Discussion on the Selection of Gas Pressure Boosters
Thread Content
Dear colleagues, our company operates a methanol production facility that uses coke oven gas. The compressors used for processing this gas were not designed to match the capacity of the coking process; currently, two compressors are in operation, producing around 30,000 standard cubic meters of gas per day, while there is still an excess amount of gas available from the coking process. My question is: if we were to install pressure boosters in front of these coke oven gas compressors in order to increase their output to 36,000 standard cubic meters per day, what pressure level would be appropriate? (At present, the inlet of our coke oven gas compressor is directly connected to the gas holder, with an inlet pressure of around 2.0 KPa.) It is acceptable to use a single unit without a backup unit, or two units without any backup units either; how high is the temperature rise after the booster? Has there been any industrial practice?
The poster needs to tell you first what type of compressor the factory plans to use for selection: reciprocating or screw? What is the local atmospheric pressure where you are? What is the inlet temperature? As a rough estimate, you need to raise it to around 20 KPa, but you need to recalculate whether the motor’s power allows an increase in inlet pressure.
And what is your current exhaust temperature?
Reply to 3# seraph6030: Hello, we are currently using reciprocating compressors. The average annual atmospheric pressure is around 100.81 kPa; a four-stage compression process is employed, with the final outlet pressure being around 2.2 MPa. At present, the temperature of the gas at the exit of the first stage is around 130 degrees Celsius. If we install a booster, would it be feasible for the gas to go directly into the coke oven gas compressor without cooling first?
Since the exhaust temperature T2 = T1 * ε^((m-1)/m), if the gas from the booster is fed directly into the coke oven gas compressor without being cooled first, this will cause the inlet temperature T1 of the coke oven gas compressor to rise. Therefore, this approach is not feasible; it will result in overheating.
It is recommended to add a centrifugal booster and interstage cooling.