Gas Compressor Stations Research Articles

Elevated airborne radioactivity downwind of a colorado oil refinery

ABSTRACT Airborne radioactivity from fossil fuel production systems is poorly characterized, but a recent study showed elevated ambient levels with proximity to oil and gas production wells. Here, we report year-long, high temporal resolution monitoring results of airborne alpha radioactivity from both radon gas and radon progeny attached to particulates immediately northeast of an oil refinery in Commerce City, Colorado, USA, in an environmental justice community of concern. Gas and particle-associated radioactivity contributed nearly evenly to the total alpha radioactivity. Total radioactivity levels of 30–40 Bq m−3 were 2–3 times higher than background levels (~10–15 Bq m−3) when winds were light and southwesterly, suggesting the refinery as the geographic origin. Furthermore, elevated airborne radioactivity tracked most closely with the light hydrocarbon and natural gas tracer ethane. Thus, the data imply natural gas as the radon emission carrier, possibly from flaring. However, this could not explain all our particle-associated radioactivity observations. Our findings are unique and suggest a need for further investigations of radon emissions from oil and gas infrastructure such as natural gas processing plants, compressor stations, petrochemical plants, and oil refineries that process oil and natural gas from unconventional production. Implications Statement: Regulatory agencies currently do not mandate or conduct monitoring of radioactivity releases and public exposure from petroleum industry air emissions. This study reports elevated radioactivity from radon gas and nonvolatile radon decay products attached to particulate matter, at about 2-3 times above background levels in proximity to Colorado’s largest oil refinery. Observations were within an environmental justice community of concern that experiences well above-average exposure to many other harmful atmospheric pollutants, suggesting potential adverse health effects from this cumulative exposure. Our findings offer actionable insights for policymakers, industry stakeholders, and affected communities alike.

Forecasting community response to low-frequency noise

The most common approach to managing environmental noise is by reference to A-weighted sound levels deemed appropriate for the community. These criteria are usually derived from transportation noise studies for which the relative proportion of low-frequency noise is implicit. Very different community reactions can arise when source spectra don't represent those studied. Responses diverge even further when the listeners' context also differs from that originally studied. This is nowhere more evident than in the case of large industrial equipment (such as power plants and gas compressor stations) sited in rural areas, due in large part to strong Low-Frequency Noise (LFN). Guidance for forecasting community reaction to LFN is scattered throughout the literature as individual studies employing a diverse assortment of approaches and noise descriptors. The purpose of the present paper is to demonstrate a straightforward, comprehensive, and unified forecasting approach suitable for inclusion in ANSI S12.9 Part 4 "Noise Assessment and Prediction of Long-Term Community Response", similar in many respects to the method recently deleted from this standard (2005 Annex D).

Analysis of numerical modeling of steady-state modes of methane–hydrogen mixture transportation through a compressor station to reduce CO2 emissions

This study presents a mathematical model to evaluate the performance of gas pipelines during hydrogen injection in a gas pipeline-compressor station. The developed model presents the calculation of methane–hydrogen mixture (CH4/H2) transportation through the compressor station, where the compensation of pressure drops in the mass and energy balance takes place. Simultaneously, in the operation of the centrifugal blower system of gas compressor stations, the emissions of CO2 are considered, considering the mixing of gas media and the compression of CH4/H2. This mathematical model is realized for the pipeline transportation of hydrogen, at which the principle of mixture expansion occurs. The aim is to solve the problem of CO2 emissions at compressor stations. The optimization procedure has been formulated using a system of nonlinear algebraic equalities. The research focuses on the adaptation of existing gas transportation systems to CH4/H2 transportation and the impact of environmental risks on the operation of compressor station equipment. In this case, it is possible to determine the quantitative amount of hydrogen that can be added to natural gas. By solving the problem of finding the inner point of sets using the system of nonlinear algebraic equalities, it is possible to obtain the control parameters for safety control of technological modes of CH4/H2 mixture transportation. The study findings reveal that the consumption of gas charger and hydrogen was 50.67 and 0.184 kg/s, respectively, and the estimated efficiency resulting from the modified turbine design was 75.1 percent. These results indicate that the equipment operates more efficiently when hydrogen is being transported. The numerical analytical results indicated in this study hold practical significance for design applications. It will assist in identifying and evaluating the restrictions that may develop during the technological, operational, and design stages of decision-making.

Experimental and numerical study on natural gas explosion evolution in open space under different initial conditions

The vapor cloud explosion in open space are greatly affected by the initial conditions of gas cloud and the surrounding environment, while in the gas compressor station, these factors are ubiquitous. While the researches of external influencing factors like the obstacle and initial turbulence effect on natural gas explosion in open space are rare. In this paper, a series of natural gas explosion experiments were conducted and a long-distance natural gas pipeline compressor station was taking as an example to simulate the natural gas leakage and explosion in the typical location. Results showed that the greater the initial turbulence, the greater the peak overpressure of gas explosion. When the initial wind speed is 5 m/s, the peak overpressure can promote 73.4 % higher than that without initial turbulence. However, the overpressure doesn't linearly increase with the increasing of initial wind speed. What's more, the flame speed showed the same law with the overpressure, and the effect of concentration on overpressure is lower than that of initial turbulence and obstacle density. The explosion damaging range in the condenser area is larger than that in the separator area, and the maximum overpressure can reach about 21 kPa and the temperature can reach above 2280K, which provides an important basis for the safety prevention and personnel protection in natural gas compressor station.

Effects of Fatigue Parameters on Fatigue Crack Growth Rate of Pipe Steels and Girth Weld

Abstract Oil and gas pipeline steels and welds are subjected to a wide variety of cyclic loadings: internal pressure variation, pulsation of gas pressure resulting from the cyclic operation of a reciprocating compressor at a gas compressor station, internal flow-induced vibration resulting from the turbulent flow within the pipe, vortex-induced vibration of a free-spanning section exposed to air (wind) for aboveground pipelines or water for water-crossing pipelines, and cyclic thermal stresses developed by significant changes in temperature due to seasonal changes or changes in operating temperatures. These cyclic loadings are very variable and complex. Considering the fatigue situations, a better understanding of the effects of fatigue test parameters on fatigue behaviors of pipeline steels and welds is required. Hence, in this study, the influences of fatigue test parameters on the Paris law coefficients were studied for pipeline steels and welds. It was analyzed for pipe steels of X65∼X100 and a girth weld of X70. Influences of material strength, crack orientation relative to the pipe axis, and frequency in the range of 1∼30 Hz were insignificant. It was found that the coefficients a1 and b2 of the m-ln(C) relationships linearly relied on the load ratio. The constants (α1, β1, α2, and β2) of these linear relationships between R-ratio and a1 (and b2) were determined for pipe steels.

Assessment of current methane emission quantification techniques for natural gas midstream applications

Abstract. Methane emissions from natural gas systems are increasingly scrutinized, and accurate reporting requires quantification of site- and source-level measurement. We evaluate the performance of 10 available state-of-the-art CH4 emission quantification approaches against a blind controlled-release experiment at an inerted natural gas compressor station in 2021. The experiment consisted of 17 blind 2 h releases at a single exhaust point or multiple simultaneous ones. The controlled releases covered a range of methane flow rates from 0.01 to 50 kg h−1. Measurement platforms included aircraft, drones, trucks, vans, ground-based stations, and handheld systems. Herewith, we compare their respective strengths, weaknesses, and potential complementarity depending on the emission rates and atmospheric conditions. Most systems were able to quantify the releases within an order of magnitude. The level of errors from the different systems was not significantly influenced by release rates larger than 0.1 kg h−1, with much poorer results for the 0.01 kg h−1 release. It was found that handheld optical gas imaging (OGI) cameras underestimated the emissions. In contrast, the “site-level” systems, relying on atmospheric dispersion, tended to overestimate the emission rates. We assess the dependence of emission quantification performance on key parameters such as wind speed, deployment constraints, and measurement duration. At the low wind speeds encountered (below 2 m s−1), the experiments did not reveal a significant dependence on wind speed. The ability to quantify individual sources degraded during multiple-source releases. Compliance with the Oil and Gas Methane Partnership's (OGMP 2.0) highest level of reporting may require a combination of the specific advantages of each measurement technique and will depend on reconciliation approaches. Self-reported uncertainties were either not available or were based on the standard deviation in a series of independent realizations or fixed values from expert judgment or theoretical considerations. For most systems, the overall relative errors estimated in this study are higher than self-reported uncertainties.

Modeling Gas Compressor Station Operation to Minimize Fuel Costs for Surge Zone Protection

Gas transportation through the pipeline network requires high pressure; otherwise, movement will be impossible. Due to friction with the walls of the pipes, the gas loses both speed and pressure. Therefore, it is necessary to increase the pressure in the main pipeline, which can extend for thousands of kilometers. For this purpose, compressor stations are located along the main network, facilitating the gas transport process by raising it to the required pressure. Compressor stations mainly consume the transported gas, with approximately 5% expended on gas compression. This article presents a study on the fuel cost for compressor stations, using mathematical models to optimize the operation of gas compressor units. The objective is to minimize gas consumption as a fuel and provide an optimization method with control over blower revolutions and valve installations to ensure safe transportation. Mathematical modeling of the described process detected the technically unjustified fuel gas consumption during the operation of gas compressor units at a specific compressor station under consideration. The paper proposes a method for minimizing costs, which can serve as the basis for providing recommendations to engineers-dispatchers. Compressor stations of the type under study lack measuring instruments for mass flow; therefore, the methods such as PID controllers, MPC, or neural networks are not applicable here.

IMPROVING THE RELIABILITY AND ENERGY EFFICIENCY OF GAS AIR COOLING DEVICES BY USING A REPAIR AND RECOVERY COMPOUND

Over the last two decades, different gas transportation companies has placed significant emphasis on the issues of energy efficiency and energy conservation. The allocation of electrical energy for the operation of air-cooling mechanisms for gas in a compressor station equipped with gas turbine pumping units ranges from 22% to 48%. The primary aim of this study is to improve the durability of the bearings in the electric motor of the gas air cooling device. This will be achieved by investigating various approaches to reduce friction. The objective will be accomplished by the use of advanced surface technology with enhanced strength properties. The use of the Repair and Recovery Compound (RRC) inside the lubrication system or its direct application onto the friction pairs' surface is contingent upon the unique characteristics and design of the particular unit undergoing treatment. The objects undergoing processing included the use of specialist lubricants. The items in question are primarily the ball bearings that are located inside the drive electric motors of air-cooling fans used in gas compressor stations. The results obtained from the study examining the effectiveness of using serpentine-based compositions on electric motor bearings demonstrate a noticeable impact on the outermost layers of the metal surfaces that come into contact. This impact enables beneficial modifications in the operating characteristics of the device. The effectiveness of repair and restoration chemicals mostly depends on the manufacturer responsible for their creation. A comprehensive economic assessment is essential when choosing a compound for the processing of rubbing components in equipment. This assessment should include several factors such as the cost of the compound, processing expenditures, and the time necessary for cost recuperation. Keywords: gas air cooling devices, bearings, reliability, energy efficiency, energy saving, repair and recovery compound.

Evaluation of possibilities of fulfillment of customer requirements as an element of end-to-end management of enterprise business processes

Aim. Improvement of the enterprise business processes management by offering methodical tools for assessing the possibilities to fulfill customer requirements before concluding a contract for product delivery / service provision.Objectives. To analyze the existing approaches to the management of enterprise business pro- cesses in the scientific literature; to determine the control points of end-to-end management of business processes; to consider the peculiarities of the application of qualitative and quan- titative types of risk analysis; on the basis of the conducted research to develop a methodology for assessing the possibilities of meeting customer requirements at the enterprise.Methods. The article considers the methodology of assessing the possibilities of fulfillment of customer requirements as an element of end-to-end management of business processes at the enterprise. With the help of general scientific and special economic and statistical methods, such as analysis, synthesis and comparison, the key control points of the business process man- agement system, where different management approaches to risk analysis are applied, are de- termined. The trends characteristic of the current state and development of risk analysis methods are highlighted, their advantages and disadvantages are established. Systemic and complex approaches are applied to the studied phenomena and processes. Results. In the process of the conducted analysis the deficit of attention to the application of methods of business process risk management at the stage of pre-contract work was found out. Within the framework of the concept of risk-oriented thinking, which is at the heart of modern management systems, the article highlights the applied approaches to risk analysis, the algorithm of realization of expert risk analysis at the enterprise is proposed, the types of requirements used for evaluation are defined. The indicator of feasibility of customer require- ments at the enterprise is calculated, the criteria for making a management decision based on the results of the assessment are revealed, The variants of auxiliary documentation developed in the course of the assessment are given. Thus, the developed methodology acts as a control point at the initial stage of realization of the algorithm of end-to-end management of business processes of the enterprise.Conclusions. The proposed methodological toolkit for assessing the ability to fulfill customer requirements is a preventive measure to eliminate risks before the delivery of products / ser- vices. The procedure and peculiarities of the methodology application are given on the example of analyzing the level of feasibility of the customer’s requirements of the gas industry com- pany, Realizing the service of construction of main gas pipelines and compressor stations. The developed methodical toolkit allows to increase the level of quality of realization of business processes and the degree of their transparency, to provide more balanced management decisions, to improve conditions for contract conclusion, to reduce the number of discrepancies in the activity of enterprises of gas and other industrial branches.

Evaluation of the prospects for the use of single-stage centrifugal compressors based on high-pressure stages with an inlet guide device at linear gas compressor stations

Evaluation of the prospects for the use of single-stage centrifugal compressors based on high-pressure stages with an inlet guide device at linear gas compressor stations

Правовое регулирование создание систем оповещения о чрезвычайных ситуациях на объектах транспортировки газа

In 2014, significant changes were made to the civil defense legislation which require Gazprom Group companies operating gas trunk lines, gas distributing plants, and gas compressor stations to create and maintain local emergency notification systems (LNS) in a state of immediate readiness. The objective of this study is to analyze the current legislation and the peculiarities of practical application of the LNS-related rules. The subject of the study is the social relations that arise in the course of inspections by the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia and the issuance of improvement notices to gas transmission organizations. The author reviews some controversial issues related to the persistent negative judicial practice in commercial courts and general jurisdiction courts for subsidiaries of Gazprom PJSC. The civil defense legislation of the CIS countries (the Republic of Belarus and Kazakhstan) is systematically reviewed. This article proposes amendments to the current legislation that would specify certain features establishing LNSs at class I and II HPFs.

Assessing Techno-Economic and Environmental Impacts of Gas Compressor Fleet as a Source of Flexibility to the Power System

In the Great Britain's high-pressure gas transmission network, there are 24 gas compressor stations with 68 operational compressor units of different types and sizes. As of 2021, the aggregate capacity of electric-driven gas compressors was 200 MW. By using linepack as a form of gas storage buffer, the compressors can be operated flexibly to achieve a minimum operational cost under fluctuating electricity prices. Furthermore, since electricity consumed by electric-driven compressors can affect the balance of the power grid, the ability of electric-driven compressor units to regulate their electricity consumption is useful to be quantified. In this paper, the value of flexibility from the hybrid compressor stations (compressor stations in which both electric-driven and gas-driven compressor units exist) is analysed. The operation of the high-pressure gas network in Great Britain was formulated as a Mixed-Integer Second Order Cone Programming (MISOCP) problem. The modelling results show that employing the flexibility from hybrid compressor stations in the gas network can reduce more than 20% of the operational cost and 50% of emissions from the compressor fleet. Furthermore, a cost-benefit analysis was carried out to assess the investment viability of installing electric-driven compressor units. It is demonstrated that the economic feasibility of investing in electric-driven compressors is sensitive to the future carbon price.

Community Health Impacts From Natural Gas Pipeline Compressor Stations.

Compressor stations maintain pressure along natural gas pipelines to sustain gas flow. Unfortunately, they present human health concerns as they release chemical pollutants into the air, sometimes at levels higher than national air quality standards. Further, compressor stations are often placed in rural areas with higher levels of poverty and/or minority populations, contributing to environmental justice concerns. In this paper we investigate what chemical pollutants are emitted by compressor stations, the impacts of emitted pollutants on human health, and local community impacts. Based on the information gained from these examinations, we provide the following policy recommendations with the goal of minimizing harm to those affected by natural gas compressor stations: the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and relevant state agencies must increase air quality monitoring and data transparency; the EPA should direct more resources to monitoring programs specifically at compressor stations; the EPA should provide free indoor air quality monitoring to homes near compressor stations; the EPA needs to adjust its National Ambient Air Quality Standards to better protect communities and assess cumulative impacts; and decision-makers at all levels must pursue meaningful involvement from potentially affected communities. We find there is substantial evidence of negative impacts to strongly support these recommendations.

ANALISIS KENDALA OPERASIONAL PADA KOMPRESOR SKG X MILIK PT. P PRABUMULIH PADA PERIODE APRIL 2018 – MARET 2019

The gas compressor engine is the main equipment at the Gas Compressor Station (SKG). The working principle is gas compression, the compressor has rotating impeller blades pushing the gas into the diffuser forcing the gas to move into the vessel until the pressure on the gas increases. At SKG X PT. P Prabumulih who supplies gas to PT. Pusri, there are 4 compressor units (A, B, C, D), where in one day three compressor units are operating, and one compressor unit is in stand-by condition or under maintenance so it does not operate. The total operating hours of all compressors in one day is 72 hours and total stand-by hours are 24 hours. This quantitative research analyzes compressor performance data to obtain operational constraints experienced by compressors and their impact on compressor performance.
 Based on the results of the analysis, the hours of operation and stand-by of the 4 compressor units during a year did not run normally, due to some troubles with the compressor, a total of 25,773 working hours, 9,075 hours of standby, 444 hours of damage/loss. No compressor works 100% full, compressor B has the worst breakdown hours with 173 hours (3.64% of the total breakdown hours). During the year, there were 59 occurrences of damage to the compressor consisting of 26 types of damage with the peak performance decline occurring between June and July, which resulted in a loss of 2% of productive hours per year. This certainly has an impact on the loss of production target volume.

Turbine vibration condition monitoring in region 3

The present study aims to investigate the vibration monitoring status in region three of gas transmission operations in Iran. Vibration monitoring is a strong tool for troubleshooting and protecting equipment (turbines). For this purpose, the vibration condition monitoring systems in a gas compression station have been studied. The number and location of vibration sensors, vibration signal transmission to the control room, alarm and stop command, and the ability to perform advanced vibration analysis for troubleshooting and data storage are taken into consideration. The favorable situation of vibration monitoring is provided for the purpose of comparison and conclusions about the status of vibration monitoring and needs have been made.

Organic Fertilizer for Rubber Trees: Implementation of Empowerment Program for Rubber Farmers in Pagar Dewa Village

Pagar Dewa Village is located in Lubai Ulu District, Muara Enim Regency, South Sumatra Province, with vast natural potential for rubber plantations. In line with this condition, the majority of the community in Pagar Dewa Village works as rubber farmers. However, the potential has not been fully realized to its maximum benefit by the rubber farmers in Pagar Dewa Village. Various issues are faced by rubber farmers, ranging from the increase in non-subsidized fertilizer prices, the absence of fertilization for the past three years, limited information available to rubber farmers, to the threat of forest and land fires. In response to these issues, PT Perusahaan Gas Negara Tbk - Pagardewa Gas Compressor Station, through its CSR program, has implemented a community empowerment program based on rubber farmers. The program, titled "Self-Reliant, Alert, Resilient, and Prosperous Rubber Farmers" (MAS TANI MAPAN), began by reviving the farmer cooperative that had experienced a non-active phase and assisting in managing the institution. It also developed the cooperative into fertilizer, seed, and honey working groups (Pokja Pupuk, Pokja Bibit, and Pokja Madu). This program also enhances the capacity of rubber farmers through training in seedling cultivation and organic fertilizer production for rubber trees.

Developing a spatially explicit global oil and gas infrastructure database for characterizing methane emission sources at high resolution

Abstract. Reducing oil and gas methane emissions is crucially important for limiting the rate of human-induced climate warming. As the capacity of multi-scale measurements of global oil and gas methane emissions has advanced in recent years, including the emerging ecosystem of satellite and airborne remote sensing platforms, a clear need for an openly accessible and regularly updated global inventory of oil and gas infrastructure has emerged as an important tool for characterizing and tracking methane emission sources. In this study, we develop a spatially explicit database of global oil and gas infrastructure, focusing on the acquisition, curation, and integration of public-domain geospatial datasets reported by official government sources and by industry, academic research institutions, and other non-government entities. We focus on the major oil and gas facility types that are key sources of measured methane emissions, including production wells, offshore production platforms, natural gas compressor stations, processing facilities, liquefied natural gas facilities, crude oil refineries, and pipelines. The first version of this global geospatial database (Oil and Gas Infrastructure Mapping database, OGIM_v1) contains a total of ∼ 6 million features, including 2.6 million point locations of major oil and gas facility types and over 2.6×106 km of pipelines globally. For each facility record, we include key attributes – such as facility type, operational status, oil and gas production and capacity information, operator names, and installation dates – which enable detailed methane source assessment and attribution analytics. Using the OGIM database, we demonstrate facility-level source attribution for multiple airborne remote-sensing-detected methane point sources from the Permian Basin, which is the largest oil-producing basin in the United States. In addition to source attribution, we present other major applications of this oil and gas infrastructure database in relation to methane emission assessment, including the development of an improved bottom-up methane emission inventory at high resolution (1 km × 1 km). We also discuss the tracking of changes in basin-level oil and gas activity and the development of policy-relevant analytics and insights for targeted methane mitigation. This work and the OGIM database, which we anticipate updating on a regular cadence, help fulfill a crucial oil and gas geospatial data need, in support of the assessment, attribution, and mitigation of global oil and gas methane emissions at high resolution. OGIM_v1 is publicly available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7466757 (Omara et al., 2022a).

Gas leak detection system in compressor stations based on a microphone array and multi-channel frequency Transformer

Gas compressor stations can maintain the natural gas pressure in long distance pipelines. Gas leakages are classified as category 1 hazards and pose a significant risk in compressor stations. However, the existing leak detection technologies are unsuitable because of the slow response and high cost. Therefore, this paper presents a gas leak detection system based on acoustic waves and deep learning. Specifically, an explosion-proof microphone array with 30 channels is designed and installed in a compressor station. Accordingly, a multi-channel frequency Transformer (MCFT) is proposed to extract useful information from acoustic waves and classify leak conditions. Experiments are performed using a dataset (10 categories) collected in the compressor station. The results reveal that the accuracy and leak detection rate reach 99.09% and 99.98%, respectively, while the false alarm rate declines to 0.2%. Compared with the existing state-of-the-art deep learning methods, the proposed MCFT exhibits significant advantages when applied to a real-world dataset. The robustness and efficacy of the proposed system are demonstrated via sensitivity studies using a number of microphones and hyperparameters of MCFT. A real-time detection scheme further validates that the proposed system can provide fast gas leak detection and ensure the process safety of pipeline transportation.

Optimisation of the operating parameters of the natural gas compressor station

Optimisation of the operating parameters of the natural gas compressor station

Analysis of Development Planning of Own Use Gas Pipeline from Gas Compressor Stations to Gathering Stations in X Field

Trunkline gas network system from Gas Compressor Station (GCS) B to GS.B -GS.B5 total distance of ±18 km. Distance GS.B4-GS.B5 is 9400 m. Gas is the main fuel for engines at gathering stations. A deadlock was found on the GS.B4–GS.B5 pipeline. The solution to this problem is to plan a pipeline between GS.B4–GS.B5 for optimal gas supply. This study conducts an economic analysis of the planning of pipe construction with the same trunkline diameter. Selection of diameter by looking at the effect of pressure drop and erosional velocity using the Pipesim. Then take a problem solving approach by building a system using a pig launcher. Based on the research results, in the existing conditions with a distance of 9400 m using a diameter of 6 and 4 inches there is a high pressure drop. Scenario planning minimizes pressure drop by using equal diameter pipes between 4,6 and 8 inches. The analysis results show that the selected diameter is 6 inches. Pig launcher is designed with safe specs and design. Calculation of the project's economic indicators with an investment of 505,911 US$ M and an oil price of 62.38 US$/bbl. Calculation results obtained NPV @12%= 6,022 US$M, IRR= 495%, POT= 0.19 years, PI= 12.90. Sensitivity analysis by changing assumptions 85%, 115% of the basic assumptions, showed the lowest NPV= 4,725 US$M, the lowest IRR= 393%. Based on the results, this project is profitable and feasible to be developed from an economic perspective.