Technical and Economic Study of a Fuel Gas Turbo Compressor at the Gas Complex Plants

Abstract

As part of the strategic objective of developing natural gas resources mainly from the

HASSI R'MEL field in southern Algeria, LNG plants have been built in the north of the

country, whose main purpose is the export of LNG to Europe by LNG carriers, among

these plants, we cite the LNG complex which contains strategic and auxiliary equipment

designed and built to achieve a given performance and a required function, the latter is to

provide energy to the fluid, allowing it to be transported in pipes and overcome the

resistance to movement. On the industrial level, a better understanding of the static and

dynamic behavior of equipment is essential both for predicting operating conditions and

for estimating service life. A machine under study must meet various requirements relating

to its productivity, operation, safety, longevity, and maintenance costs. It is the role of

maintenance in the broadest sense of the term to ensure the normal operation of these

machines throughout their entire lifespan. Traditional maintenance methods are limited to

operating the machines until they break down, or to carrying out maintenance at fixed

intervals without taking into account the time, cost, quality of repair and even the HSE

point of view. For example, on the LNG complex units, where it is necessary to supply the

boiler with fuel gas instead of natural gas at a specific pressure and flow rate, a turbocharger

was used, on which our technical and economic study is based.