Techno-Economic Analysis of Flare Gas to Gasoline (FGTG) Process through Dimethyl Ether Production

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Institute of Liquefied Natural Gas (I-LNG), School of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

2 1Institute of Liquefied Natural Gas (I-LNG), School of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

3 Faculty member, Chemistry and Process Engineering Department, Niroo Research Institute, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

It is well known that burning flare gases and releasing them into the atmosphere has become one of the problems of the oil, gas, and petrochemical industries. If these industries can produce energy or valuable materials from flare gases, it will be very profitable and less harmful to the environment. The purpose of this investigation is to design, simulation and economic evaluation the process of converting flare gas to dimethyl ether (DME) for the production of gasoline, Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), and hydrogen by Aspen HYSYS v.11 software. The flare gas to gasoline (FGTG) process can be indirect or direct DME production (two scenarios). In the economic comparison of these scenarios, the total product sales, operating profit, total capital cost, desired rate of return (ROR), and payoff period (POP) will be calculated. The economic evaluation results show that using the FGTG process with direct DME production (second scenario) instead of the FGTG process with indirect DME production (first scenario), increases the product sales and operating profit by about 55% and 65%, and also the total capital cost and utility cost is decreased by about 30% and 50%, respectively. Finally, the desired ROR in the FGTG process with direct DME production and indirect DME production is 52 percent/year and 33 percent/year, and the POP for the second scenario is approximately 1.1 years earlier than the first scenario.

Keywords

Main Subjects

Article Title [Persian]

تجزیه و تحلیل فنی و اقتصادی فرآیند تبدیل گاز فلر به بنزین (FGTG) از طریق تولید دی‌متیل‌اتر

Authors [Persian]

  • مصطفی جعفری 1
  • علی وطنی 1
  • محمد شهاب دلجو 2
  • امیرحسین خلیلی گراکانی 3

1 دانشجوی دکترا، انیسیتو گاز طبیعی مایع (I-LNG)، دانشکده مهندسی شیمی، پردیس دانشکده‌های فنی، دانشگاه تهران، تهران، ایران

2 دانشجوی کارشناسی ارشد، انیسیتو گاز طبیعی مایع (I-LNG)، دانشکده مهندسی شیمی، پردیس دانشکده‌های فنی، دانشگاه تهران، تهران، ایران

3 عضو هیئت علمی، گروه پژوهشی شیمی و فرآیند، پژوهشگاه نیرو، تهران، ایران

Abstract [Persian]

مسئله سوزاندن گازهای فلر و رهاسازی آن‌ها به اتمسفر، به یکی از مشکلات صنایع نفت ، گاز و پتروشیمی تبدیل‌شده است. اگر این صنایع بتوانند انرژی یا مواد ارزشمندی را از گازهای فلر تولید کنند، بسیار سودآور خواهد بود و همچنین محیط‌زیست هم آسیب کمتری خواهد دید. هدف از این تحقیق، طراحی، شبیه‌سازی و ارزیابی اقتصادی فرآیند تبدیل گاز فلر به دی‌متیل‌اتر به‌منظور تولید هم‌زمان بنزین، گاز مایع و هیدروژن در نرم‌افزار Aspen HYSYS v.11 است. فرآیند تبدیل گاز فلر به بنزین (FGTG) می‌تواند از دو مسیر تولید مستقیم یا غیرمستقیم دی‌متیل‌اتر صورت بگیرد (دو سناریو). در مقایسه اقتصادی این دو سناریو، هزینه فروش محصول ، سود عملیاتی، کل هزینه سرمایه‌گذاری، نرخ بازده سرمایه‌گذاری و بازگشت سرمایه محاسبه خواهد شد. نتایج ارزیابی اقتصادی نشان می‌دهد که استفاده از فرآیند FGTG با تولید مستقیم دی‌متیل‌اتر (سناریوی دوم) به‌جای فرآیند FGTG با تولید غیرمستقیم دی‌متیل‌اتر (سناریوی اول) فروش محصول و سود عملیاتی را حدود ۵۵ درصد و ۵۶ درصد افزایش می‌دهد و همچنین کل هزینه سرمایه‌گذاری و هزینه یوتیلیتی به ترتیب حدود ۳۰ درصد و ۵۰ درصد کاهش پیدا می‌کند. سرانجام ، نرخ بازده سرمایه‌گذاری در فرآیند FGTG با تولید مستقیم دی‌متیل‌اتر و تولید غیرمستقیم دی‌متیل اتر به ترتیب ۵۲ درصد در سال و ۳۳ درصد در سال است و همچنین بازگشت سرمایه در سناریوی دوم ۱/۱ سال زودتر از سناریوی اول است.

Keywords [Persian]

  • گاز فلر
  • دی‌متیل‌اتر
  • بنزین
  • هیدروژن
  • سود عملیاتی
  • عسلویه
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