Alternative Power Source For Subsea Installation

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Depletion in oil and gas reservoir and reduction in shallow water reservoir has driven Oil and Gas Exploration move from shallow water (less than 100m water depth) exploration to depth water exploration. Depth water exploration would required the used of subsea wellhead, subsea collection manifold, Remotely-Operated Vehicle (ROV), flexible flowline, Floating Production and Storage Unit (FPSO), Floating Liquefaction Natural Gas unit (FLNG), etc.

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There are minimum power driven equipment in subsea installation as subsea power generation is still under research level. One of the recent development is to convert the seawater current into power with a special device, named VIVACE (Vortex-Induced Vibrations for Aquatic Clean Energy). VIVACE is utilizing a fluid movement phenomena called vortex-induced vibrations (VIV).

Fluid flow around a rounded or cylinder-shaped object, vortices or eddies will form on opposite sides of the rounded or cylinder-shaped object. As alternating vortices form above and below the rounded or cylinder-shaped object, exerting force perpendicular by the flow will drive the rounded or cylinder-shaped object to move. As the rounded or cylinder-shaped object cylinder is attach to a springs, counter force would cause it oscillates and convert mechanical energy to electricity. This technology is being commercialized by Vortex Hydro Energy and a paper on "VIVACE - A new concept in generation of clean and renewable energy from fluid flow" is published in Journal of Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering.

Below are some demonstrations clips...

VIVACE converter model operating in the Low-turbulence Free Surface Re-circulating Water Tunnel
Flow Speed: 1.6 knots (0.823 m/s)

Lab picture sequence generated by Williamson

Artist's rendition

(Click here to view via Browser)

This technology could be considered in subsea power generation and possibly leads to employment of motor driven equipment in subsea installation.

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Technology and Global Warming Talk

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Simple update to IEM Members or those who are practicing Engineering in MALAYSIA...

The atmosphere acts as an insulating blanket to keep the average temperature of our planet Earth within a pleasant ange. The green house effect on the trace gases of the atmosphere, such Carbon Dioxide, keep the heat near the Earth surface and keep out the cold of the outer space. The climate of Earth however is unstable and since the end of the ice age some 10,000 years ago, the average temperature of the Earth has increased steadily from a few degrees Centigrade to more than 15 degrees Centigrade. Since the Industrial Revolution, the Carbon Dioxide concentrations have increased from about 280ppm to 365ppm and the Earth temperature goes up as the Carbon Dioxide concentrations increase. The effect of global warming is a change in the climate and weather patterns which hastens the extinction of species, influence the lengths of seasons, cause coastal flooding, and lead to more frequent and severe storms. The response to global warming includes the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol which expires in 2012 by all countries except United States and Kazakhstan after the United Nations climate talk in December 2007. The solution to global warming is Carbon (Greenhouse Gases) Management and the strategy is three pronged, i.e. Policy, Education and Technology.

A talk on “TECHNOLOGY and GLOBAL WARMING’”, organized by Agricultural and food engineering technical division has been scheduled.

Date : 24 January 2009 (Saturday)
Time : 9.30 am to 11.00 am
CPD : 2 Hours (approved by BEM)
Venue : 2nd Floor, Conference Hall, Bangunan Ingenieur, Petaling Jaya
Speaker : Engr. Ooi Ho Seng

*Any queries, please contact sec@iem.org.my.

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Merry Christmas from Chemical & Process Technology

Merry Christmas from Chemical & Process Technology !

Wish you a happy new year 2009 !

2008 CE Award Winner From MAL & USA

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Dr. Brian W. S. Kolthammer from Research Fellow at The Dow chemical co., Midland, Michigan and Mr. Shyam Lakshmanan, group general manager at See Sen chemical Bhd & Malay-Sino chemical Industries Sdn Bhd, Perak, Malaysia are the winners of 2008 Award for Personal Achievement in chemical engineering. This announcement published in the Chemical Engineer December 2008.

Dr. Brian W. S. Kolthammer owned 33 U.S. patents and numerous non-U.S. patents, pioneering work in the kinetic modeling of Dow’s Insite catalyst systems and led Dow’s technical efforts in developing alternative supply pathways for octene-1 production.

- B.Sc. (Hons) and Ph.D. degrees in chemistry, from the University of British Columbia
- NSERC Postgraduate Fellow at The University of British Columbia
- NATO Science Fellow at Texas A&M University
- External Advisory Board at Georgia Institute of Technology’s Dept. of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.
- member of the Chemical Institute of Canada
- member of American Chemical Society
- member of American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE)

Mr. Shyam Lakshmanan has 20 years of inorganic chemical production at Malay-Sino Chemical Industries Sdn Bhd & See Sen Chemicals Bhd. He is the group general manager, Lakshmanan oversees two sulfuric acid plants, two chloralkali plants and a chemical transportation company. Recent contribution in modification of the turbo-alternator-cooling system located in the company’s 700-metric-ton per day (m.t./d) sulfuric-acid plant has prompted tremendous savings in power consumption.

- B.S. in Chemical Engineering Technology from Ryerson Polytechnical Institute (Toronto)
- M.Sc. in Manufacturing Systems Engineering from the University of Warwick, U.K.
- Chartered chemical engineer and chartered scientist (U.K.)
- Professional Engineer with Board of Engineers Malaysia
- Fellow of IChemE, Institution of Engineers, Malaysia
- Member of Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers (MIIChE)
- several other professional associations in Malaysia
- an adjunct lecturer at the University Technology Petronas (UTP)
- an appointed member of institution’s Industry Advisory Panel
- an industrial advisor at the University of Nottingham

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Amines Type & Points Assist in Selection

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Present of Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S) and Carbon Dioxide (CO2) in wet natural gas will cause severe metal stress cracking and corrosion possibly leads to severe leakage. Besides corrosion and stress cracking issue, these contaminant may need to be removed to meet gas specification. The removal of H2S from natural gas is common referred as Gas Sweetening.

One of the process of removal of H2S and CO2 is by solvent absorption where CO2 and H2S is react with solvent. There are many type of solvents available the market :

• Monoethanolamine (MEA)
• Diethanolamine (DEA)
• Diisopropanolamine (DIPA)
• Diglycolamine (DGA)
• Triethanolamine (TEA)
• Methyldiethanolamine (MDEA).
• Special solvent i.e. Activated / Accelerated MDEA
• Sterically Hindered Amines
  
• Physical solvent

Amine Types & Selection Guide Points
Selection of type of solvent is complicated and subject to many parameters such feed gas composition and condition, gas impurities specification, life cycle cost, space, salt deposition, byproduct, lossess, hydrocarbon absorption, etc. Following are some characteristics and guide points may be referred.

MEA

1. react most rapid with acid gases
2. faster reaction with H2S compare to CO2
3. remove Co2 & H2S
4. non-selective between CO2 & H2S
5. low acid gas partial pressures
6. low absorber pressure
7. stringent acid gas specification : H2S lower than 4.0 ppmv
8. stringent acid gas specification : CO2 lower than 100 ppmv (low to moderate pressures)
9. irreversible reaction MEA with Carbonyl Sulfide (COS) & Carbon Disulfide (CS2) lead to MEA losses & contamination
10. typical pickup : 0.3-0.4 moles of acid gas/mole of MEA
11. typical solution concentration 10-20 wt%
12. higher concentration (more 20 wt%) increase CO2 loading in MEA. Potential high corrosion
13. high reaction heat lead to high energy consumption for stripping
14. Low vapor pressure ease vaporisation losses. Water wash unit to minimize losses.

DEA

1. general purposes
2. non-selective between CO2 & H2S
3. good for moderate pressure compare to MEA
4. typical pickup 0.2-0.8 of acid gas/mole of DEA
5. typical solution concentration 10-20 wt%
6. Special SNPA-DEA process solution concentration can be more than 30 wt%
7. Special SNPA-DEA process claimed to have 0.70 to 1 .0 mole of acid gas / mole of DEA
8. forms regenerable compound with COS and CS2
9. Slower reaction with COS & CS2 lead to less regenerable compound with these component
10. no significant amount of nonregenerable
11. irreversible reactions with CO2, forming corrosive degradation products & increase corrosiveness of amine solution

DGA

1. removal of H2S, CO2, COS and mercaptans
2. proprietary process
3. high affinity for absorption of aromatics, BTEX, olefins, and heavy hydrocarbons (potentially foaming & tail gas treatment for BTEX)
4. may be used at low pressure system i.e 8.6 barg
5. typical pickup 0.25-0.38 of acid gas/mole of DGA
6. typical solution concentration 50-60 wt%
7. low freezing point good for low climate application compare to MEA & DEA (link to typical concentration)

MDEA

1. high selective to H2S at moderate to high pressure which provides added advantages i.e reduced solvent flow rates, smaller unit, etc.
2. H2s & CO2 may be partially removed from MDEA by flash. Less heating required during regeneration
3. typical solution concentration 30-50 wt%
4. typical pickup 0.2-0.8 of acid gas/mole of MDEA

Special Solvent (Activated / Accelerated MDEA)

1. Licensed solvent and process
2. Required licensing fees.
3. Some Lisensor mandatory licensee to purpose solvent from lisensor
   
4. much lower circulation rate
5. small unit
6. less heating & cooling
7. lower corrosion
8. Licensor : INEOS, Huntsman, Dow Chemical, UOP, SGS, Prosenat, BASF,

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IAcid and/or Sour Gas Absorption Process

Acid / Sour gas prior flow into the amine absorver, it normally will pass throught a separator in order to remove solid and liquid from the gas. In some of the unit, a wash water is circulated to increase the solid, entrained liquid from gas to avoid potential foaming in the absorber.

The acid / sour gas is run through a absorber and contacts with amine solution. Absorption follow by reaction between acid / sour gas component (CO2, H2S, COS, CS2, mercaptant) will take place. Reacted amines normally known as Rich Amine will be regenerated in Amine regeneration unit. The absorber is normally a tray column. Packing column or mix of packaing and tray are used for some services.

Following is a video clip for Principle of Amine Sweetening. It described the mechanism take place in the abosorber.

(Click her to view via browser)

References :
i) GPSA
ii) "Gas Purifcation" by Arthur Kohl & Richard Nielsen
iii) Cambells Gas Conditioning & Processing Vol 4.

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• What are the concerns related to H2S ?
• CO2 Related

Overview of Surge Analysis and TRAP

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Water hammer or pipeline surge is one of the phenomenon occur so quick (in mili second) without operator notice and aware that the surge has begun, progressed and ended. It some time lead to pipeline damage , leak and catastrophe.

Water hammer and transient flows are used synonymously to describe an unsteady flow of fluids in pipelines, although the former term usually refers to water only. Different types of flow variation can contribute to transients, varying from a single identifiable alteration to an oscillating, periodic, or pulsating disturbance. In pumping stations (where rotary pumps with electric drives are used) and water supply systems, transients are normally governed by a change in the operational status of the pumps or valves, by varying demand experienced by the system, or by unpredictable circumstances such as pipeline or power failures.

The following document provides an overview of the theories describing surge phenomena in close conduit systems. Attention is also given to calculation methods used to determine surge pressures. The value of a holistic procedure (Transient Risk Assessment Procedure, TRAP) to determine the possible causes of surge pressures is emphasized and various measures that can be taken to p event excessive pressures are discussed.

Download (thanks to astro)

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Several Measures For PSV Tail Pipe Hazards

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In "More Concerns Associated to PSV Discharge to ATM" post has highlighted associate concerns on the PSV discharge pipe to ATM. The concerns are :

i) Hazard to operator at drain hole
ii) Noise at discharge pipe and drain hole
iii) Erosion-Corrosion due to rain water dripping

Recommendation
In this post will discuss some recommendations to tackle above concerns.

System type 1 :
PSV discharging fluid will result :
- rain water dripping erosion-corrosion of equipment underneath
- no noise issue
- no hazard to operator

Typical system is air, nitrogen, etc.
May consider a simple drain piping (or tubing) to a waste water collection funnel. See below image.

System type 2 :
PSV discharging fluid will result :
- rain water dripping erosion-corrosion of equipment underneath
- severe noise issue
- hazard to operator

Typical system is steam, pressurized hot water, etc
May consider
- discharge to vertical pipe high enough to avoid steam cloud endanger operator
- discharge silencer to minimize noise dissipation
- larger pipe size to avoid liquid carry over
- drain to water seal pot to avoid steam break-through

See below image.

If you have more recommendation, let share...

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