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ABSTRACT Gas processing plants in Saudi Aramco process both the associated gas received from oil wells and the non-associated gas (Khuff gas) received from gas wells. Uthmaniyah Gas Plant (UGP) of Southern Area Gas Operations in Saudi Aramco is one of the largest gas processing plants in the world. Both the associated and the non-associated gas streams are crucial to meet the growing domestic gas demand and as well as of great significance for future mode of operation. The associated gas and the non associated gas are transported form their respective wells to the gas processing plant through buried cross country pipelines. The design philosophy of buried plant and cross country pipelines includes coating as the primary method and cathodic protection (CP) as the secondary method of external protection. The integrity of these buried lines are of great concern due to several factors such as aging, depletion of CP and the installation of additional structures due to ongoing expansion. This paper outlines nearly three decades of operational experience from a gas processing plant's point of view, focusing on specific issues associated with the external coating, performance under high operating conditions, and the ongoing efforts to restore the integrity of these pipelines to ensure safe and reliable operation. INTRODUCTION Uthmaniyah Gas Plant (UGP) in Southern Area Gas Operations of Saudi Aramco is one of the largest gas processing plants in the world. UGP was commissioned in 1981 as part of a Master Gas System (MGS) to process the associated gas from oil wells and expanded gradually to process non-associated gas (Khuff) as well. Currently this gas plant has the capacity to process up to 1.85 billion SCFD (53.5 x 10 m/d) of associated gas in three low-pressure (LP) gas treating units and 750 MMSCFD (21.7 x 10 m/d) of Khuff gas in high pressure diglycol amine (HPDGA unit). UGP has quite large amount of underground pipelines in critical service such as associated gas, nonassociated gas (Khuff gas), Hydrocarbon condensate, hydrocarbon blowdown, fire and utility water piping systems. Each of these piping systems is an integral part of the operation and its integrity will have direct impact on either the upstream or downstream operations. This paper outlines nearly three decades of operational experience from a gas processing plant.s point of view, focusing on specific issues associated with the external coating, performance under high operating conditions, and the ongoing efforts to restore the integrity of these pipelines to ensure safe and reliable operation. Plant's Operational Criticality: Gas processing plants operated by Saudi Aramco produce sales gas, natural gas liquids (NGL) and sulfur as the end products. The domestic average sales gas demand is expected to double within the next five years. Hence, all the gas plants will be required to operate at or near their full capacities to meet the growing demand. Therefore, unreliable process equipment or piping systems could have a detrimental effect on the production depending, on the magnitude of the impact. Interruption of any critical processing units due to lack of steam supply as a result of boiler tube failure can result in plant limitation or significant loss of revenue, depending on the feed rate and other variables.
- Government > Regional Government > Asia Government > Middle East Government > Saudi Arabia Government (1.00)
- Energy > Oil & Gas > Upstream (1.00)
- Energy > Oil & Gas > Midstream (1.00)
- Facilities Design, Construction and Operation > Processing Systems and Design > Gas processing (1.00)
- Facilities Design, Construction and Operation > Pipelines, Flowlines and Risers (1.00)
- Facilities Design, Construction and Operation > Natural Gas Conversion and Storage > Liquified natural gas (LNG) (1.00)
ABSTRACT Oil, gas and petrochemical industries have critical process equipment that experienced deterioration to varying degrees due to several factors. The options widely utilized to address these concerns include conventional repair, replacement or upgrade. However, these options are often expensive and require long shutdown time for repair. Non-metallic composite materials can be utilized as one of the most cost effective option to restore the integrity of these equipment within a short duration. This option not only helps to maximize the non-metallic enrichment within the operating plants, but also promote opportunities for creating additional petrochemical industries. This paper focuses on our experience in Uthmaniyah Gas Plant where non-metallic composite materials have been used to restore the integrity of certain critical components. The components discussed in this paper will include cooling water system (CWS) and critical hydrocarbon pipelines. The CWS is critical for almost all process industries. The corrosivity of water and deterioration of materials in CWS is often complex due to variation in the water chemistry and other environmental factors. The core elements of a cooling water system, namely cooling tower and associated heat exchanger that experienced deterioration were upgraded with non-metallic composites to avoid recurrence and achieve longer life cycle. Moreover, each operating plant has numerous pipelines for transporting feedstock and end-products. Each pipeline has transition points (above/below ground) and their external protections in asphalted/concreted areas have remained a challenging task. Industries experienced significant external corrosion due to shielding and abrasion at these transition points. Non-metallic composites installed as field trails in this application functioned effectively and enhanced the external protection. This paper outlines the practical experiences in material degradation aspect on the referenced systems, from the prospective of a gas processing plant, and how non-metallic composite materials can play a vital role in corrosion protection and life extension of core components. INTRODUCTION Uthmaniyah Gas Plant (UGP) in Southern Area Gas Operations is one of the largest gas processing plants in the world. UGP was commissioned in 1981 as part of a Master Gas System (MGS) to process associated gas from oil wells and expanded gradually to process non-associated gas (Khuff). Currently UGP has the capacity to process up to 1.85 billion SCFD (53.5 x 10 m/d) of associated gas in three low-pressure (LP) gas treating units and 750 MMSCFD (21.7 x 10 m/d) of Khuff gas in high pressure diglycol amine (HPDGA) unit. Plant Operational Criticality Gas processing plants operated by Saudi Aramco produce sales gas, natural gas liquids (NGL) and sulfur. The domestic average sales gas demand is expected to double within the next five years. Hence, all the gas plants will be required to operate at or near their full capacities to meet the growing demand. Therefore, unreliable process equipment or piping systems could have a detrimental effect on the output of these plants. Interruption of any critical processing units due to loss of cooling water system, unavailability of cross country pipelines or pumps could result in plant limitation or significant loss of revenue, depending on the feed rate and other variables.
- Asia > Middle East > Saudi Arabia (0.88)
- North America > United States > Wyoming > Sweetwater County (0.25)
- Materials > Chemicals > Commodity Chemicals > Petrochemicals (1.00)
- Energy > Oil & Gas > Upstream (1.00)
- Energy > Oil & Gas > Midstream (1.00)
- (2 more...)
ABSTRACT Ferritic steels have been recognized as candidates for their applications in heat exchangers used in Solid Oxide Fuel Cells? balance of plant. Combustion gases flowing through those heat exchangers can be very corrosive. Therefore, the National Energy Technology Laboratory determined materials performance of commercial S43000 stainless steel exposed to a simulated combustion gas at 800 °C. The exposure experiments were conducted on flat samples in the simulated combustion gas: 19vol% O2+6vol% H2O + 4vol% CO2 +71vol% N2 under isothermal conditions. After the experiment, the surface of a corroded sample was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) to identify possible phases present in the scale, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to determine microstructure of the oxide scales, and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) or wavelength dispersive energy X-ray (WDX) spectroscopy to determine chemical composition in the scale and the metal substrate. INTRODUCTION Reliable and affordable fuel cells are a centerpiece of the world?s energy future. They are energy conversion devices that generate electricity and heat by electrolyte. The chief characteristic of fuel cells is their ability to convert chemical energy to electrical energy without the need for combustion, thereby giving much higher conversion efficiencies than conventional methods, such as steam turbines. Cost remains the final obstacle that must be overcome for fuel cells to realize their full commercial potential. A major barrier for affordable high-temperature fuel cells is the cost of heat exchangers and other balance of plant (BOP) components. Advances in solid-state material manufacturing show promise for making solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) applicable in any power application. Cost reduction can be achieved in component fabrication, materials used, and cell and stack designs. Balance of plant issues also present problems in the commercialization of fuel cell technology. Specifically for SOFC, air and fuel need to be heated and cooled at some stage of the process. This requires pumps, piping, heat exchangers, etc. in order to deliver useable electrical power. Currently, there are no economical commercial heat exchangers suitable for use with SOFC. Typical heat exchanger design criteria includes the transfer of heat energy from a hot (800-1000 °C), post combustion gas or hot depleted air from the SOFC system, as shown in Figure 1, to a cooler oxygen rich gas which, in turn, is supplied to the cathode side of the SOFC system. The sink (cold) fluid typically operates in the range from ambient to 300°C. For example, conventional heat exchangers can cost as much as $10,000 per unit. In order to meet the SECA goal of demonstration fuel cell systems at a cost of $400/kW, heat exchangers need to be in the $200 per unit for a 10 kW system. Significant improvements in cost are possible through implementation of advanced materials, designs, and process technology. For the heat exchange applications, resistance of metallic components to corrosion is critical. In this research, our focus was on corrosion resistance of SS43000 stainless steel potentially replacing more expensive and corrosion resistant N06625 in combustion gases derived from combusting natural gas reformate according to reaction (1): (chemical equation available in full paper)
- Machinery > Industrial Machinery (1.00)
- Energy > Renewable > Hydrogen (1.00)
- Energy > Oil & Gas (1.00)
- Energy > Energy Storage (1.00)
ABSTRACT Process industries such as Oil, Gas and Petrochemical plants have boilers as part of the steam generating system. A boiler is a complex and critical piece of equipment and its reliability is crucial to the entire plant?s operation. Several components of boiler play a major role in contributing to its reliability and performance. Of these, boiler tubes are considered, the most vulnerable component to corrosion in steam generating units. The corrosion concerns and the failure mode of boiler tubes can sometimes be unique to a plant and the control of corrosion is made a challenging task due to several variables including the make-up water chemistry, contaminants in the return steam condensate and effectiveness of the treatment program. Therefore, periodic inspections, assessments and timely remedial actions are required to ensure safe and reliable operation. This paper outlines the practical experience associated with the operations of high pressure boilers in a gas processing plant?s perspective. The topics addressed in this paper include: various modes of failures, successful deployment of advanced nondestructive examination (NDE) technology to evaluate the magnitude of impact, a comprehensive boiler condition assessment program, and the ongoing efforts to enhance safety and reliability of boiler operation. INRODUCTION Uthmaniyah Gas Plant (UGP) in Southern Area Gas Operations of Saudi Aramco is one of the largest gas processing plants in the world. UGP was commissioned in 1981 as part of a Master Gas System (MGS) to process the associated gas from oil wells and expanded gradually to process non-associated gas (Khuff) as well. Currently this gas plant has the capacity to process up to 1.85 billion SCFD (53.5 x 10 m/d) of associated gas in three low-pressure (LP) gas treating units and 750 MMSCFD (21.7 x 10 m/d) of Khuff gas in high-pressure diglycol amine (HPDGA) unit. UGP has six high-pressure boilers which were commissioned in 1981, each having a capacity of 530,000 lbs/hr (240 t/hr) and a design pressure of 800 psig (56 kg/cm2g) at 700°F (371°C). The boilers produce steam at a pressure of 625 psig (44kg/ cmg). All the steam demand required to run the operating facility is produced by these six high-pressure boilers, which are located in the utilities plants. As part of the revised operating strategy, a new cogeneration plant has been established recently to provide the required steam supply. The cogeneration plant is one of the first four plants built under the third party investment projects under the philosophy of BOOT (build, own, operate and transfer after 20 years). This cogen plant generates power and steam by utilizing the feed received from the plant and supply the power and steam to the plant while the excess power is sent to the local electric company grid, SEC. This paper outlines the practical experience associated with the operations of high-pressure boilers, which have been in operation for nearly three decades. The topics addressed in this paper include: various common modes of failures, unique modes of failure, successful deployment of advanced nondestructive examination (NDE) technology to evaluate the magnitude of impact due to failure modes, the implementation of a comprehensive boiler condition assessment program and the ongoing efforts to enhance safety and reliability of these boilers for continued operation.
- North America > United States (0.95)
- Asia > Middle East > Saudi Arabia (0.91)
- Energy > Oil & Gas > Upstream (1.00)
- Energy > Oil & Gas > Downstream (1.00)
- Energy > Oil & Gas > Midstream (0.95)
- (2 more...)
- Well Completion > Well Integrity > Subsurface corrosion (tubing, casing, completion equipment, conductor) (1.00)
- Facilities Design, Construction and Operation > Processing Systems and Design > Gas processing (1.00)
- Facilities Design, Construction and Operation > Pipelines, Flowlines and Risers > Materials and corrosion (1.00)
- Facilities Design, Construction and Operation > Natural Gas Conversion and Storage > Liquified natural gas (LNG) (0.95)
ABSTRACT Gas Treating Units are an integral part of gas processing plant's operation. An amine used as a solvent to absorb hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and carbon dioxide (CO2) from sour gas. More than two decades of our operational experience demonstrated that the metallurgy selected at the initial design performed satisfactorily under normal operating conditions. However, these units experienced accelerated corrosion with complex damage mechanisms to varying extent due to various factors. The affected component can often become the source of major incident risk and therefore, timely integrity management is crucial to ensure Plant?s safety and reliability. While these corrosion concerns in new plants can be efficiently addressed by appropriate design and material selection, cost effective control of accelerated corrosion in existing plants remains a challenging task. Due to limitations with the conventional monitoring techniques, tremendous efforts need to be exerted to develop advanced corrosion mapping technologies for proactive corrosion management. A comprehensive corrosion control manual, timely implementation, adapting to Management of Change (MOC) culture and a system in place to ensure adherence to MOC are the core elements of an ideal tool box to address the integrity issues. This paper outlines specific corrosion challenges in a gas processing plant, limitations on monitoring techniques and innovative strategies adopted for integrity management. INRODUCTION Uthmaniyah Gas Plant (UGP) in Southern Area Gas Operations of Saudi Aramco is one of the largest gas processing plants in the world. UGP was commissioned in 1981 as part of a Master Gas System (MGS) to process the associated gas from oil wells and expanded gradually to process non-associated gas (Khuff) as well. Currently UGP has the capacity to process up to 1.85 billion SCFD (53.5 x 10 m/d) of associated gas in three low-pressure (LP) gas treating units and 750 MMSCFD (21.7 x 10 m/d) of Khuff gas in high pressure gas treating unit. Plant?s Operational Criticality Gas processing plants operated by the company produce sales gas, natural gas liquids (NGL) and sulfur as the end products. The domestic average sales gas demand is expected to double within the next five years. Hence, all the gas plants will be required to operate at or near their full capacities to meet the growing demand. Therefore, unreliable process equipment or piping systems could have a detrimental effect on the production depending, on the magnitude of the impact. Interruption of any critical processing units can result in plant limitation or significant loss of revenue, depending on the feed rate and other variables. Process Description In the gas plants, an amine is used as a sweetening solvent to recover both hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and carbon dioxide (CO2) from the sour gas. These units have carbon steel as the predominant metallurgy in almost all the process equipment and piping systems. The sour gas goes through feed gas filter separators to remove entrained hydrocarbon liquids and particulates before going to the bottom of contactor (Figure 1). The sour gas is primarily treated in the contactor where the amine absorbs H2S and CO2.
- Asia > Middle East > Saudi Arabia (0.55)
- North America > United States (0.47)
- Materials > Chemicals > Commodity Chemicals > Petrochemicals (1.00)
- Energy > Oil & Gas > Upstream (1.00)
- Energy > Oil & Gas > Midstream (1.00)
- Government > Regional Government > Asia Government > Middle East Government > Saudi Arabia Government (0.55)
- Production and Well Operations > Production Chemistry, Metallurgy and Biology > Corrosion inhibition and management (including H2S and CO2) (1.00)
- Health, Safety, Environment & Sustainability > Health > Noise, chemicals, and other workplace hazards (1.00)
- Facilities Design, Construction and Operation > Processing Systems and Design > Gas processing (1.00)
- Facilities Design, Construction and Operation > Natural Gas Conversion and Storage > Liquified natural gas (LNG) (1.00)