Production, Processing, Transportation and Utilisation of Natural Gas - Future Need For Information and Communication Technology
Production, Processing, Transportation and Utilisation of Natural Gas - Future Need For Information and Communication Technology
Production, Processing, Transportation and Utilisation of Natural Gas - Future Need For Information and Communication Technology
Morten Hovd
Engineering Cybernetics Department www.itk.ntnu.no Gas Technology Center NTNU - SINTEF www.ntnu.no/gass
Scope
Production, processing, transportation, utilisation of natural gas. No attempt to cover petroleum prospecting or drilling Utilisation of NG similar to other chemical and energy production processes
some of the needs for ICT will be similar
Background
Abundant resources of natural gas
will surpass oil production within a decade
Mostly exported
low degree of processing limits added value
Many challenges
Improved understanding of basic phenomena New products and new/improved production processes Improved operation and control Improved basis for investment decisions
Application areas
Severely complicates an already difficult problem Connections between microscopic phenomena and macroscopic properties
two-way communication between different model scales
Process operations
Wide range of time scales
from fractions of a second to months
Operator support
Supporting decision making by human operators
what if-analysis using simulation advance warning of developing problems documentation and operational procedures available on demand navigating historical data (what happened last time?) data analysis to identify poorly functioning equipment or control systems
Enabling Technologies
Instrumentation
Measurements and actuators Critical elements in system monitoring and control Many challenging applications
downhole, subsea, chemical processes
Reliability
maintenance is extremely costly or even impossible
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Communication
Another critical technology area with many challenging applications Number of signals and cables
practical and safety issues in wireless communication
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Modelling
Models needed in all types of advanced plant design, optimisation, monitoring and control Developing, verifying and maintaining models a major cost in many applications
tools available for linear systems
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Simulation
Large scale problems Exploitation of system structure
Visualisation
Massive amounts of data
large-scale simulations on-line data from production plants
Effective visualisation required to interpret and draw conclusions from the data
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Optimisation
Many application areas
investment decisions, supply chain management, production planning, monitoring and control
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Control
Makes active use of instrumentation, communication, modelling, simulation and optimisation But more than an aggregate of other technologies: Feedback can fundamentally change the behaviour of a system slugging flow in pipelines Stabilised using unstable gas-lifted wells feedback control
compressor surge
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MEMS technology
Potentially very interesting, but not much explored in the context of gas technology Aerospace: active skins for minimising drag on surfaces
impeller blades in compressors? transmission pipelines?
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Conclusions
Instrumentation, communication, storage Displays, VR,
Present, interpret
Task
Analyse, Decide
Implement decision
Instrumentation, communication, storage (documentation). Feedback?
Gas Technology Center NTNU - SINTEF
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Conclusions
Many application areas for ICT within gas tecnology Many engineering disciplines involved in gas technology
with different needs for ICT
In many cases, domain-specific knowledge is crucial for the successful application of ICT
some knowledge of ICT is essential for recognising potential applications
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