Diego J. Guillen Pérez, Lesme A. Corredor Martínez, Marco E. Sanjuán, and Ricardo Lizarazo
Industrial application, Natural gas, Optimization, Compressor schedule
Natural gas is sent through a large pipeline network from field to customers, these require high pressure and flows. Promigas S.A. E.SP, is a Colombian natural gas company which transports about 480 SMMCFD. The gas supply network is composed by 285 large consumers, 5 compressors stations and 3 field input points, distributed in different physical sites along the system. Operation management office projects the daily flow nominations and decides the best hydraulic models which give priority to consumer pressure and natural gas flows. This strategy allows to properly operate the network, however an integral modeling of the physical network topology including delivery points and compressors stations, can minimize the natural gas consumption without affecting safety and operation continuity. This paper presents a decision support system for the scheduling selection of a set of natural gas compressors based on natural gas demand minimization. Several constraints were taken in consideration during the optimization process, these were desegregated in two types, the first set of constrains was used for simulating the operation of reciprocating and centrifugal compressors, the second ones was based on graph and node theory, which contains the mathematical model of supply gas network topology. The problem complexity makes necessary to program a genetic algorithm for searching an optimal combination.
Important Links:
Go Back
