COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS ANALYSIS OF CRYOGENIC TURBOEXPANDER

Abstract

A turboexpander is a centrifugal or axial flow turbine through which a high pressure gas is expands to
produce work to drive compressor. Cryogenic turboexpanders are used in many applications, including ethylene plants,
refineries, gas processing plants and air separation facilities. It is widely used as sources of refrigeration in industrial
processes such as the extraction of ethane and natural gas liquids (NGLs) from natural gas, the liquefaction of gases
(e.g. Oxygen, Nitrogen, Helium, Argon, Krypton) and other low temperature processes.
The work presents here is computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis of high speed radial flow turboexpander
compressor wheel. This analysis done in Solidworks flow simulation software. This project work deal with two major
parts; first one is form existing compressor wheel model and data, find out efficiency of turboexpander and compare the
output result with theoretical calculations. Second part is to modify profile of blades to increase the efficiency. This
involves three dimensional analysis of flow through radial expansion turbine using nitrogen as flowing fluid, flow
behavior at inlet and outlet area of turboexpander, thermal properties of fluid like pressure, temperature, entropy,
enthalpy at various stages of cryogenic turbine.