University of Basra

College of engineering
Petroleum department

Prepared by
Sajad Falah Radha

July 18, 2020

ABSTRACT

in this report I will talk about reciprocating compressor and

specifically multistage reciprocating compressor Also, I will
talk briefly about how it works and its most important
components and benefits Calculations and equations.

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 page number
Content
Abstract 1
Table of content 11
Table of figure 111
Introduction 1

RECIPROCATING COMPRESSORS 3

Multi-Stage reciprocating Compressors 5

Compressor capacity 5

Piston displacement 6

Benefits of Multi-stage Compression 9

Reference 10

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 Name of figure page number

Figure 1-compressor type 2

Figure 2: Reciprocating compressor 4

compression cycle.

Figure 3-piston displacement cycle 7

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Introduction
“Compression” is used in all aspects of the natural gas industry, including gas lift,
reinjection of gas for pressure maintenance, gas gathering, gas processing operations
(circulation of gas through the process or system), transmission and distribution
systems, and reducing the gas volume for shipment by tankers or for storage. In
recent years, there has been a trend toward increasing pipeline-operating pressures.
The benefits of operating at higher pressures include the ability to transmit larger
volumes of gas through a given size of pipeline, lower transmission losses due to
friction, and the capability to transmit gas over long distances without additional
boosting stations. In gas transmission, two basic types of compressors are used:
reciprocating and centrifugal compressors. Reciprocating compressors are usually
driven by either electric motors or gas engines, whereas centrifugal compressors use
gas turbines or electric motors as drivers. The key variables for equipment selections
are life cycle cost, capital cost, maintenance costs, including overhaul and spare
parts, fuel, or energy costs. The unit’s level of utilization, as well as demand
fluctuations, plays an important role. While both gas engines and gas turbines can
use pipeline gas as a fuel, an electric motor has to rely on the availability of electric
power. Due to the number of variables involved, the task of choosing the optimum
driver can be quite involved, and a comparison between the different types of drivers
should be done before a final selection is made (Kurz et al., 2003). An economic
feasibility study is of fundamental importance to determine the best selection for the
economic life of a project. Furthermore, it must be decided whether the compression
task should be divided into multiple compressor trains, operating in series or in
parallel. For reciprocating compressors, this means that pressure losses at the
cylinder valves, as well as pressure losses in pulsation dampeners, have to be

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included in the calculation. Additional losses for process equipment such as suction
scrubbers or aftercoolers have to be accounted for separately.

Figure 1-compressor type

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RECIPROCATING COMPRESSORS

A reciprocating compressor is a positive displacement machine in which the

compressing and displacing element is a piston moving linearly within a cylinder.
The reciprocating compressor uses automatic spring-loaded valves that open when
the proper differential pressure exists across the valve. Figure 8-1 describes the
action of a reciprocating compressor using a theoretical pressure–volume (PV)
diagram. In position A, the suction valve is open and gas will flow into the cylinder
(from point 1 to point 2 on the PV diagram) until the end of the reverse stroke at
point 2, which is the start of compression. At position B, the piston has traveled the
full stroke within the cylinder and the cylinder is full of gas at suction pressure.
Valves remain closed. The piston begins to move to the left, closing the suction
valve. In moving from position B to position C, the piston moves toward the cylinder
head, reducing the volume of gas with an accompanying rise in pressure. The PV
diagram shows compression from point 2 to point 3. The piston continues to move
to the end of the stroke (near the cylinder head) until the cylinder pressure is equal
to the discharge pressure and the discharge valve open (just beyond point 3). After
the piston reaches point 4, the discharge valve will close, leaving the clearance space
filled with gas at discharge pressure (moving from position C to position D). As the
piston reverses its travel, the gas remaining within the cylinder expands (from point
4 to point 1) until it equals suction pressure and the piston is again in position A.
The flow to and from reciprocating compressors is subject to significant pressure
fluctuations due to the reciprocating compression process. Therefore, pulsation
dampeners have to be installed upstream and downstream of the compressor to avoid
damages to other equipment. The pressure losses (several percent of the static flow
pressure) of these dampeners have to be accounted for in the station design.
Reciprocating compressors are widely utilized in the gas processing industries

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because they are flexible in throughput and discharge pressure range. Reciprocating
compressors are classified as either “high speed” or “slow speed.” Typically, high-
speed compressors operate at speeds of 900 to 1200 rpm and slow-speed units at
speeds of 200 to 600 rpm. High-speed units are normally “separable,” i.e., the
compressor frame and driver are separated by a coupling or gearbox. For an
“integral” unit, power cylinders are mounted on the same frame as the compressor
cylinders, and power pistons are attached to the same drive shaft as the compressor
cylinders. Low-speed units are typically integral in design.

Figure 2: Reciprocating compressor compression cycle.

The
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Multi-Stage reciprocating Compressors
Reciprocating compressors are the best known and most widely used compressors
of the positive displacement type. They operate on the same principle as the old,
familiar bicycle pump, that is, by means of a piston in a cylinder. As the piston moves
forward in the cylinder, it compresses the air or gas into a smaller space, thus raising
its pressure. The basic reciprocating compression element is a single cylinder
compressing on one side of the piston (single-acting). A unit compressing on both
sides of the piston (double-acting) consists of two basic single-acting elements
operating in parallel in one casting. Most of the compressors in use are of the double-
acting type. double-acting water-cooled compressor Rotary motion provided at the
compressor shaft is converted to reciprocating (linear) motion by use of a crankshaft,
crosshead, and a connecting rod between the two. One end of the connecting rod is
secured by the crankpin to the crankshaft, and the other by crosshead pin to the
crosshead which, as the crankshaft turns, reciprocates in a linear motion. Intake
(suction) and discharge valves are located in the top and bottom of the cylinder.
(Sometimes they may be located in the cylinder barrel.) These are basically check
valves, permitting gas to flow in one direction only. The movement of (he piston to
the top of the cylinder creates a partial vacuum in the lower end of the cylinder; the
pressure differential between intake pressure and this vacuum across the intake valve
then causes the valves to open, allowing air to flow into the cylinder from the intake
line. On the return stroke, when the pressure in the cylinder exceeds the pressure in
the discharge line, the discharge valve opens, permitting air at that pressure to be
discharged from the cylinder into the discharge or system line. This action, when on
one side of the piston only, is called "single-acting” compression; when on both sides
of the piston, it is called "double acting" compression.

Compressor capacity

Determining compressor capacity would be relatively simple if a no compressible,

non-expandable fluid were handled. The quantity into the discharge line would be
practically equal to the volume swept by the piston. However, since air or gas is
elastic, compressor capacity varies widely as pressure conditions change. For
instance, with a given intake pressure, machine capacity is considerably less when
discharging at 100 psi than at 50 psi. This makes it impossible to rate a given

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compressor for a given capacity. The only practicable rating is in terms of piston
displacement— volume swept by the moving piston during one minute.
Piston displacement
The piston displacement is the net volume actually displaced by the compressor
piston at rated machine speed, as the piston travels the length of its stroke from
bottom dead center to top dead center. In Figure 3, the entire stroke, and thus the
piston displacement, is represented by the travel of the piston from points B-H. This
volume is usually expressed in cubic feet per minute. For multistage units, the piston
displacement of the first stage alone is commonly stated as that of the entire machine.
In the case of a double-acting cylinder, the displacement of the crank end of the
cylinder is also included. The crank end displacement is, of course, less than the
head end displacement by the amount that the piston rod displacements.
The piston displacement (PD) for a single-acting unit is readily computed by the
following formulas:
1. Calculating PD for a single-acting cylinder:
𝑆
𝑃𝐷 = 𝐴𝐻𝐸 × × 𝑟𝑝𝑚
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Where𝑃𝐷 = 𝑝𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑛 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝑐𝑢𝑖𝑏𝑖𝑐 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑡 𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑡𝑒
𝐴𝐻𝐸 = 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑝𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑡
𝑆 = 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑘𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑖𝑛𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑠
𝑟𝑝𝑚 = 𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑡𝑒
2. Calculating PD for a double-acting cylinder:
𝑆 𝑆
𝑃𝐷 = 𝐴𝐻𝐸 × × 𝑟𝑝𝑚 + 𝐴𝐶𝐸 × × 𝑟𝑝𝑚
12 12
Where 𝐴𝐶𝐸 = 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎 𝑜𝑓 𝑐𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑘 𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑝𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑡
This can be approximated by the expression
𝑆
𝑃𝐷 = 2(𝐴𝐻𝐸 − 𝐴𝑅) × × 𝑟𝑝𝑚
12
Where 𝐴𝑅 = 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎 𝑜𝑓 𝑟𝑜𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑡

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 Figure 3-piston displacement cycle

The volumetric efficiency of the compressor as a whole is determined by the

First stage. If the inter-cooling is such that the inlet temperature to the following
stage(s) is the same as the inlet temperature to the first stage we have ideal (or
perfect) inter-cooling. Since the work input to any stage is dependent on the
pressure ratio across it, it should be possible to minimize the total work input by
the correct choice of compression ratio across each stage.
Optimum stage pressure ratio
Assume we have two stages of compression with ideal intercooling and the same
index of compression (and expansion) ‘n’ in each stage.
Total Work per cycle

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Since the mass induced by the first stage must be equal to the mass induced by the
second stage:

If 𝑃1 is the inlet pressure and 𝑃2 the final delivery pressure, let 𝑃𝑖 = the inter-stage
pressure:

If we substitute the above in the expression for Total Work and differentiate wrt pi,
we can find pi for minimum Total Work.

We could extend the same method to N stages with the result that, for minimum
work input, the pressure ratio across each stage must be the same and equal to the
Nth root of the overall pressure ratio.

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Benefits of Multi-stage Compression

Both single and multi-stage compressors have their benefits. The right one for your
application will depend on a number of factors. Specific advantages of a three- or
two-stage compressor design include:

• Improved efficiency. Two-stage compressors perform less work to

compress gas to a given pressure, which means your operating costs are
lower.
• Better reliability. The intercooling stage of two-stage compression creates
less chance of overheating, which in turn means more uptime and better
productivity.
• Less moisture buildup. Cooler gas has a lower moisture content. Moisture
in compressed gas can lead to equipment failure and premature wear. Using
a two- or three-stage compressor can potentially save you from having to
purchase a separate gas dryer.
• Smaller footprint. For heavy-duty applications, multi-stage compressors
deliver greater air pressure (PSI) at higher capacities (CFM) than single-
stage machines of a comparable size.
• Few maintenance requirements. Thanks to smaller components and cooler
temperatures, wearable components don’t wear out as quickly. As a result,
recommended service intervals are longer.

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Reference
[1] K. Arnold, Petroleum Engineering Handbook - Volume III:
Facilities and construction engineering, vol. III. 2007.
[2] P. C. Hanlon, Compressor Handbook. 2001.
[3] H. P. Bloch, Compressors and Modern Process Applications,
…...West Des Moines, Iowa: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken,
…...New Jersey., 1933.
[4] Boyun Guo.Natural Gas Engineering Handbook, Gulf …...
…...Publishing Company, Houston, Texas, 2005.
[5] H. P. B. Reciprocating Compressors..OPERATION and
…...MAINTENANCE, Gulf Publishing ..Company, Houston,
…...1996.

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