About Pipelines
Safety | Environment | Tech | Industry Insights | Integrity First
Waste Heat Recovery
No.
04
How do natural gas
pipeline operators
create clean energy
from their operations?
Fact
FAST FACTS
Waste heat
recovery
Compressors
release heat into
the atmosphere
as they push
natural gas through
transmission pipelines.
Fact
The pipeline industry
uses a process to
recover this heat
and turn it into
clean energy.
When the heat comes on in 50
per cent of Canadian homes,
it’s natural gas that’s providing
the energy.* Natural gas is
clean, affordable and there’s a
vast supply of it in sedimentary
basins in Western Canada.
But in order to efficiently
transport this important resource
to communities across Canada,
pipeline companies must use large
compressors (usually between
31,000 and 36,000 horsepower)
to increase the pressure of the natural gas to
push it through the pipeline. These
compressors are stationed along pipelines and
powered by gas turbines, internal combustion
engines, or sometimes electric motors.
While these compressors are essential
to move the gas, their operation releases
heat into the atmosphere, just like a radiator
in a car. Pipeline companies work to maximize
the efficiency of compressors, which minimizes
the heat released.
About Pipelines is a series,
dedicated to sharing the
facts about transmission
pipelines in Canada and
their role in Canadians’ lives.
This information is provided
by the Canadian Energy
Pipeline Association (CEPA).
Fact
The energy
recovered from
a single compressor
could meet the
power needs of
4,000 households.
Recovery in action
TAKING
THE HEAT
Heat emitted
from compressors
is turned into
clean energy.
By using waste heat
recovery technology,
pipeline companies can
reduce their own energy
needs or make the electricity
available to others –
supplying it to industries
located near the pipeline.
* Statistics Canada, Households and the Environment Survey: Energy Use, 2011
TransCanada PipeLines
is a CEPA member
using waste heat
recovery technology.
Its compressor station
in the Crowsnest
Pass, B.C., is a source
of emission-free
electricity for the
province’s power grid.
Excess heat from
turbines is captured
and used in a waste
heat recovery plant,
to generate clean
electricity for up
to 4,000 homes.
Read the blog post:
bit.ly/1y6LkS8
About Pipelines
Waste Heat Recovery
One environmentally-friendly and sustainable
practice is the process of waste heat recovery.
Technology that can take the heat
The pipeline industry uses heat recovery
systems that capture the excess heat emitted
from compressors and turn it into clean
energy that can be re-used. It’s technology
that captures the heat and uses it to produce
electricity, without requiring additional fuel or
generating emissions.
Once the heat is captured by a heat
exchanger, it’s used to heat up pressurized
water or organic liquids — liquids that boil at a
lower temperature than water and vaporize
and expand when heated. The pressurized
steam or vapor produced by the liquid is used
to generate electricity, and then it’s cooled
and re-used.
The electricity produced by this process
can be used by other industries that are
located near the pipeline compressor station,
or can be provided to the electricity grid.
Waste heat recovery is an innovative
process and the pipeline industry is focused on
developing other ways to use it, including
creating smaller heat recovery units. This
focus is part of the industry’s commitment
to reducing environmental impacts and
providing a reliable source of clean,
emission-free energy.
HORSEPOWER.
Waste heat recovery
EXCESS HEAT is
captured into the
heat exchanger
using a heat
recovery boiler.
2
CAPTURED HEAT is
used to increase
the temperature
of the pressurized
water or organic
fluid to the point
where it produces
vapor or steam.
3
STEAM goes
through a turbine
or expander to
generate electricity.
This electricity
is used to power
nearby industry
or is added to the
electricity grid.
CEPA members are
on the leading edge
of developing and
installing waste heat
recovery units on
smaller compressors.
One CEPA member,
TransGas, has installed
waste heat recovery
units at compressor
stations that are under
4,500
HOW IT WORKS
1
Recovery in action
4
ORGANIC LIQUID
(or steam) is sent
to condenser where
it is cooled back
into liquid form
and pumped
through the heat
exchanger to begin
the process again.
These compressors
produce enough
electricity to power
the equivalent of
800
HOMES
Get the full story
and photos:
bit.ly/1sdpFFH
Working
Fluid
1
EXHAUST
HEAT IN
2
Heat
Recovery
Boiler
Power
Turbine
3
POWER
OUT
GET INFORMED
CEPA
Pump
4
Condenser
[email protected]
@aboutpipelines
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aboutpipelines.com
HEAT
OUT
Printed on recycled and environmentally-friendly paper. The information contained provides examples of initiatives
carried out by some CEPA members. It is not an industry requirement or best practice.