Turboexpander
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A turboexpander (also referred to as turbo expander, expansion turbine or simply expander) is a centrifugal or axial flow turbine through which a high pressure gas is expanded to produce work that is typically used to drive a compressor. Because work is extracted from the expanding high pressure gas, the expansion is isentropic and the low pressure exhaust gas from the turbine is at a very low temperature, often as low as 200 K (-100 °F) or less.[1] Turbo expanders are very widely used as sources of refrigeration in industrial processes such as: the extraction of ethane as well as natural gas liquids (NGLs) from natural gas[2]; the liquefaction of gases;[3][4][5][6] and other low-temperature processes.
[edit] References
- ^ "Business Characteristics of the Natural Gas Conditioning Industry", Report GRI-93/0342
- ^ Flow sheet of demethanizer
- ^ BOC (NZ) publication: use search function for keyword "expansion"
- ^ US Department of Energy Hydrogen Program
- ^ Air Product Co. publication: use search function for keyword "expansion"
- ^ India Department of Atomic Energy publication: use search function for keyword "expansion"
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