Gas Condensate Will Substitute Natural Gas in Thermal Power Plants

EghtesadOnline: Studies are underway to redesign gas turbines in power plants so that gas condensate can be used as feedstock instead of natural gas, a deputy energy minister said.

News ID: ۷۵۰۳۶۶

01 July 2020

“Our engineers and manufacturers are working on the plan. A pilot project is being carried out in Asalouyeh Power Plant in Bushehr Province,” Homayoun Haeri was quoted as saying by Mehr News Agency.

The cost of generating electricity from gas condensate is not much different from natural gas, he said, adding that the important point is that as Iran has a variety of fuels that should be used efficiently.

However, the advantage of using gas condensates in turbines instead of natural gas is that it has lower emissions and is more environmentally-friendly.

The Energy Ministry hopes the plan to use gas condensates for gas turbines will be implemented by the end of the current fiscal year (March 2021).

A lean, premixed, pre-vaporized (LPP) combustion technology has been developed that converts liquid fuels into a substitute for natural gas. This technology offers the possibility of using gas condensates for power generation in a gas turbine equipped with a dry low emission system. DLE is a technology that reduces nitrogen oxide emissions that exhausts out of gas-fired turbines.

Natural gas condensate is a low-density mixture of hydrocarbon liquids that are present as gaseous components in raw natural gas produced from gas fields.

As Iran increases gas production (about 900 million cubic meters per day), gas condensate production is also rising. South Pars Gas Complex accounts for 92% of total gas condensate output, producing over 685,000 barrels per day, a part of which is sold to refineries and petrochemical complexes as feedstock.

With the Energy Ministry’s new decision, a part of the SPGC output will be supplied to power plants later this year.

Thermal power plants, which generate 80% of electricity in Iran, are seen as a major source of air pollution due to the greenhouse gasses they emit.

Currently, 253 million cubic meters of natural gas is supplied to power plants across the country per day, the spokesman of the National Iranian Gas Company said.

“This amount is 5% more than the average daily supply in the previous month when it was 240 mcm,” Mohammad Asgari said.

Gas supply to power plants reaches a maximum level in summer when demand is near 310 mcm per day.

Currently, 85 power plants are using natural gas as fuel. Gas accounts for about 95% of the total fuel consumed in thermal power stations. Over 61 billion cubic meters of gas was supplied to the power plants last year.