Young Professional Sessions
We are delighted to present our 1-day programme to you. Please note this is subject to change. Information is being added regularly so do come back!
TUESDAY 14 MAY 2019
09:10 - 09:50
European Gas Industry: Where are we going?
Kindra Snow-McGregor, PetroSkills
Europe is trying to move into a hydrocarbon free economy. This is a process which is expected to take a long time, many decades. But is this consistent with the environmental objectives? Probably not if one examines the numbers and see the size of the gap between Hydrocarbon fuels and Renewables. The total world Primary Energy consumption is 13,511BOE (barrels of oil equivalent) and is growing at 2% per year. The European share of the worlds Primary Energy is 14.6% and is also growing at 1.8%.
In the energy mix, Hydrocarbons (coal, oil and gas) amount to 85% in the world and in Europe 75%, but in Europe this percentage increased about 0.5% in the past year, partially due to closure of Nuclear facilities and reduction in Hydro possibly reflecting climate problems.
So, what is the future of gas? Firstly, gas is now becoming recognised as the best transition fuel whilst the necessary technologies and concepts for renewable improve and mature. Secondly, gas in the form of LNG is developing a strong position in marine and transportation fuels and this will impact on oil consumption. This paper will examine all aspects of these issue and indicate a reliable forward strategy, should our National Governments a willingness to listen to the pragmatic scientists and engineers and less to the environmental lobby.
09:50 - 10:30
Successful Projects - a Contractor’s view
Barry Weightman, KBR
An important aspect of the likelihood of success on any project is to ensure that the starting point information for the contractor is agreed and confirmed within the scope of work supplied the client and used for the basis for design. This also requires a good rapport to be established with the client personnel to ensure data needed by the contractor is provided at all project stages. This will help to clarify the scope of work, minimise change, and avoid undue delays to the project schedule. The presentation will talk through all the issues and concerns surrounding this aspect through a project’s lifetime, from the proposal phase through project conception to project handover.
11:00 - 11:40
A Method of Predicting Transient Pipeline Holdup and Liquid Outflow
Peter Kauders, CDE Projects Limited
At the AGM in London last November doubts were raised over the value of two-phase flow correlations. The purpose of this paper is to recall the experimental work carried out by Esso Australia on gas condensate pipelines in the Bass Strait, published in the Oil & Gas Journal in 1978, and its significance. The author, R. Cunliffe, had made two key observations on pipeline behaviour following a step change in gas flow. One concerned a phenomenon that he termed the transit time. The other concerned the validity of two phase flow holdup correlations, the Eaton method providing the best fit for the experimental data.
Using Cunliffe’s observations, a method was developed for predicting transient pipeline behaviour in which the relationship between liquid outflow and pipeline holdup could be treated in the same way as a first order chemical reaction. This method was subsequently used for a number of gas fields including the Shell SE Indefatigable project in the North Sea, and the onshore Karachaganak project in Kazakhstan. In setting the operating parameters, in effect the operating policy for the pipeline, Owner participation is vital.
The presentation will conclude with a more general review of some design problems in gas plants, and how they can be solved in a straightforward manner.
11:40 - 12:20
Affordable Carbon Dioxide Capture in the Middle East
Author: Michael Turley, Shell Global Solutions International BV
Presenter: Matt Mardell, Shell Global Solutions International BV
Many countries in the Middle East are seeking to harness their vast natural gas resources to meet future electricity demand. In some cases, this natural gas, which can contain up to 35% hydrogen sulphide (H2S) and 15% carbon dioxide (CO2), may already be needed for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) to sustain crude oil production while CO2 from gas facilities is vented. This creates a unique opportunity to capture produced CO2 from sour gas processing facilities, use it
for EOR and free the natural gas currently used for EOR for electricity generation. This change in use may reduce the need to develop new natural gas reserves.
However, the captured CO2 must be affordable for it to be used for EOR. At present, capital costs are high, as low-pressure CO2 sources in natural gas plants require large amine solvent volumes and thus large equipment sizes. Solvent regeneration steam requirements can also be high, which means high operational costs.
This paper highlights three Shell technologies that can help to reduce capital and operational costs, and potentially cut captured CO2 costs by 20–40%:
* ADIP® ULTRA solvent technology for lowering solvent circulation rates;
* Shell Turbo Trays for smaller absorbers and/or fewer capture trains; and
* the CANSOLV® CO2 Capture System for lower steam requirements and/or fewer capture
trains.
Keywords: gas processing, technology, CO2 capture.
13:20 - 14:05
Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage, is it the Holy Grail toward a sustainable energy system?
Javier F. de la Fuente, Fluor Amsterdam and Nick Amott, Fluor Ltd UK
Carbon dioxide (CO2) has globally been declared the planet’s public enemy. Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) in the short-term and, more importantly, Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) in the long-term are perhaps the most relevant strategies worldwide to reverse the increasing emissions of CO2 into the atmosphere. Of course, whilst Carbon Capture might be perceived as an “end of pipe” solution to address climate change, it must also be viewed in the context of rapidly dealing with the mitigation of CO2 emissions and the burgeoning application of green, renewable and zero carbon energy sources. A number of promising CCU projects have been successful at a demonstration-scale including: (1) producing liquid hydrocarbons (e.g. methanol) from CO2, water and electricity; (2) making polyurethanes, polyols and polycarbonates from CO2 as feedstock; and (3) using CO2 to accelerate the carbonation of waste residues to produce construction materials. One of the key components for these technologies to become industrially scalable and economically feasible is the capacity to capture and purify CO2 at a competitive cost. Existing carbon capture technologies, such as amine plants, membranes and physical solvents and their applications are compared to technologies currently under development including the concept of air to fuels, which has been intensively developed by Carbon Engineering, and the use of enzymes as a catalyst to cheaply absorb CO2. The presentation comes from the perspective of a Young Engineer and the views of “Millennial’s” looking to the future, perhaps tempered by the retrospective of a “Baby Boomer”.
14:05 - 14:45
Low Temperature Process Design (2019)
Adrian Finn, Costain
Low temperature gas processing and liquefaction is a major subject in natural gas processing. It enables the production of natural gas to specification for fuel or chemicals feedstock, extracts valuable components for sale and is used to produce liquefied natural gas (LNG) on which many countries depend for clean energy.
Low temperature processes need cost-effective production of refrigeration and can be very large power consumers, especially for liquefaction. Cost-effective processing relies on understanding the relation between energy and power (or work) and process integration techniques for energy efficiency and optimisation.
Both cryogenic nitrogen removal from natural gas and natural gas liquids extraction need efficient distillation and present challenges in optimising separation processes and energy transfer.
Optimal process design will be discussed by examining some fundamental thermodynamic principles and related process evaluation techniques (especially for multicomponent distillation). These help to screen and select low-cost designs prior to detailed process simulation. Industrial examples will be shown to demonstrate key equipment such as turbo- expanders and plate-fin heat exchangers.
15:15 - 15:55
The importance of trace components in the development of natural gas processing schemes. What if you overlook an impurity during your design?
Bart Beuckels, Honeywell UOP
The development of a natural gas processing facility involves the careful selection of a series of separation and treating technologies. It is not uncommon that feed gases are poorly specified either due to unknown well head compositions or due to the inaccuracy in analytical measurements. The presence of a component that was not accounted for during design can impact the process performance of the unit and may require changes to the process design or the selection of a different technology all together. It is hence important that the process engineer understands the impact of components that are often not identified in the early phases of the project. Equally important is that the process engineer recognizes an unrealistic design basis. Trace components that need careful consideration are mercury, metals, sulphur compounds including COS and mercaptans, heavy hydrocarbons, methanol, oxygen, helium as well as the possible presence of solids and liquids.
15:55 - 16:35
Sulphur Plants, The Seven Deadly Sins
Jan Kiebert, Sulphur Experts
Tighter emissions and heavier, more sour, crude processing and more sour gas is putting pressure on refineries and gas plants to ensure high availability and optimum performance of the Claus Sulphur Recovery Units. This paper attempts to reduce the topic of sulphur plant optimization down to its basics. Viewed in this way, it can be seen that there are only seven key items that can reduce sulphur plant efficiency, the Seven Deadly Sins of Sulphur Recovery. Each of these seven sins is analyzed in detail, providing some indication of typical losses in each case based on test results obtained by Sulphur Experts. Additionally, “worst case” examples from Sulphur Experts’ files showing the potential for efficiency losses in each of these cases are also presented. This paper can be used as a simple checklist by sulphur plant operators and engineers to determine the potential for efficiency losses in their own facilities, and conversely the potential for optimization of recovery efficiency.