System and method for treating associated gas
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing technologies fail to efficiently treat associated gas or 'rich gas' for use in reciprocating engines and turbines, as they struggle with instantaneous and consistent cooling and gas composition adjustments, leading to inadequate fuel quality and reliability issues.
Innovation Solution
A system utilizing a chiller-based refrigeration system with an intermediary chilling fluid to cool and condense associated gas, incorporating safety valving, pressure control, and dehydration processes, ensuring instantaneous cooling and precise gas quality through a thermal reservoir and recycling mechanisms.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If conventional cooling systems are used to treat associated gas, then gas cooling is achieved, but instantaneous and consistent cooling cannot be maintained leading to fuel quality issues
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-cools the associated gas before compression using a heat exchanger, preparing the gas in advance for the subsequent cooling and separation processes. This preliminary cooling action ensures the gas is at the appropriate temperature entering the compression stage, contributing to consistent fuel quality throughout operation.
Solution Approach 2:
An intermediary chilling fluid is introduced as a heat transfer medium between the compressed gas and the refrigeration system. This intermediary fluid absorbs heat from the gas in a controlled manner, enabling instantaneous and consistent cooling that directly addresses the fuel quality reliability issue by maintaining stable temperature control.
2Stability of the object's composition
If hydrocarbons are removed from associated gas, then fuel composition is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system utilizes phase transition of hydrocarbons from vapor to liquid state through controlled cooling. As the associated gas is cooled in the heat exchanger and chiller system, heavier hydrocarbons condense into liquid form and are separated from the gaseous methane, achieving composition stabilization through a natural physical process rather than complex chemical treatment.
Solution Approach 2:
The system employs hydraulic principles through the use of a liquid chilling medium circulating through heat exchangers to remove heat from the gas stream. This hydraulic heat transfer approach provides efficient and controllable cooling to achieve hydrocarbon condensation and separation, maintaining composition stability through fluid-based thermal management rather than mechanical separation devices.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system provides instantaneous and consistent cooling, achieving the necessary gas composition for efficient operation in gas-powered engines and turbines, overcoming prior art's limitations in handling varying load demands and maintaining fuel quality.
Implementation Method 1
a chilling media cooled by a refrigeration system to a desired setpoint contacts the pressurized gas through the chiller heat exchanger to further reduce the temperature of the pressurized gas
Implementation Method 2
sending the pressurized gas to an aerial cooler that uses ambient air to reduce a temperature of the pressurized gas
Implementation Method 3
sending the chilled pressurized gas to a vapor liquid separator to generate processed gas
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method for treating associated gas in which a stream of raw gas is passed through safety valving, an inlet pressure control mechanism, and an inlet scrubber. Pressure/temperature data is transmitted to a control system via pressure and temperature transducers. The raw gas is sent to a gas compressor to generate pressurized gas, which is sent to an aerial cooler and a chiller heat exchanger, in which a chilling media contacts the pressurized gas. The chilled pressurized gas is sent to a vapor liquid separator to generate processed gas, which is routed through either a system backpressure valve or a pressure reducing recycle valve that directs the processed gas to the inlet scrubber. The processed gas that has passed through the system backpressure valve is delivered as fuel or routed through a backpressure regulating recycle valve that directs the processed gas to a system inlet pressure reducing valve.