Inspiration

Natural Gas is transported across countries, sometimes even across continents by means of Pipeline which result in a pressure drop across the pipeline. In order to maintain forward flow Compressors are installed in the Pipeline network. Natural gas is usually transported by Gas Turbines which use the same gas as fuel. The control System at present looks at only

What it does

It finds the Set points at which the compressor at Pipeline stations must operate in order to consume the least amount of fuel thus saving energy on Gas transport across countries.

Challenges we ran into

We had challenges in formulating the interactions between different compressor stations

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Optimization algorithm successfully implemented to yield potential savings to the tune of 2-4% fuel consumption by gas turbine.

What's next for Cross-Country Gas Transportation Optimization

The next step is to connect a virtual plant model(Hysys) of the compressor stations and collect data which will update the model to bring it closest to reality. This will enable the operator to optimize the pipeline stations on a real time basis thus saving millions in fuel costs.

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