Oilfield & natural gas equipment
The range and number of equipment and machinery used in the oil and gas industry is very wide and numerous, and it is generally divided into two categories: rotating equipment and fixed equipment.
Among the most important fixed and mechanical equipment that can be mentioned are:
1. Heat exchanger
Heat exchangers are devices that transfer heat between fluids without mixing or blending them. The fluids are separated by a wall that has high thermal conductivity. The thickness of the wall is designed to prevent the mixing of the fluids or the possibility of direct contact between them. Included in the process is a working media that rejects or absorbs heat from the liquid being processed. The resulting outcome of the process is the cooling or heating of the fluid stream. There are an endless number of heat exchangers, with new ones developed each year as technology improves and the properties of various metals advance.
The transfer in a heat exchanger involves the use of convection in fluids and thermal conduction. The discussion of the design of heat exchangers begins with the heat transfer coefficient, known as the U factor, which is an expression of Newton’s law of cooling. Fluids may have the same or different phases (such as liquid-to-liquid or vapor-to-liquid), that are also considered.
The hot and cold fluids may be separated by a wall with high thermal conductivity (usually made of steel or aluminum tube), or they may have direct contact with each other.
2. Distillation tower
The distillation tower can be considered the heart of a refinery. The distillation tower is used to separate petroleum derivatives. The basis of the work of the towers is to increase the contact surface between the phases, which may be provided by trays or fillers. The way gas and liquid collide is different depending on the type of device. In fact, distillation is one of the most common methods of separating materials from each other due to the difference in boiling point.
The most important application of distillation towers is in the refining of crude oil. Products derived from crude oil such as gasoline, kerosene, diesel, fuel and lubricating oils.
3. Storage Tanks
Oil and gas storage refinery tank as an industrial tank is a container or container that temporarily stores oil in various stages of processing into other petroleum products, or before use or consumption. Based on the location, oil reservoirs can be classified into surface or above ground, semi-underground, or underground reservoirs. The structure and materials of oil tanks depend on their intended use and the environmental conditions, safety and other legal requirements at the storage location.
4. Boiler
Boilers are an essential component of operations in the oil and gas industries. They are used to generate steam, power, and energy from various sources of fuel, including natural gas, oil, and coal. Boilers are typically used in commercial and industrial applications, ranging from small-scale manufacturing plants to large-scale refineries.
Using boilers in the oil and gas industries provides numerous benefits. Boilers are more efficient than other types of power sources, such as coal and oil-fired furnaces. Boilers also have a much higher degree of safety, as they are equipped with various safety features, such as pressure relief valves and water gauges. Additionally, boilers are able to generate steam quickly and in large quantities, which is essential for certain processes in the oil and gas industries. Finally, boilers are relatively easy to maintain and are often more cost-effective than other power sources.
5. Pressure Vessels
Pressure vessels are enclosed containers that hold liquids, vapors, and gases at a pressure significantly higher or lower than the ambient pressure. They are widely used in various industries such as petrochemical, oil and gas, chemical, and food processing industries. Equipment such as reactors, flash drums, separators, and heat exchangers are examples of pressure vessels.
6. Reactor Equipment
A reactor is a closed steel container in which a chemical process is carried out. The reactor has facilities that can apply different temperatures and pressures to the reaction and keep the same conditions constant for a certain period of time. One of the most important stages of a reaction is stirring the solution, most reactors have stirring blades and electric motors with variable speeds.
7. Furnaces
Oil refinery furnaces are an essential part of the refining process. Crude oil is heated in a furnace to the desired inlet temperature for the distillation column. They are used before the preflash and at the atmospheric and vacuum columns. Crude oil has to be heated to 878 °F (470 °C) before it enters the distillation tower. The furnaces burn off waste gasses from the refining process and use energy-efficient heat exchangers.Crude oil contains a mixture of hydrocarbons that have to be separated into parts referred to as fractions. Lighter fractions boil off and leave heavier fractions to produce bitumen, fuel oil, diesel and jet fuel, petrol, and petroleum gasses.
8. Valve
Most of the valves used in oil refining equipment are pipeline valves, mainly including gate valves, globe valves, check valves, safety valves, ball valves, butterfly valves, and so on. Among them, gate valves account for about 80% of the total number of valves and 3% to 5% of the total equipment investment. Valves used in refining applications (such as check valves) must be carefully designed to operate reliably under various extreme environmental conditions.
9. Filter
Filters are used in just about every equipment package within the oil and gas industry. They are used to remove impurities from different process systems such as fuel gas, glycol dehydration units or glycol dehydrators, oil lubrication, and even the main inlet gas feed to a gas plant.
And the following are among the rotating equipment used in the oil, gas and petrochemical industry:
• Pumps (centrifugal, gear, mono pump, lobe pump, piston, diaphragm, submersible, etc.)
• Compressors (nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen, etc.)
• Turbines (gas, steam, expansion, etc.)
• Gearboxes (helical, parallel shaft, etc.)
• Air coolers
• Blowers
1) Centrifugal pumps
Centrifugal pumps are used to transport fluids by the conversion of rotational kinetic energy to the hydrodynamic energy of the fluid flow. The rotational energy typically comes from an engine or electric motor. They are a sub-class of dynamic axisymmetric work-absorbing turbomachinery. The fluid enters the pump impeller along or near to the rotating axis and is accelerated by the impeller, flowing radially outward into a diffuser or volute chamber (casing), from which it exits.Common uses include water, sewage, agriculture, petroleum, and petrochemical pumping. Centrifugal pumps are often chosen for their high flow rate capabilities, abrasive solution compatibility, mixing potential, as well as their relatively simple engineering. A centrifugal fan is commonly used to implement an air handling unit or vacuum cleaner. The reverse function of the centrifugal pump is a water turbine converting potential energy of water pressure into mechanical rotational energy.
2) Gear pumps
A gear pump uses the meshing of gears to pump fluid by displacement. They are one of the most common types of pumps for hydraulic fluid power applications .Gear pumps are also widely used in chemical installations to pump high-viscosity fluids. There are two main variations: external gear pumps which use two external spur gears, and internal gear pumps which use an external and an internal spur gear . Gear pumps provide positive displacement (or fixed displacement), meaning they pump a constant amount of fluid for each revolution. Some gear pumps are designed to function as either a motor or a pump.
3) Mono pumps
Mono pumps, also known as screw pumps, are highly suitable for moving viscous, difficult to pump liquids. The two main parts in a screw pump are the rotating part, the steel or stainless steel rotor (worm), and the fixed part, the rubber-covered stator. The rotor rotates in the stator and pushes the product through the movable chambers.
4) lobe pump
A lobe pump is a type of positive displacement pump. It is similar to a gear pump except the lobes are designed to almost meet, rather than touch and turn each other.
5) piston pump
A piston pump is a type of positive displacement pump where the high-pressure seal reciprocates with the piston. Piston pumps can be used to move liquids or compress gases. They can operate over a wide range of pressures. High pressure operation can be achieved without adversely affecting flow rate. Piston pumps can also deal with viscous media and media containing solid particles. This pump type functions through a piston cup, oscillation mechanism where down-strokes cause pressure differentials, filling of pump chambers, where up-stroke forces the pump fluid out for use.
6) diaphragm pump
A diaphragm pump, also knows as a membrane pump is a positive displacement pump which utilises two flexible diaphragms that reciprocate back and forth, creating a temporary chamber.
7) submersible pump
A submersible pump is a device which has a hermetically sealed motor close-coupled to the pump body. The whole assembly is submerged in the fluid to be pumped. The main advantage of this type of pump is that it prevents pump cavitation, a problem associated with a high elevation difference between the pump and the fluid surface. Submersible pumps push fluid to the surface, rather than jet pumps, which create a vacuum and rely upon atmospheric pressure. Submersibles use pressurized fluid from the surface to drive a hydraulic motor downhole, rather than an electric motor, and are used in heavy oil applications with heated water as the motive fluid.
8) compressors
A compressor is a mechanical device that increases the pressure of a gas by reducing its volume. An air compressor is a specific type of gas compressor.Compressors are similar to pumps: both increase the pressure on a fluid and both can transport the fluid through a pipe. The main distinction is that the focus of a compressor is to change the density or volume of the fluid, which is mostly only achievable on gases. Gases are compressible, while liquids are relatively incompressible, so compressors are rarely used for liquids. The main action of a pump is to pressurize and transport liquids.Many compressors can be staged, that is, the fluid is compressed several times in steps or stages, to increase discharge pressure. Often, the second stage is physically smaller than the primary stage, to accommodate the already compressed gas without reducing its pressure. Each stage further compresses the gas and increases its pressure and also temperature.
9) Gas turbines
Gas turbines are high tech, high efficiency engines that convert chemical energy into work. Their high power to weight ratio make them the engine of choice for aircraft propulsion. Gas turbines are also at the heart of all modern gas fired power stations making electrical efficiencies above 60% possible. Beside the high power to weight ratio and the high cycle efficiency other advantages of gas turbines are the low emissions, the flexibility in operation and the applicability of the high grade waste heat either in a bottoming steam cycle or for industrial objectives.
10) steam turbine
A steam turbine is a machine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work on a rotating output shaft. The steam turbine is a form of heat engine that derives much of its improvement in thermodynamic efficiency from the use of multiple stages in the expansion of the steam, which results in a closer approach to the ideal reversible expansion process.Because the turbine generates rotary motion, it can be coupled to a generator to harness its motion into electricity. Such turbogenerators are the core of thermal power stations which can be fueled by fossil fuels, nuclear fuels, geothermal, or solar energy.
11) expansion turbine
A turboexpander, also referred to as a turbo-expander or an expansion turbine, is a centrifugal or axial-flow turbine, through which a high-pressure gas is expanded to produce work that is often used to drive a compressor or generator.
12) helical gearbox
helical gearbox includes a set of helical gears. Helical gears are one kind of cylindrical gear with the slanted form of tooth trace. In comparison with spur gears, they have a higher contact level, less vibration, excel in quietness, and can transfer larger loads. A set of helical gears has an identical helix angle, but the helix hand is on the opposite side. When the reference part of the gear is in the standard form, by tilting the hobbing instrument, the spur gear hobbing tool and hobbing machine can be employed to create helical gears. Due to the twist of teeth, their production has the disadvantage of more problematic construction.
13) parallel shaft gearboxes
Parallel shaft gearmotors, also known as parallel shaft gearboxes, feature a design in which the input and output shafts are parallel to each other but offset. This design allows for higher torque capacity and a wider range of gear ratios than concentric gearboxes, making them suitable for applications that require higher torque and speed capabilities.
14) Air coolers
Petrochemical refinery air cooler is a kind of heat exchange equipment used in gas and liquid heat exchanger. It can enhance heat transfer by adding fins to common base tubes.Air cooler, or air-cooled heat exchanger, is one of the most widely used equipments for petroleum refinery, petrochemical and chemical industries.
15) Blowers
An blower is a device that enhances the air flow effectively and efficiently using an electric motor, impeller, and airfoils enclosed in a tightly sealed housing. The purpose and function of industrial blowers is to increase airflow and remove contaminants, dust, dirt, and particulate matter. Blowers are used to create carbon black through a process called 'Thermal Decomposition'. And blower airflow is used to carry carbon particulate and exhaust gases through quench towers and into bag filters.