Turboexpander

A turboexpander, also referred to as a turbo-expander or an expansion turbine, is a centrifugal or axial-flow turbine, through which a high-pressure gas is expanded to produce work that is often used to drive a compressor or generator. Because work is extracted from the expanding high-pressure gas, the expansion is approximated by an isentropic process (i.e., a constant-entropy process), and the low-pressure exhaust gas from the turbine is at a very low temperature, −150 °C or less, depending upon the operating pressure and gas properties. Partial liquefaction of the expanded gas is not uncommon. Turboexpanders are widely used as sources of refrigeration in industrial processes such as the extraction of ethane and natural-gas liquids (NGLs) from natural gas, the liquefaction of gases (such as oxygen, nitrogen, helium, argon and krypton) and other low-temperature processes. Turboexpanders currently in operation range in size from about 750 W to about 7.5 MW (1 hp to about 10,000 hp). Although turboexpanders are commonly used in low-temperature processes, they are used in many other applications. This section discusses one of the low-temperature processes, as well as some of the other applications. Raw natural gas consists primarily of methane (CH4), the shortest and lightest hydrocarbon molecule, along with various amounts of heavier hydrocarbon gases such as ethane (C2H6), propane (C3H8), normal butane (n-C4H10), isobutane (i-C4H10), pentanes and even higher-molecular-mass hydrocarbons. The raw gas also contains various amounts of acid gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2), hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and mercaptans such as methanethiol (CH3SH) and ethanethiol (C2H5SH). When processed into finished by-products (see Natural-gas processing), these heavier hydrocarbons are collectively referred to as NGL (natural-gas liquids). The extraction of the NGL often involves a turboexpander and a low-temperature distillation column (called a demethanizer) as shown in the figure.