The energy performance of a single-screw compressor for natural gas liquefaction process: Effects of the lubricating oil flow rate

Yong Li, Yuanwei Lu, Yuting Wu, Bengt Sunden, Gongnan Xie

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

An experimental test system including the oil circulation system and the gas circuit system has been designed and built to explore the effects of the lubricating oil flow rate on the performance of a single-screw compressor, used in a portable natural gas liquefaction process. Outlet pressure, outlet volumetric flow rate, volumetric efficiency, and specific power rate are the parameters for evaluation of the energy performance of the single-screw compressor. The experimental results indicate that the outlet pressure and outlet volumetric flow rate can be effectively increased by increasing the flow rate of the lubricating oil at different rotational frequencies and that a certain amount of lubricant oil is helpful to improve the volumetric efficiency. In terms of the specific power rate, the optimum oil-gas ratios are 0.7%, 0.93%, and 1.79%, and the corresponding outlet pressures are 0.45, 0.45, and 0.48 MPa at the conditions of 50, 40, and 30 Hz, respectively.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1494-1504
JournalInternational Journal of Energy Research
Volume43
Issue number4
Early online date2019
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2019

Subject classification (UKÄ)

  • Energy Engineering

Free keywords

  • flow rate
  • lubricating oil
  • single-screw compressor
  • specific power rate
  • volumetric efficiency

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