Processing of natural gas as one of the main resources of energy has been always in the center of focus to boost production of high commercial value products such as ethane, propane, butane and condensate for different applications. In this work, some operation units of a natural gas refinery are assessed based on thermodynamic efficiency and economic feasibility and from environmental impacts point of view. Exergy analysis is used for evaluation of considered gas refinery in some major units of operation such as condensate stabilization, dehydration and mercury guard, ethane recovery unit, NGL fractionation unit, propane refrigeration, export gas compression unit and sour water treatment unit. Other units of operation have been considered as black boxes and only the interactions with the main units have been taken into account. The aim of this study is to improve the process by identifying the location and magnitude of thermodynamic inefficiencies in studied gas refinery and by making appropriate actions for improvement. In addition, to have a more precise evaluation; an economic analysis has been conducted and the results has been combined with exergy analysis. This methodology known as -Exergoeconomic analysis - reveals equipment with highest priority of improvement, considering a trade-off between thermodynamic inefficiencies and cost of equipment. In addition to exergoeconomic analysis, the plant has been also evaluated by exergoeconomic diagnostic to reveal the influential components for replacement after the calculated life time of the plant. In analogy with exergoeconomic, the plant also has been assessed by exergoenvironmental analysis and results associated with environmental impacts obtained. Lastly, the most influential components in the system based on highest rate of exergy destruction have been selected and analyzed with advanced exergy-based analyses. Among examined components, obtained results from exergoeconomic show dryers’ regeneration furnace (104-H1) and second stage refrigerant compressor (111-K6) total iv cost is related to exergy destruction and require improvement by reducing the destructed exergy costing which lead to apply better process design or technology. On the other hand, export gas compressor (106-K7), and depropanizer column (107-C4) could be improved by using a moderate technology to reduce the equipment cost rate. The results obtained from exergoeconomic diagnostic urge the system, to replace the dryers’ regeneration furnace (104-H1) and export gas compressor (106-K7), as the cost of destruction is quiet high in these components. In addition, the results of exergoenvironmental analysis, shows that dryers’ regeneration furnace (104-H1) and export gas compressor (106-K7) are the main contributors to the environmental impacts of exergy destruction. Therefore, by applying better technology margins, the corresponding environmental impact is reduced. Lastly, the advanced exergy-based analyses results show that among analyzed components, treated gas compressor (105-K4), export gas compressor (106-K7) and cold box (105-E8) have the highest rate of avoidable exergy destruction and corresponding cost and environmental impacts, which can influence the overall system efficiency from thermodynamic and cost and environmental concerns.


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    Titel :

    Evaluation of a gas refinery using exergy-based methods


    Weitere Titelangaben:

    Bewertung einer Gasraffinerie mit exergiebasierten Methoden


    Beteiligte:

    Erscheinungsdatum :

    2019



    Medientyp :

    Sonstige


    Format :

    Elektronische Ressource


    Sprache :

    Englisch



    Klassifikation :

    DDC:    629





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