Date of Award

5-17-2025

Document Type

Masters Project

Abstract

This project proposes an upgrade to the Air-cooled Heat Exchangers (ACHE) known as the Intercoolers at the Central Compressor Plant located in the Prudhoe Bay oilfield on the North Slope of Alaska. The declining field is gas-limited for the majority of the year and the Intercoolers serve as a bottleneck for Field Gas Offtake (FGO). The current configuration incurs high maintenance costs, safety concerns, and operational inefficiencies. The scope of the proposed upgrade involves updating to a Tuf-Lite III fan blade, eliminating the existing gearboxes, and adding Variable Frequency Drive (VFD) control for the motor drive system. The VFDs enable the fan blades to be pitched more aggressively for optimal efficiency during the summer months. These improvements are designed to increase airflow across the bundles and thus increase the cooling capacity of the exchanger. Field testing demonstrated a 15% increase in airflow with the new blade style. The exchangers were modeled using Aspen HYSYS to estimate fouling levels and the Full Field Facility Model (FFFM) was used to correlate the increased cooling capacity of the Intercoolers with FGO. A cost-benefit analysis using HEConomics indicated a payback period of 37 months for the project. The presented study showed that the proposed upgrades are economically viable solutions for all identified problems. Implementation would occur in phases to minimize production impacts by sheltering downtime under larger planned unit outages. The primary metric for success would be the increase in airflow readings following implementation. Future optimization opportunities may include cleaning the fins or replacing the entire tube bundles.

Handle

http://hdl.handle.net/11122/16320

Download

Share

COinS