is the most used nitrogen fertilizer due to its ease of storage, transportation, and application. It is made by combining ammonia and carbon dioxide (CO2), both of which are produced predominantly from fossil fuels at present. The recent momentum behind ammonia production using renewable-powered electrolysis offers an opportunity to both make urea in a more sustainable way and utilize CO2 from external sources. In this work, we present a techno-economic optimization model to minimize the cost of making urea in this way. The model allows for time-varying chemical production in response to renewable variability by simultaneously optimizing production facility design and hourly operation. We performed a case study for Minnesota considering the use of byproduct CO2 from bioethanol production. We found that the present-day levelized cost of renewable urea is between $268 mt−1 and $413 mt−1 at likely implementable production scales up to 250 000 mt yr−1. This is within the range of historical conventional urea prices while offering at least 78% carbon intensity reduction. Projecting to 2030, there is a clear economic case for renewable urea production with levelized cost as low as $135 mt−1 due to technology improvement and electrolysis manufacturing expansion, facilitating a urea production scale increase to 525 000 mt yr−1. Optimal facilities use wind energy, with hydrogen and ammonia production operating in a flexible, time-varying way to minimize battery and hydrogen storage capacities. Urea production operates near steady state due to the relatively low cost of intermediate ammonia buffer storage. A mix of imported methane and locally produced hydrogen are used to provide heat for steam consumed in the urea synthesis.

From Roxy to Mini-Roxy: The Next Step Towards an Efficient Method for Oxygen Extraction from Regolith

Future exploration missions to the Moon and beyond will be dependent on the use of lunar regolith to produce metals/alloys and oxygen, provided they can be produced very efficiently such that their mass exceeds the mass of any needed consumables or spares to sustain the process. Among the many methods that have been studied so far, molten salt electrolysis with solid oxide membranes appears to be most promising since it meets all of the viability criteria. A specific implementation of this method to lunar applications called ROXY (Regolith to Oxygen and Metals) has been developed and tested, and the design and operations of related demonstration and production facilities have been investigated. As a next step, a miniaturized version of the ROXY cell has been developed, leading to the Mini-ROXY concept and further improvements in terms of process efficiency, and is a new starting point for upscaling the technology.

Multi-period optimization for the design and operation of a flexible power-to-methanol process

The increasing share of renewable resources in the context of energy transition scenarios requires new methodologies for the design and operation of chemical production facilities, which must adapt to the unsteady nature of their power supply. In this contribution, a highly flexible, fully electrified Power-to-Methanol process, supplied with unsteady wind power generated within the system boundaries, is designed by means of a large-scale NLP multi-period optimization for profit maximization. The problem is constrained by detailed models of interconnected units, feasibility conditions, and discretized power loads (periods) associated with their probability of occurrence. External power must be integrated into the plant to sustain feasible operations when the renewable input is not sufficiently available. Results show that the price at which the external power is purchased determines whether the resulting flexible-plant configuration is competitive with a comparable plant, optimized for steady-state operations ensured by large hydrogen or electricity buffers. Intermediate configurations represented by small buffers and semi-flexible operations constitute an important compromise for future applications of this novel approach.

Requirements for market entry of gene drive-modified mosquitoes for control of vector-borne diseases: analogies to other biologic and biotechnology products.

Gene drive-modified mosquitoes (GDMMs) are proposed as new tools for control and elimination of malaria and other mosquito-borne diseases, and promising results have been observed from testing conducted in containment. Although still at an early stage of development, it is important to begin now to consider approval procedures and market entry strategies for the eventual implementation of GDMMs in the context of disease control programs, as these could impact future research plans. It is expected that, as for other types of new products, those seeking to bring GDMMs to market will be required to provide sufficient information to allow the regulator(s) to determine whether the product is safe and effective for its proposed use. There already has been much emphasis on developing requirements for the biosafety components of the "safe and effective" benchmark, largely concerned with their regulation as genetically modified organisms. Other potential approval requirements have received little attention, however. Although GDMMs are expected to be implemented primarily in the context of public health programs, any regulatory analogies to other public health products, such as pharmaceuticals, vaccines, or chemical pesticides, must take into account the characteristics of live mosquito products. Typical manufacturing standards related to product identity, potency or quality will need to be adapted to GDMMs. Valuable lessons can be drawn from the regulatory approval processes for other whole organism and genetically modified (GM) organism products. Supply chain requirements, such as scale of production, location and design of production facilities, and methods of distribution and delivery, will be dependent upon the characteristics of the particular GDMM product, the conditions of use, and the region to be served. Plans for fulfilling supply chain needs can build upon experience in the development of other live insect products for use in public health and agriculture. Implementation of GDMMs would benefit from additional research on enabling technologies for long-term storage of mosquito life stages, efficient mass production, and area-wide delivery of GDMMs. Early consideration of these practical requirements for market entry will help to mitigate downstream delays in the development of these promising new technologies.

Water 2050: Our Responsibility as YPs

From David LaFrance, CEO, AWWA: Most recently, the Last Drop column has focused on how AWWA's Water 2050 initiative is charting the course of water to the year 2050. A critical part of the initiative is making sure many voices—especially the voices of water's current young professionals (YPs)—are framing this forward-looking strategy. When I talk to water's YPs, I am left with confidence about the future. They are bold, smart, and visionary, and 10 of them have paired up and are initiating a Last Drop Takeover. What this means is, for the next five Last Drop columns, you will hear directly from them about their thoughts of the future. In this inaugural Last Drop Takeover, Progga Chirontoni and Eric Kong paint a clear vision of what needs to be done and, importantly, why. Progga is a water/wastewater engineer with HDR Engineering. She has a master's degree in environmental and water resources engineering and a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering and mathematics. Eric is a project engineer with Freese and Nichols Inc., with more than six years of experience in the design and construction of water production and water resource recovery facilities. Here is what they have to say about the future of water. As we approach the increasingly hot days of summer, two routines are synonymous with this season: water restrictions and road trips—as disparate as they may seem, there is a connection. When you travel across this country, you can seamlessly pass through a town with a population smaller than your local high school to a city that stretches for miles. Even those small communities are part of our world, filled with people who rely on water as much as the next person. Every one of these communities is a crucial element of our water ecosystem and ultimately the future of water. According to AWWA's 2023 State of the Water Industry report, surveyed utilities agreed on the top three issues facing the water industry: (1) renewal of aging water infrastructure, (2) long-term drinking water supply availability, and (3) financing for capital improvements. These issues are not future projections but challenges that we face today. A practical example regarding infrastructure financing is the issue smaller utilities face with dwindling populations. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) “Small Drinking Water Systems Research and Development,” there are more than 143,000 active public water systems in the United States; of those, 97% are considered small systems under the Safe Drinking Water Act, meaning they serve 10,000 or fewer individuals. These small systems are constrained by limited resources, including staff, revenue, and equipment redundancy, but they still are responsible for maintaining and replacing their community's water infrastructure. When these utilities face significant financial hardships, they can quickly fall into a feedback loop, where utility revenue is limited, repairs are postponed, infrastructure fails, and the cycle begins again. Just as this challenge exists, the opposite is just as true with areas facing rapid growth, struggling to maintain resources to keep pace with expanding populations. These and other issues, including water supply reliability, the dearth of a water workforce, a shifting environment due to climate change, and the increased need for innovative technologies, exemplify the crossroads we are at in the water industry. As we forge ahead into the future, the question that humanity has faced when a challenge arises remains the same: what do we do now? How do we face the growing challenges of water scarcity and equity? These issues need to be addressed by us—water professionals—in collaboration with local communities. We do this work not for ourselves but for the people around us. Our hope for the future is more than bare-minimum solutions; it involves thoughtful plans that enrich current and future generations. This goal requires all water professionals to take part in this endeavor, with each individual seeking to solve their puzzle piece for the common goal of protecting public health and the environment through the effective management of water. Nothing is too daunting when we all work together to face these challenges and develop solutions.

Design and Mechanical Characteristics Analysis of Deep Sea Manifold System

Subsea manifolds are important equipment for offshore oil and gas extraction. The layout of the manifold is related to both the difficulty of fabrication and the installation and maintenance of the manifold. Based on 1500 m deep sea conditions and 68.9 MPa pipeline fluid pressure, the overall design of a double well groove and double collector subsea manifold is investigated, the selection of specific parameters is discussed in detail. The arrangement of different valves and pipelines and the efficiency of space volume usage are discussed. Stress analysis of the designed manifold as a whole was carried out using AutoPIPE software and its strength was assessed according to the applicable American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) standards. It was found that the maximum stress ratio was 0.9 for radial stresses and relatively small for axial stresses, but both met the design requirements for deep sea manifold piping. Finally, linear and nonlinear buckling analyses of circular arc pipes were carried out, the fifth-order linear eigenvalue buckling modes, linear critical buckling load and nonlinear critical buckling load were obtained. It is found that the nonlinear critical buckling load was 20.5% lower than the linear critical buckling load. The failure mode of post-buckling is local dimple, which is located at the initial defect, indicating that early geometric defects have a greater influence on the load carrying limit of the pipe. This paper can provide a reference for the study of common technologies for the design of deepwater subsea pipeline manifolds and subsea production facilities.

Viability of non‐edible oilseed plants and agricultural wastes as feedstock for biofuels production: a techno‐economic review from an African perspective

AbstractGiven the benefits of biofuels over conventional fuels, there is concern that widespread production of biofuels from edible feedstocks to meet demand will lead to food insecurity and other socioeconomic challenges. Thus, the goal of this research is to look into the techno‐economic potential of non‐edible oilseed plants and agricultural wastes as primary feedstocks for biofuel production in Africa. The inability of biofuel to cope in the fuel market has been demonstrated to be due to the high production costs, which limit profitability because the end price is heavily influenced by that of conventional fuel. However, the high production costs are entirely due not only to components such as feedstock, conversion processes, and infrastructure but also to a lack of techno‐economic assessment (TEA). African biofuel production can be competitively industrialized through the adoption of strong supportive policies and programs. Adoption of these policies and programs is critical for capitalizing on the benefits of non‐edible feedstocks in biofuel production while also boosting rural development through job creation. Techno‐economic assessment of conversion processes and infrastructure is recommended to provide a clear picture of the techno‐economic aspects, serving as a blueprint for the design of biofuel production facilities. Further, TEA has been shown to be a useful tool in the development process of new technologies aimed at lowering overall production costs and making biofuel more affordable. The combination of TEA and enabling policies and programs will increase the price competitiveness of biofuels, allowing them to capture a sizable share of the fuel market. © 2023 Society of Industrial Chemistry and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Proposed Layout Design of Production Facilities Using Group Technology To Improve Utility

PT. Behaestex Pandaan is a textile industry company in the field of weaving sarong products, at PT. This Behaestex Pandaan needs to regulate the placement of work stations with the aim that there is no unnecessary distance between two adjacent work stations due to unused space and the placement of work stations that affect the relationship of the production process. The method used is using rank order clustering (ROC) and process layout was chosen because as the best production floor layout design proposal that can be used for improvement at PT. Behaestex Pandaan.method Rank order clustering to provide displacement moments to improve the effectiveness of material flow.method Process layout for the preparation and placement of machines or production materials that have a similar model in one division. From the results of this study, it is proposed to be able to find out the best production floor layout proposal and the moment of its displacement, with the results of the initial layout being 16593316.22 meters every year, then using the process layout with the results of 6004001.39 meters every year, and the ROC method with a layout of 5314395.1 meters every year.

Experimental investigation on the phase behaviour for gas hydrates in CO2 rich gas mixtures & multiphase system

Almost 40% of undiscovered hydrocarbon reserves have high CO2 and H2S concentrations around the globe. So it is crucial to understand these hydrocarbon systems’ thermophysical properties for the excellent design of production facilities. An experimental investigation is conducted in this study to understand and evaluate the thermodynamic conditions of gas hydrate formation in natural gas systems with high CO2 levels gas and dominant multiphase (high CO2 level gases, deionized water, and crude oil). Three gas mixtures were chosen in this study to simulate natural gas with high CO2 content. The experiments are conducted within the critical pressure of the selected gas to avoid any phase change due to pressure. The impact of high CO2 levels in gas systems on the thermodynamic conditions of the gas hydrates was first explored. Then, the effect of a multiphase system was investigated after the addition of the oil phase into the system. The thermodynamic equilibrium conditions obtained from experiments were used to construct the Hydrate liquid–vapour Equilibrium (HLVE) curves, and the phase behaviour was studied. The details about the temperature variance and enthalpy are also clearly discussed. It has been discovered that gas mixtures with a higher CO2 content tend to promote compared to the pure methane gas system but inhibit compared the pure CO2 system. But in the multiphase system, all the gases show an inhibition effect compared to their respective pure gas system results.

Laboratory and Theoretical investigations of Petroleum Reservoir Fluid Properties

Understanding the Pressure-Volume-Temperature (PVT) properties is very important to many kinds of petroleum determinations like calculations of reservoir fluid properties; expect the future performance, selection of enhanced oil recovery methods, and for production facilities design. Models for expecting reservoir fluid properties has been increased attention during last decade by knowing reservoir pressure and temperature, oil API gravity, and gas gravity. In general, PVT properties are obtained from laboratory experiments but in some cases In this study, complete PVT lab experiments were done and evaluated the most frequently used empirical black oil PVT correlations for application in the Middle East. Empirical PVT Correlations for the Middle East crude oil was compared as a function of commonly available PVT data. Correlations compared for: Bubble point pressure, solution gas oil ratio, oil formation volume factor, oil density, and oil viscosity. After evaluating the Empirical correlations, the crude sample was characterized using different EOS to arrive at one EOS model that accurately describes the PVT behavior of crude oil produced. The multi-sample characterization method is used to arrive at one consistent model for crude oil for the whole reservoir. The fluid sample is first analyzed for consistency to ensure that they are representative of oil produced, then it is used to obtain parameters for EOS model. The tuning procedure for the EOS is done systematically by matching the volumetric and phase behavior results with laboratory results. Results showed that some correlations give good results in PVT properties compared to the laboratory and can be used with Libyan oil, while some give a high percentage of error.

The design and techno economic analysis of a succinic acid production facility

Succinic acid is an industrially important commodity chemical that acts as a precursor to numerous other chemicals. This article explores an alternative biochemical route (as opposed to the traditional route from petroleum), by modeling a succinic acid production plant using Actinobacillus succinogenes, to convert the renewable sugars of corn stover feedstock. The model developed with SuperPro Designer v9.0 was used to evaluate the feasibility of this approach. This design is on par with the throughput of currentlarge scale manufacturers, by achieving an annual production rate of 11.5 US kilotons of succinic acid. The plant's economic standing is very attractive with a payback time of just under 5 years and return on investment of 20.4%. This article shows a facility design that maximizes profitability for a feasible and sustainable solution for bio-based succinic acid production.

Design and Operation of Multipurpose Production Facilities Using Solar Energy Sources for Heat Integration Sustainable Strategies

Industrial production facilities have been facing the requirement to optimise resource efficiency, while considering sustainable goals. This paper addresses the introduction of renewable energies in production by exploring the combined design and scheduling of a multipurpose batch facility, with innovative consideration of direct/indirect heat integration using a solar energy source for thermal energy storage. A mixed-integer linear programming model is formulated to support decisions on scheduling and design selection of storage and processing units, heat exchange components, collector systems, and energy storage units. The results show the minimisation of utilities consumption, with an increase in the operational profit using combined heat integration strategies for the production schedule. A set of illustrative case-study examples highlight the advantages of the solar-based heat storage integration, assessing optimal decision support in the strategic and operational management of these facilities.

Flow characteristics of injection pump with inclined suction pipe for basic design of cosmetics and paint production facilities

Flow characteristics of injection pump with inclined suction pipe for basic design of cosmetics and paint production facilities

A new sustainability analysis technique for the design of oil production facilities

The alignment of social, economic and environmental aspects within Sustainable Development Goals is of paramount importance in the oil industry. However, current methods used to conduct project analysis fail to consider these aspects in light of company's sustainability policies. In this article, a technique for a Preliminary Sustainability Analysis of the Enterprise-PSAE is proposed. The method developed uses a participatory action research methodology, based on successive case studies applied to real projects of a large oil company in Brazil. The PSAE makes it possible to identify “Actions for Sustainability-AS's” and evaluate their impacts on the three pillars of sustainability (economic, environmental, and social). When considering the “materiality test” and the “monetary aggregation” for measuring the impact of “AS's” on the sustainability pillars, PSAE contributes deeply to improving the assessment of sustainability indexes. Thus, the PSAE inhibits subjectivity in these assessments and aligns the project with the company's sustainability report. PSAE was applied to oil facilities projects, enabling a comprehensive vision of the pillars of sustainability. Moreover, PSAE presents good usability and compatibility with the project environment, in addition to offering relevant information to guide the decision making process of engineering managers in the direction of the company's sustainability policy.

СИСТЕМА АВТОМАТИЗИРОВАННОГО ПРОЕКТИРОВАНИЯ И ПРОТОТИПИРОВАНИЯ УЧАСТКОВ СИНТЕЗА УГЛЕРОДНЫХ НАНОКЛАСТЕРНЫХ СТРУКТУР

The article focuses on using the integrated multi-component computer-aided design and control systems, which changes the product life cycle processes in the high-tech complex chemical and technological systems. In the integrated design of production facilities, special attention is paid to safety, productivity, reliability, ergonomics of the production line and the material and technical environment. The most effective in project management are flexible life cycle models that connect diverse specialists in a single information environment. The relevance of the task of developing and implementing problem-oriented heterogeneous computer-aided design and digital prototyping systems is justified. There is described a method for improving the efficiency of designing production facilities while minimizing the time required preparing a design solution, and the risks of design errors caused by the communication dissonance of diverse specialists. The architecture of the computer-aided design and digital prototyping system with a description of its basic components is presented. The creation of a digital model of the design object is described on the example of the reactor site and the material and technical base of the process of synthesis of carbon nanocluster structures that are in high demand in various industries. The conducted tests and the introduction of the resulting applied software solution into the educational process proved its efficiency in solving problems of integrated computer-aided design and digital modeling not only of objects of the carbon nanoindustry, but also for other industries with a similar material and technical base.

FACILITY LAYOUT REDESIGN USING SYSTEMATIC LAYOUT PLANNING METHOD IN PT. PILAR KEKAR PLASINDO

Good equipment and product design are meaningless if there is no good layout planning. Problems owned by PT. Pilar Kekar Plasindo occurs in the production of small polyethylene. This is because small polyethylene production has large material total transfer distance. Small polyethylene problems include the distance between stations, cross-movement, backtracking, and the broken machine that is still placed in the production section. These conditions make the material handling costs and distance large. Therefore, this research aims to produce a layout design of production facilities that can minimize the distance and cost of material movement. The method used in this study is Systematic Layout Planning (SLP). Three alternative designs were compared, and the second proposed facility layout was chosen because it can reduce the total cost of material transfer by 68.3% and reduce the distance of material transfer by 59.6% from the initial facility layout.

Оцінка сердньозваженої собівартості виробництва водню в Україні

The overview of decarbonization technologies of the gas industry, particularly Power-to-Gas technologies using renewable or excess electricity to produce hydrogen via water electrolysis is presented. Also, a comparative analysis of the main types of electrolyzers for hydrogen production – alkaline and with proton exchange membrane (PEM) is presented, and the conclusion that the PEM electrolyzers using renewable electricity is advisable for implementation in Ukraine. A comparative analysis of available most reasonable data sources regarding estimates of "green" hydrogen production cost is presented. The article also presents the mathematical formulations for levelised hydrogen production cost calculation and input data for calculation. The input data were obtained based on cited sources and own estimations taking into account Ukrainian specific conditions, i.e. PEM electrolyzer operating conditions. The results of the own calculation and ones performed by the cited authors are given. The results of the calculations showed that the key initial parameters that affect the cost of hydrogen production in Ukraine, as in other countries, are capital costs, the cost of electricity, and the electrolyzer load factor. The increase of load factor decreasing levelised cost of hydrogen production, which is important to account for the design of hydrogen production facility. In particular, the production cost of hydrogen using PEM electrolyzer could be reduced from 15.73 $ US/kg H2 to 7.34 $ USA/kg H2 if electricity supplied by NPP at night at "night tariff" will be used instead of electricity from the photovoltaic plant. The results of calculations showed that the obtained hydrogen production costs in Ukraine for both cases - the use of electricity from renewables and from the grid are comparable to European estimates of the hydrogen production costs. Keywords: decarbonization, gas industry, electrolyzer, hydrogen production, weighted-average levelised cost

Dynamic simulation driven design and management of production facilities in agricultural/food industry

Dynamic simulation driven design and management of production facilities in agricultural/food industry