Gas Plant Research Articles

Photosynthetic and hydraulic changes caused by water deficit and flooding stress increase rice’s intrinsic water-use efficiency

Effects of water deficit and flooding stress on rice’s intrinsic water-use efficiency (iWUE) and how iWUE variations are linked to stress-induced physiological changes are poorly understood. Here, we proposed a model-based approach to analyze iWUE across datasets and its relationship with physiological changes, using only leaf gas exchange data and plant hydraulic vulnerability parameters. We applied this approach to a leaf gas exchange dataset of rice, measured during the post-stress period of water deficit and flooding experiments. Results show that water deficit and flooding stress decreased rice’s photosynthetic capacity (Vcmax25) and water transport capacity (Kmax) during the post-stress period, and that these physiological changes altered the relationship between photosynthetic rate and stomatal conductance, leading to an increase in iWUE. Nevertheless, improved iWUE cannot avoid the yield reduction. Interestingly, the stress-induced decrease in Vcmax25 was significantly correlated with the decline in Kmax. The Vcmax25-Kmax relationship was significantly different between the water deficit and flooding treatments, with the slope of the latter being closer to 1:1. Model predicts that stress-induced disproportionate Vcmax25-Kmax co-reduction improved iWUE while maintaining a relatively high intercellular to atmosphere CO2 concentration ratio; this may represent optimal coordination between photosynthetic and hydraulic traits in response to stress. Our work has important implications for using leaf gas exchange data to diagnose variations in iWUE, and for improving our understanding of crop physiological responses to environmental stresses.

Problems and Countermeasures in the Oxygen System of GE Coal Water Slurry Gasification Plant

Problems and Countermeasures in the Oxygen System of GE Coal Water Slurry Gasification Plant

Study of the underwater soundscape in coastal waters of Hsinta Power Plant

This study investigates the acoustic environment surrounding the Hsinta power plant, situated in the southwest coastal waters of Taiwan, in proximity to Xingda Port, Yongan Port, Yongan Liquefied Natural Gas Plant, and an artificial reef area via passive acoustics monitoring (PAM) and Automatic Identification System (AIS). Shipping noise (including 45% fishing boats, 20.8% large ships, and 6% tug) generated by inbound and outbound ships significantly affects areas within a range of 2 to 10 km from the study site. Notably, mechanical signals at 60 and 120 Hz, not originating from PAM, have been observed, likely attributed to the Hsinta power plant. Moreover, a distinct series of periodic biological signals within the frequency range of 500 to 800 Hz is consistently recorded near the artificial reef area between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. Assessing the impact of local ship noise by comparing ambient noise levels below the 100 Hz band before and after the coal shipping seasons (April to September), revealing a difference of 5 to 10 dB. These findings provide valuable insights into the acoustic characteristics of the study area, emphasizing the importance of understanding soundscape dynamics amidst industrial activities and maritime traffic. [Work supported in part by the National Science and Technology Council, Taiwan under Grant NSTC 112-2222-E-130-002-.]

Optimal evaluation of crop residues for gasification in Ghana using integrated multi-criterial decision making techniques

Lack of sustainable feedstock quantity and quality has been reported to be one of the major challenges confronting operations of gasifier plants in Ghana. In this paper, TOPSIS (Technique for order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution) COPRAS (Complex Proportional Assessment) and VIKOR (Multi-criteria Optimisation and Compromise Solution) were used to select optimal crop residues for sustainable gasification in Ghana among thirteen residue types. The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used as weighting criteria for the three Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) techniques. Thirteen criteria based on particle size, proximate, ultimate analysis, calorific values, and quantity of residues were used. Five scenarios were considered; ranking of individual feedstock, consideration of the combination of the feedstock grouped under four categories. The ultimate and proximate analysis of the various crop residues as determined were generally within recommended levels as reported in the literature. Cashew shells and cassava peels have the highest heating value and annual technical residue potential of 23.4 MJ/kg and 880,750 tonnes respectively. Ranking of the individual crop residues confirmed cassava peels as the best alternatives of all the three MCDM techniques. The average rankings of the alternatives from the three MCDM in the order of best to worst are cassava peels, maize stalk, cocoa pod husk, maize cobs, rice straw, shea nut husk, groundnut husk, Palm kernel shells, EFB, rice husk, coconut husk/shells, cashew shells, and shea nut cake. Rankings of the alternatives under the four categories considered showed that feedstock blends containing four residues or more offer better opportunities for sustainable gasification than individual feedstock. Statistical analysis shows that there is a very strong, positive correlation between VIKOR, COPRAS, and TOPSIS. The strongest correlation is between VIKOR and TOPSIS with spearman's rank correlation index of 0.98. The analysis was sensitive to the weight of the strategy of group utility, recoverability ratio, residue-to-product ratio and annual crop production figures. It is recommended that optimal gasifier design and operational conditions taken into consideration the various feedstocks and their combination as determined from this study must be studied.

Characterisation of former manufactured gas plant soils using parent and alkylated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and Rock-Eval(6) pyrolysis

Soils sampled from 10 former manufactured gas plants (MGP) in the UK were investigated using gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) and Rock-Eval (6) Pyrolysis (RE). RE is a screening tool used to characterise bulk organic matter in soils via the release of carbon compounds during pyrolysis and oxidation. Both the distributions and concentrations of 30 parent and 21 alkylated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and the parameters of RE were analysed to establish relationships between soils and the MGP processes history. Principal component analysis (PCA) using the PAHs distributions and RE parameters can assist with differentiating between MGP processes. MGP processes utilizing oil provided the clearest results, attributed to petrogenic signatures with high proportions of low molecular weight PAHs. Processes using lower temperature processes were distinguished by higher proportions of high molecular weight PAHs. RE parameters alone were unable to distinguish MGP processes but showed potential in estimating the lability and thus the amount of PAH that could be released from soils. This research provides new insights that may be useful in understanding and characterising the risks posed to human health from PAHs in soils.

Simulation and Analysis of MEG Reclamation and Regeneration Unit in Offshore Natural Gas Plants

Simulation and Analysis of MEG Reclamation and Regeneration Unit in Offshore Natural Gas Plants

Dynamic simulation and thermoeconomic analysis of a power to gas system

Power to gas technology is an innovative solution to promote the use of renewable energy technologies, also including e-fuels. This work presents a techno-economic analysis of a novel concept of a renewable power to gas plant. A 2.4 MW solid oxide electrolyzer fed by a 3.1 MW photovoltaic field is coupled with a biomethane production unit to produce synthetic methane by means of a 2.4 MW methanation unit. The hydrogen produced by the electrolyzer is used for the methanation reaction aiming at producing natural gas at net zero carbon emissions. The CO2 is obtained as a byproduct of the membrane separation in a biogas upgrading unit. The methanation unit and the electrolyzer models are developed in MatLab and integrated in TRNSYS to perform a dynamic simulation of all the components and the system as a whole. Dynamic simulation results show a 42% increase in the production of natural gas from renewable energy sources. The thermoeconomic analysis shows a remarkable primary energy saving index of 176% and a total amount of 896 tons of CO2 equivalent emissions saved. As expected, the critical point is the economic feasibility since the simple payback is 9 years in case local incentives and subsidies are considered. The parametric analysis on the photovoltaic capacity shows that the simple payback dramatically depends on such design parameter, varying from 6 years in the best case scenario to 92 years in the worst case scenario.

Monitoring and Preventing Failures of Transmission Pipelines at Oil and Natural Gas Plants

In recent years, the increase in energy prices and demand has been driven by the post-pandemic economic recovery. Of the various energy sources, oil and natural gas remain the most important source of energy production and consumption after coal. Oil and gas pipelines are a key component of the overall energy infrastructure, transporting oil and gas from mines to end users, so the reliability and safety of these pipelines is critical. The oil and gas industry incurs large expenses for the removal of failures related to, among others, corrosion of pipelines caused by the presence of Hg, CO2 H2S, carbonates and chlorides in reservoir waters. Therefore, pipeline operators must constantly monitor and prevent corrosion. Corrosion failure losses are a major motivation for the oil and gas industry to develop accurate monitoring models using non-destructive NDT methods based on test results and failure frequency observations. Observing the locations of frequent pipeline failures and monitoring and applying corrosion protection to pipelines play an important role in reducing failure rates and ultimately increasing the economic and safety performance of pipelines. Monitoring and prevention efforts support the decision-making process in the oil and gas industry by predicting failures and determining the timing of maintenance or replacement of corroded pipelines. We have presented methods of prevention through the use of corrosion inhibitors in crude oil and natural gas transmission pipelines, as well as various factors that influence their application. In this article, a review of corrosion rate monitoring systems is conducted, and a range of control and monitoring scenarios is proposed. This knowledge will aid scientists and practitioners in prioritizing their policies, not only to choose the appropriate monitoring technique but also to enhance corrosion protection effectiveness.

Post Reclamation Evaluation of Residual Hydrocarbons in Crude Oil Contaminated Soil Using Gas Chromatographic Techniques and Plant Growth Indices

The present study was undertaken to evaluate the post-reclamation of crude oil-contaminated soil using gas chromatographic technique and plant growth indices. Enrichment techniques, turbidometric test, plasmid curing test, classical identification method, gas chromatographic flame ionization detection technique and plant growth indices were carried out using standard procedures. The results indicated that 22 of the isolates were observed to have high pollutant degrading potentials (A600nm > 0.3) due to their crude oil utilization ability. The results also indicated that isolates which were able to degrade crude oil belonged to genera Bacillus, Pseudomanas sp., Ochrobacterium sp. and Enterobacter sp. Moreso, the remediation percentages recorded were 98 %, 80 %, 21 % and 98 %, 78 % and 22 % for the respective crude oil pollution (3 %, 5 % and 10 %) for soil inoculated plasmid borne bacteria whereas soil inoculated with plasmid cured bacterial cultures had 65 %, 52 %, 11 % and 65 %, 50 % and 20 % degradation of the same concentration of the total petroleum hydrocarbon after 60 days for both Phaseolus vulgaris and Glycine max plant seeds, respectively. The remediation percentages in the uninoculated controls include 3 %, 5 %, 10 % and 12 %, 9 % and 5 % across the pollutions for both plant seeds. A significant (P < 0.05) increase in the growth parameters of the leguminous plants like percentage germination, mean plant shoot length, mean plant root length, plant fresh weight and number of root nodules were seen more in the soil microcosms inoculated with plasmid-borne bacteria than microcosm inoculated with culture of plasmid cured bacteria across all crude oil dilutions. Crude oil had a dose-dependent negative effect on the mean bacterial counts of each of the polluted soil containing the two different plants. Thus, the study clearly suggests that the selected hydrocarbon bacterial degraders could be effectively exploited in the remediation of crude oil-polluted sites.

Problems and Optimization Measures of High Pressure Flash System in GE Coal Water Slurry Gasification Plant

Problems and Optimization Measures of High Pressure Flash System in GE Coal Water Slurry Gasification Plant

Fouling Management at TotalEnergies through Use of HTRI SMARTPM™: Case Study of a Project Proposal for Cleaning Schedule Optimization

Heat exchanger fouling is problematic in crude oil refining, impacting energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, plant capacity, and maintenance budget. As part of the digital transformation journey at TotalEnergies and with advances in research on hydrocarbon fouling, advanced fouling monitoring and prediction tool (HTRI SmartPMTM) was implemented throughout TotalEnergies to better manage fouling in heat exchangers. The SmartPM software performs advanced data reconciliation, including simulation of detailed exchanger operational data using proprietary HTRI shell-and-tube heat exchanger calculation methods. After deployment and adoption of the software for fouling monitoring and reporting, the predictive functionalities have been applied to several feasibility studies concerning energy efficiency and CO2 emissions reduction projects. The present work describes the predictive study of the cleaning schedule of a refinery. The result of this study is an industrial project proposal on the installation of new bypasses across selected exchangers, leading to an economically optimized cleaning strategy, savings in the fuel consumption of the crude preheat furnace, and the reduction in CO2 emissions associated to its combustion.

CHANNEL WAVE REFRACTION EFFECT ON MOORED LNG CARRIERS

The Karratha Gas Plant (KGP), operated by Woodside, is located in Mermaid Sound on the North West Shelf of Australia and contains three loading jetties in open water. Mermaid Sound is protected from swells from the Southern Indian Ocean by several islands to the west. As a result, swells enter the Sound from the north. The bathymetry in the Sound is relatively flat but waves refract along the slopes of the navigation channel to the KGP terminal. A single uni-directional swell spectrum close to the alignment of the channel was previously assumed to assess the moorings and agreed well with measured mooring line forces (Van der Molen et al., 2003). However, after the Pluto LNG Plant was developed to the south-west of KGP and operated with a dedicated channel, more westerly waves were observed by local pilots. Such waves were not consistently captured at the wave buoy that is permanently deployed near the terminal and so were not easily characterised. The objective of the study described in this paper was to determine the origin of these westerly waves and the effect on the vessel’s response at berth.

Energy, Exergy, and Emissions Analyses of Internal Combustion Engines and Battery Electric Vehicles for the Brazilian Energy Mix

Exergy is a thermodynamic concept that ponders the quality of energy. It evaluates the irreversibilities of a machine, demonstrating its capacity to perform work associated with energy conversion. This article focuses on directing public policies and vehicle development toward their most proper usage worldwide. In the urban mobility scenario, there is an obvious demand to decrease greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In addition, the internal combustion engine (ICE) experiences considerable energy losses through heat exchange through the radiator and exhaust flow gases, which are not considerable in battery electric vehicles (BEVs) since there are no exhaust gases subsequent to combustion, nor combustion itself. This work presents longitudinal dynamics simulations of passenger vehicles to understand the magnitude of exergy destruction in ICEVs and BEVs, considering the Brazilian and European Union electric energy mix. Overall, the method can be applied to any other country. The simulation and model parameters were configured to match production road vehicles commercialized in the Brazilian market based on different versions of the same model. Two vehicle dynamic duty cycles were used, one relating to urban usage and another to highway usage, resulting in an overall exergy efficiency of around 50–51% for BEVs considering the exergy destruction in power plants. In contrast, ICE has an average efficiency of 20% in the urban cycle and around 30% in the highway cycle. By comparing the overall equivalent CO2 emissions, it is possible to conclude that EVs in the European energy matrix produce more GHG than ICE vehicles running on ethanol in Brazil. Nevertheless, there are increasing uses of coal, natural gas, and oil thermal electric power plants, raising the question of how the transition may occur with a general increase in electrification since there is an increasing electric expenditure in all sectors of society, and the renewable energy plants may not meet all of the demand.

Probabilistic Safety Assessment of Gas Plant Using Fault Tree-based Bayesian Network

Probabilistic Safety Assessment of Gas Plant Using Fault Tree-based Bayesian Network

GAS LEAK DETECTION USING GAS QUALITY IN NATURAL GAS PROCESSING PLANT

The two major parameters used in determining the quality of a processed natural gas are the water content and water dew point. For every natural gas contract, the minimum amount of water the processed gas contained and the water dew point must be specified. Natural gas treatment processes include the removal of unwanted components or the reduction of these unwanted components, such as acid gases (carbon dioxide-CO2, hydrogen sulphide-H2S), nitrogen-N2 and water vapour. Their presence in natural gas can be detrimental to natural gas process facility and gas pipeline efficiency, hence the need to remove or reduce their concentration to the barest minimum or acceptable standard in natural gas transportation and utilization. Natural gas treatment allows the gas to pass through different stages with specific functions, such as: pressure control; separation of gas and condensate; sweetening; dehydration; regeneration of sweetening and dehydration solvents; dew point control. This report focuses on simulating natural gas plant which integrate the different stage, focusing on two scenarios; the first scenario is without gas leak in the plant and the second scenario is with leak in the gas plant. The results were compared to determine the impact of the leak in the quality of the processed natural gas (dry gas). It was found out that as the volume of gas leak increases, the quality of the gas increases (i.e low water content; water dew point; increase mole fraction of methane). This is a very good finding, since it is the target of gas processors.

Hydrogen generation by gasification of pig hair biowaste over NiO/Al2O3 nanocatalyst

Over one thousand tons of pig hair biowaste (PHB) are produced yearly in Taiwan. The improper disposal of PHB can have a negative impact on the environment, consequently contributing to the spread of diseases. Hydrogen gas can be effectively produced by the catalytic gasification of PHB using a laboratory-scale fixed-bed gasifier, employing 15 wt% NiO/Al2O3 catalysts at 753–913 K. The derived kinetic parameters were obtained and refined using simulation calculations. The central Ni atoms have Ni–O (2.01) and Ni–Ni (2.34) bond distances in the fresh NiO/Al2O3 catalyst. The PHB was converted into hydrogen-rich syngas (CO + H2, >89.8% dry basis). When PHB (250 kg/h) was catalytically gasified at 753–913 K, syngas was produced at approximately 5.45 × 105 kcal/h of heat recovery with 76.5%–83.5% cold gas efficiency. The simulation of the pilot-scale PHB catalytic gasification demonstrated that the system can provide hydrogen (purity >99.99%) and generate electricity for an internal combustion engine of 100 kW and a proton exchange membrane fuel cell of 175 kW. A projected payback for a PHB catalytic gasification plant with a capacity of 10- or 20-ton per day was around 3.2 or 2.5 years, respectively.

Pressure energy recovery of LNG integrated with multi-stage feedwater fuel preheaters in a combined cycle power plant

Liquefied natural gas and combined cycle power plants have emerged as solutions to the intermittency of renewable energy sources, but they require innovative approaches for efficiency improvement. This study proposes a novel pressure recovery system, integrated with multi-stage feedwater fuel preheaters, to improve the efficiency of combined cycle power plants connected to natural gas supply stations. The research demonstrates that preheating the fuel to 350 °C reduces fuel consumption by 2.06% while maintaining the gas turbine inlet temperature. Additionally, heating the fuel gas to 210 °C using feedwater, then expanding it to 30 bar in the turbine, leads to a 193% increase in pressure recovery net power output compared to using seawater alone. By combining these two effects, the proposed system improves the overall efficiency of the combined cycle power plant by 1.08%p compared to the basic system without fuel preheating and pressure recovery. Furthermore, implementing pressure recovery and fuel preheating concurrently, rather than sequentially, increases the efficiency by an additional 0.163%p. These findings highlight the potential for this innovative system to maximize the efficiency of combined cycle power plants, and pave the way for further exploration of new approaches to enhance the performance of liquefied natural gas power plants.

A Scientific Approach for Environmental Analysis: An Asynchronous Electric Motor Case Study for Stand-By Applications

In recent years, there has been growing attention from the scientific community regarding the environmental impact of commercial goods, pushing companies to adopt life cycle assessment strategies to improve their environmental profile. Only few studies have examined the environmental burdens of electric motors, specifically for stationary applications such as oil and gas plants, transmission organs, operating machines, or other industrial utilization. For this purpose, this paper presents a comprehensive and detailed evaluation of the environmental sustainability of an asynchronous electric motor used for stationary applications. The motor under examination moves a stand-by hydraulic pump used in a compression plant to lubricate the bearings of centrifugal machines. The principles dictated by ISO 14040 are implemented, and a cradle-to-gate analysis is performed. This article reports in detail the inventory hypothesis and the steps that led to modeling the assessed electric motor. The results are presented for all impact categories provided by the ReCiPe methodology. Additionally, a breakdown of the eco-indicators at the single component level is proposed, focusing on the impact of raw material extraction phases and subsequent technological processes. The last section highlights which components contribute predominantly, both from a materials and processes perspective, and the environmental hotspots in the modeled supply chain are identified.

Design of an energy management system applied to an electric power plant based on a biomass gasifier

Biomass gasification plants for electricity generation are an environmentally friendly technology. One of their main problems is their poor responsiveness to load variations when the plant operates off-grid. For this reason, they are usually grid-connected systems.Therefore, as a solution, an energy management system that allows the plant to operate off-grid is proposed. The system has been obtained through the optimal design of unidirectional and bidirectional Z-source converters and their coupling with their series outputs. This approach has been applied to a biomass gasification power plant.To validate the system, the results of an experimental 10 kW gasification plant are presented. With the plant working off-grid, there is a sudden load increase of 2.5 kW, and due to the proposed system performance, there is only an output voltage oscillation of less than 1%, preserving a stable power supply.This proposed system allows the plant to work isolated or coupled to a weak micro-grid of renewable energies. Obtaining a permanent supply of quality and also improving its efficiency. Thus, the gasification technology can be used for electricity generation in isolated areas of many developing countries, where the electrical grid is not totally developed, but there are available biomass sources.

A Techno-Economic Analysis of Natural Gas Valuation in the Amazon Region to Increase the Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) Production in Ecuador

Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) is a C3/C4’s hydrocarbon mixture used as fuel gas, obtained through natural gas processing or crude oil refining. The Ecuadorian LPG production (~1.88 MMbbl/year) comes from the Shushufindi gas plant and the Esmeraldas refinery. However, LPG production cannot meet the Ecuadorian market demand, and over 90% of this commodity is imported. At the same time, the natural gas produced in the Amazon region is not fully valued. A significant quantity of the associated gas is flared (~100 MMscfd), representing wasted energy with a significant environmental impact. Therefore, this study aimed to develop a technical and economic assessment of the potential natural gas valuation in the Amazon region to increase LPG production. The study started with a detailed review of the associated gas produced in the Amazon region. The data were analyzed considering the geographic location of the hydrocarbon fields, molar composition, flowrates, and operational conditions. Then, a natural gas value chain visualization was proposed and technically analyzed. Finally, an economic feasibility (class V) study was conducted, considering a preliminary analysis of capital expenditure (CAPEX) and an economic balance. The outcome of this study showed that by processing 21.50 MMscfd of associated gas from the Sacha field, domestic LPG production could increase by 30.9%. The required infrastructure consists of conventional processes for natural gas processing, with an estimated CAPEX of 36.6 MMUSD. Furthermore, despite the domestic subsidies of commodities, the potential savings for the country would be 32.13 MMUSD/year, an alternative more economically viable than the current LPG imports. Thus, the investment cost will be justified.