| dc.description.abstract | It is well known that gas compressor work can be greatly
reduced by inter-stage cooling. Since decades, isotherm
compressors are commonly used where very large volume of
gases is needed and low power consumption is necessary, so
that the efficiency of the industrial process is greatly improved.
The use of large amount of compressed air, oxygen or other
gases is very common in different industrial sectors like air
separation, petrochemical plants, mining, steel industries as
well as preparation of synthetic natural gas.
The main optimization goals in compressors technology
are focused either on rotating components (mainly stage
aerodynamics) as well as on intercooling (or heat exchange)
process. In particular, current development is aiming either on
improvement of cooling efficiency or (keeping the same
efficiency) on size reduction, which is directly related also to
overall cost reduction. Such improvements can derive from the
use of different materials, coolers type/methods, geometries,
manufacturing technologies, fouling modelisation and
prevention etc. In this paper, a comprehensive and quantitative
analysis of the influence of different intercoolers aspects is
carried out with the aim to isolate the most critical factors to
achieve an optimal combination between capital and operative
costs of isothermal compressors. | en |
