Posted on: 06. 25. 26
Industrial energy companies are under greater scrutiny than ever to keep profits high and adhere to strict budgetary guidelines. The components you choose for your system impact your uptime, emissions standards, and overhead. The wrong piece of equipment can cause repeated failures or become a restriction point for gas flows.
Operations teams are constantly trying to balance long-term price stability with upfront capital expenses. The goal is to optimize flows and ensure you’re investing in assets that will allow for future low-carbon transitions. Here is your step-by-step guide to help source the right processing component, improve your overall system design, and insulate your operations from preventable maintenance costs.
Inventory What You Have (And What You Don’t)
Mapping out your current hardware may seem obvious, but it’s crucial to audit what you have before buying new equipment. Field project engineers typically have a difficult time when sizing new gas processing equipment into existing lines. Your new piece of hardware can create a restriction point, wear components down quicker, or even cause your entire system to shut down.
List your volume needs and maximum flow rates. Documenting how much your system processes over a year will help you understand your normal peaks. Designing for your peak can cause your equipment to operate inefficiently at low flow rates, so determine the highest volume you need to process and stay as close to that number as possible.
Write out your exact stream composition. If you’re processing a stream with hydrogen sulfide, sulfur recovery may be an afterthought. Carbon steel components will corrode over time when processing sour gas, causing leaks and unnecessary capital on equipment that should have been deemed correct for your system.
Selecting the Right Equipment, Step-by-Step
Step 1 | Understand Your Stream
Know your inlet pressures and what pressure your equipment needs to deliver. Gas processing equipment will receive variable pressures from your inlet source and needs to send a regulated pressure downstream.
Step 2 | Understand Your Goals
What are your emissions standards? Do you need to follow any specific hazard communication standards? Ensure your system helps you meet your environmental goals while maintaining your required throughput.
Step 3 | Evaluate Your Costs
This goes beyond pricing the piece of equipment itself. Operating costs such as electricity usage, preventative maintenance schedules, and parts inventory should be considered over a 10-year period.
Asset Performance Management Tip
Can you detect restriction points in your compression assets? AI predictive modeling and high-frequency sensors can alert your team to these restriction points 72+ hours before your typical rotary sensor will trigger. Avoid thousands of dollars in corrective maintenance.
Planning for the Future
What goals does your company have for the next five to ten years? While this may not come into play when purchasing your next asset, it’s important to future-proof your equipment as much as possible. Many companies are investing in infrastructure that can facilitate decarbonization down the road.
Look for assets that can be modified for alternative solutions. If your company decides to make changes to your process down the road, you’ll save money if your equipment was designed with that flexibility in mind. You don’t want to invest in a new asset only to have it become obsolete in a couple of years.
Look for smart equipment that can interface with IoT sensors. These sensors allow you to monitor your assets as they operate. Your operations team can leverage this data to understand when assets need preventative maintenance rather than waiting for the asset to fail.
Ensure the vendor you select has a strong supply chain. When an asset fails, you don’t want to order the correct part and wait weeks for custom pieces to be produced. These long lead times eat away at your margins. Look for companies that have supply chain contingencies with regional warehouses.
Connect with Pro- Gas LLC | Your Guide to Industrial Energy and Equipment
Operating complex systems requires extensive technical know-how and dependable infrastructure direction. Pro- Gas LLC is an industrial energy and equipment company with a niche in helping our clients with any concerns regarding gas infrastructure, safety, or efficiency. Our team focuses on solving your company’s pain points including downtime, compliance challenges, and transitioning your energy mix to low-carbon solutions.
We pride ourselves on providing our clients with peer-to-peer technical knowledge and high-authority system solutions that match your operational needs. Reach out to Pro- Gas LLC to better your infrastructure and strengthen your supply chain tomorrow.
FAQ
Q: How can proper equipment selection help reduce downtime?
Ensuring you have the right parts for your system can reduce restriction points and abrasive contact. These are typically the leading cause of unexpected breakdowns.
Q: Why is understanding your stream important when selecting equipment?
If you process contaminants such as H2S or moisture, you’ll need to select the correct metallurgy. You don’t want to pay for an upgraded component that you don’t need.
Q: How can asset performance management help your operation?
By installing IoT sensors on your assets, you can determine when they need preventative maintenance rather than waiting for a breakdown.
