Comparison of the Thermodynamic Effect of Ethane and Ethylene in the Mixed Refrigerant Cycle of the Natural Gas Liquefaction Process

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 M. Sc. Student of Chemical Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology

2 Assistant Professor, Research Institute of Petroleum Industry (RIPI)

3 Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology

4 B. Sc. in Chemical Engineering Research Institute of Petroleum Industry (RIPI)

Abstract

The type of mixed refrigerant components is one of the most important factors affecting the energy consumption of compressors in the natural gas liquefaction process. In the recent researches, various components have been used, which usually contain ethane or ethylene. So far, no comparison has been performed between the performance of these two components in the mixed refrigerant. In this research thermodynamic properties of ethane and ethylene were compared. Then PRICO process, as the most common small-scale liquefaction process, was simulated with three types of five-component refrigerants including ethane, and then optimized using the genetic algorithm tool in MATLAB 2019a. Then, the thermodynamic effect of ethylene replacement in these three refrigerants on the work consumption of compressors as an objective function was investigated. The results indicated ethane or ethylene presence in mixed refrigerant is necessary and their absence leads to work consumption of 3792.35 kW. This value is higher than all six case that contain ethane or ethylene. Also, results showed that the use of ethylene reduces the work consumption of compressors, and in refrigerants with nitrogen, methane, ethane, propane, and i-butane components, replacing ethane with ethylene reduces process work consumption by 11.28%.
 

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References

 
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Iranian Chemical Engineering Journal
Volume 21, Issue 123 - Serial Number 123
November and December 2022
Pages 7-21

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