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Energy, exergy and economic analysis of utilizing the supercritical CO2 recompression Brayton cycle integrated with solar energy in natural gas city gate station

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Abstract

The pressure of natural gas stream must be reduced in city gas station. The natural gas has to be preheated before pressure reduction takes place usually through throttling valves. In conventional city gas stations, the natural gas is preheated by indirect water bath heaters, which burn a large amount of the natural gas as fuel. In this study, the rejected heat from a supercritical carbon dioxide recompression cycle using solar energy is recovered for preheating the natural gas. The novel design of this system generates uniform electricity as well as preheats the natural gas in city gate station. The proposed system is simulated for Birjand city gas station as a case study, and a thorough techno-economic analysis is performed in Engineering Equation Solver for evaluating the system performance. The results of this study demonstrate that parabolic trough collectors with 25 rows are the most efficient solar system while the annual average of thermal and exergy efficiency of the system is 0.56 and 0.41, respectively. The exergetic analysis of the system shows that the highest average exergy destruction takes place in the throttling valve and the second highest in the solar collectors. Also, the total amount of fuel saving is estimated at 4.87 million cubic meters annually and the net power output is equal to 2.86 MW. From the economic point of view, the value of the payback period is estimated 4 years and, based on the net present value method, after 8 years, the initial investment could be returned.

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Abbreviations

A :

Area, m2

B d :

Daily direct solar radiation, J m−2 day−1

C p :

Specific heat capacity, J kg−1 K−1

CI:

Cost index

CGS:

City gas station

D :

Diameter, m

D d :

Daily diffuse solar radiation, J m−2 day−1

DNI:

Direct normal irradiance

Ė :

Exergy rate

f :

Focal length, m

F R :

Heat removal factor

\(F^{\prime}\) :

Collector efficiency factor

\(F^{\prime\prime}\) :

Collector flow factor

G b :

Beam solar radiation, W m−2

G sc :

Solar constant, W m−2

h :

Specific enthalpy, kJ kg−1

h i,c :

Heat transfer coefficient inside the coil, W m−2 K−1

h o,c :

Heat transfer coefficient outside the coil, W m−2 K−1

h i,t :

Heat transfer coefficient inside the tube, W m−2 K−1

H :

Daily total solar radiation, J m−2 day−1

H o :

Daily extraterrestrial solar radiation, J m−2 day−1

i :

Discount rate, %

k :

Thermal conductivity, W m−1 K−1

K T :

Clearness index

K(θ):

Incident angle modifier

L :

Length, m

L s :

Distance between two parallel collectors, m

LHV:

Lower heating value, J kg−1

ṁ :

Mass flow rate, kg s−1

NG:

Natural gas

n :

Number of date

P :

Pressure, kPa

PTC:

Parabolic trough collector

R f :

Fouling thermal resistance, m2 K W−1

R t :

Net cash inflow–outflow, $

S :

Heat absorbed, W m−2

SR:

Solar receiver

SCRBC:

Supercritical carbon dioxide recompression Brayton cycle

Q u :

Useful energy, W

t :

Number of time period

T :

Temperature, °C

U :

Overall heat transfer coefficient, W m−2 K−1

W :

Width, m

α r :

Receiver absorptivity

γ :

Intercept factor

Δ :

Difference

δ :

Declination angle, °

ε :

Effectiveness

η :

Efficiency

θ :

Incidence angle, °

θ z :

Zenith angle, °

μ :

Viscosity, Pa s

ρ :

Density, kg m−3

ρ m :

Collector reflectance

τ :

Transmissivity

τ b :

Atmospheric transmittance

ϕ :

Latitude location, °

ψ :

Exergy flow

ω :

Hour angle, °

ω s :

Sunset hour angle, °

0:

Environment state

1,2,3,…:

Cycle states

a:

Aperture

abs:

Absorber

amb:

Ambient

c:

Coil

comp:

Compressor

ex:

Exergy

f:

Fuel

h:

Heater

HE:

Heat exchanger

hyd:

Hydrate

i:

Inlet, inside

o:

Outlet, outside

opt:

Optical

new:

New

NG:

Natural gas

NG1 :

Natural gas before heater

NG2 :

Natural gas after heater

NG3 :

Natural gas after throttling valve

L:

Loss

pum:

Pump

rec:

Recuperator

ref:

Reference

s:

Solar

th:

Thermal

TV:

Throttling valve

tur:

Turbine

w:

Water

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Acknowledgements

This work has been supported by Birjand Gas Co., and the authors would like to thank this company for their technical and financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Engineering, Mechanical Engineering Department, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

    Amir Hossein Shokouhi Tabrizi, Hamid Niazmand & Mahmood Farzaneh-Gord

  2. Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Shahrood University of Technology, Shahrood, Iran

    Amir Ebrahimi-Moghadam

Authors
  1. Amir Hossein Shokouhi Tabrizi
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  2. Hamid Niazmand
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  3. Mahmood Farzaneh-Gord
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  4. Amir Ebrahimi-Moghadam
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Correspondence to Mahmood Farzaneh-Gord.

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Shokouhi Tabrizi, A.H., Niazmand, H., Farzaneh-Gord, M. et al. Energy, exergy and economic analysis of utilizing the supercritical CO2 recompression Brayton cycle integrated with solar energy in natural gas city gate station. J Therm Anal Calorim 145, 973–991 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-020-10241-9

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