Expansions, pressure drop

Reservoirs containing low compressibility oil, having small amounts of dissolved gas, will suffer from large pressure drops after only limited production. If the expansion of oil is the only method of supporting the reservoir pressure then abandonment conditions (when the reservoir pressure is no longer sufficient to produce economic quantities of oil to the surface) will be reached after production of probably less than 5% of the oil initially in place. Oil compressibility can be read from correlations. 

Solution gas drive occurs in a reservoir which contains no initial gas cap or underlying active aquifer to support the pressure and therefore oil is produced by the driving force due to the expansion of oil and connate water, plus any compaction drive.. The contribution to drive energy from compaction and connate water is small, so the oil compressibility initially dominates the drive energy. Because the oil compressibility itself is low, pressure drops rapidly as production takes place, until the pressure reaches the bubble point. 

The primary drive mechanism for gas field production is the expansion of the gas contained in the reservoir. Relative to oil reservoirs, the material balance calculations for gas reservoirs is rather simple the recovery factor is linked to the drop in reservoir pressure in an almost linear manner. The non-linearity is due to the changing z-factor (introduced in Section 5.2.4) as the pressure drops. A plot of (P/ z) against the recovery factor is linear if aquifer influx and pore compaction are negligible. The material balance may therefore be represented by the following plot (often called the P over z plot). 

The expansion turbine converts the dynamic energy of the flue gas into mechanical energy. The recoverable energy is determined by the pressure drop through the expander, the expander inlet temperature, and the mass flow of gas (66). This power is then typically used to drive the regenerator air blower. 

Tower Internals and Equipment Modification. Tower capacity expansion can be achieved through the use of random or stmctured packing, or through the use of higher capacity trays such as the UOP multiple downcomer tray. Packing has been used in the gasoline fractionator, water quench tower, caustic and amine towers, demethanizer, the upper zone of the deethanizer, debutanizer, and condensate strippers. Packing reduces the pressure drop and increases the capacity. 

The viscous or frictional loss term in the mechanical energy balance for most cases is obtained experimentally. For many common fittings found in piping systems, such as expansions, contrac tions, elbows and valves, data are available to estimate the losses. Substitution into the energy balance then allows calculation of pressure drop. A common error is to assume that pressure drop and frictional losses are equivalent. Equation (6-16) shows that in addition to fric tional losses, other factors such as shaft work and velocity or elevation change influence pressure drop. 

Equation (6-95) is valid for incompressible flow. For compressible flows, see Benedict, Wyler, Dudek, and Gleed (J. E/ig. Power, 98, 327-334 [1976]). For an infinite expansion, A1/A2 = 0, Eq. (6-95) shows that the exit loss from a pipe is 1 velocity head. This result is easily deduced from the mechanic energy balance Eq. (6-90), noting that Pi =pg. This exit loss is due to the dissipation of the discharged jet there is no pressure drop at the exit. 

The simplest continuous-distillation process is the adiabatic single-stage equihbrium-flash process pictured in Fig. 13-25. Feed temperature and the pressure drop across the valve are adjusted to vaporize the feed to the desired extent, while the drum provides disengaging space to allow the vapor to separate from the liquid. The expansion across the valve is at constant enthalpy, and this facd can be used to calculate To (or T to give a desired To). 

Vacuum pump capacity is conventionally based on the total cycle and expressed as mVh-m" (cfi7i/ft ) of filter area measured at pump inlet conditions. Thus, the gas volumes per unit area passing during each dry period in the cycle are totaled and divided by the cycle time to arrive at the design air rate. Since air rate measurements in the test program are based on pressure drop across the cake and filter medium only, allowance must be made For additional expansion due to pressure drop within the filter and auxiliary piping system in arriving at vacuum pump inlet conditions. 

Total pressure deerease in the nozzle and outlet diffuser are only from frietional losses. In an ideal nozzle or diffuser the total pressure drop is zero. Isentropie effieieney is defined as the ratio of the aetual work to the isen-tropie enthalpy deerease, whieh is the expansion from the inlet total pressure to the outlet total pressure... 

Adsorption efficiency can be optimized by using finer particle size products which will improve the diffusion rate to the surface of the activated carbon. However, there is a tradeoff in using finer particles with pressure drop and, hence energy use. Note that during start-up of an activated carbon filter bed, a bed expansion of 25 to 35 % is recommended in order to remove soluble matter and to stratify particles in order to ensure that the MTZ is maintained when future backwashing is performed. 

Thermal Expansion in Flare Header - Sliding-type expansion joints may be used in flare headers as an alternative to piping expansion loops, if required to achieve a reduction in pressure drop or where expansion bends may result in liquid surging, subject to the following conditions ... 

Choking, or expansion of gas from a high pressure to a lower pressure, is generally required for control of gas flow rates. Choking is achieved by the use of a choke or a control valve. The pressure drop causes a decrease in the gas temperature, thus hydrates can form at the choke or control valve. The best way to calculate the temperature drop is to use a simulation computer program. The program will perform a flash calculation, internally balancing enthalpy. It will calculate the temperature downstream of the choke, which assures that the enthalpy of the mixture of gas and liquid upstream of the choke equals the enthalpy of the new mixture of more gas and less liquid downstream of the choke. 

To calculate the heat duty it must be remembered that the pressure drop through the choke is instantaneous. That is, no heat is absorbed or lost, but there is a temperature change. This is an adiabatic expansion of the gas w ith no change in enthalpy. Flow through the coils is a constant pressure process, except for the small amount of pressure drop due to friction. Thus, the change in enthalpy of the gas is equal to the heat absorbed. 

The gas is routed through heat exchangers where it is cooled by the residue gas, and condensed liquids are recovered in a cold separator at appro.ximately -90°F. These liquids are injected into the de-methanizer at a level where the temperature is approximately -90°F. The gas is (hen expanded (its pressure is decreased from inlet pressure to 22.3 psig) through an expansion valve or a turboexpander. The turboexpander Lises the energy removed from the gas due to the pressure drop to drive a compressor, which helps recompress the gas to sales pressure. The cold gas f-)50°F) then enters the de-methanizer column at a pressure and temperature condition where most of the ethanes-plus Lire in the liquid state. 

For pass corrections use fluid flow expansion and contraction as an illustration of one approach to these pressure drop calculations. 

The simple thermostatic expansion va/verelies on the pressure under the diaphragm being approximately the same as that at the coil outlet, and small coil pressure drops can be accommodated by adjustments to the spring setting. 

Where an evaporator coil is divided into a number of parallel passes, a distribution device with a small pressure loss is used to ensure equal flowthrough each pass. Pressure drops of 1-2 bar are common. There will nowbe a much larger finite difference between the pressure under the diaphragm and that at the coil inlet. To correct for this, the body of the valve is modified to accommodate a middle chamber and an equalizing connection which is taken to the coil outlet, close to the phial position. Most thermostatic expansion valves will have provision for an external equalizer connection (see Figure 8.8). 

If the outlet or discharge pressure is lowered further, the pressure upstream at the origin wtill not detect it because the pressure wave can only travel at sonic velocity. Therefore, the change in pressure downstream will not be detected upstream. The excess pressure drop obtained by lowering the outlet pressure after the maximum discharge has been reached takes place beyond the end of the pipe [3]. This pressure is lost in shock waves and turbulence of the jetting fluid. See References 12,13, 24, and 15 for further expansion of shock waves and detonation waves through compressible fluids. 

Because n < 1 for a shear thinning fluid, < 7 will be Jess than unity and a reduction in pressure drop occurs. The lower the value of n and the larger the value of b, the greater the effect will be. It will be noted that the effects of expansion of the air as the pressure falls have not been taken into account. 

Pressure drop on the tube-side of a shell and tube exchanger is made up of the friction loss in the tubes and losses due to sudden contractions and expansions and flow reversals experienced by the tube-side fluid. The friction loss may be estimated by the methods outlined in Section 3.4.3 from which the basic equation for isothermal flow is given by equation 3.18 which can be written as ... 

In a synthetic ammonia plant the hydrogen is fed through a 50 mm steel pipe to the converters. The pressure drop over the 30 m length of pipe is 500 kN/m2, the pressure at the downstream end being 7.5 MN/m2. What power is required in order to overcome friction losses in the pipe Assume isothermal expansion of the gas at 298 K. What error is introduced by assuming the gas to be an incompressible fluid of density equal to that at the mean pressure in the pipe /r — 0.02 mN s/m2. 

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