Power production via North Sea Hot Brines

Auld, Alison; Hogg, Simon; Berson, Arganthael; Gluyas, Jon

doi:10.1016/j.energy.2014.10.056

Power production via North Sea Hot Brines

Auld, Alison; Hogg, Simon; Berson, Arganthael; Gluyas, Jon

Authors

Alison Auld

Professor Simon Hogg simon.hogg@durham.ac.uk
Professor

Arganthael Berson

Professor Jon Gluyas j.g.gluyas@durham.ac.uk
Professor

Abstract

Traditionally the power demand of offshore oil platforms is delivered by on-platform gas turbines. Natural gas to fuel these turbines is usually separated from the produced oil. However, in ageing fields as oil production declines so does the associated gas. Ultimately gas supply becomes insufficient; in order to continue producing fuel is imported at great expense. This study proposes the power demand of a platform could be met or supplemented by an on-platform ORC (organic Rankine cycle ) fuelled by coproduced hot brines. This could extend the operating life of oil platforms and reduce both cost and emissions. The potential power output of an ORC is modelled for fields in the North Sea's Brent Province. Results show 6 fields have the potential to generate more than 10 MW via an organic Rankine cycle fuelled by hot brines, with a maximum of 31 MW predicted for the Ninian field. Analysis of simulations for the Eider field shows that ORC plants can scale to size constraints. The cost of a 10 MW ORC is compared to cost of continued use of gas turbines. Payback times of between 3.09 and 4.53 years are predicted for an ORC, without accounting for greenhouse gas emissions levies.

Citation

Auld, A., Hogg, S., Berson, A., & Gluyas, J. (2014). Power production via North Sea Hot Brines. Energy, 78, 674-684. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2014.10.056

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Oct 21, 2014
Online Publication Date	Nov 13, 2014
Publication Date	Dec 15, 2014
Deposit Date	Nov 25, 2014
Publicly Available Date	Apr 18, 2016
Journal	Energy
Print ISSN	0360-5442
Publisher	Elsevier
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	78
Pages	674-684
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2014.10.056
Keywords	Organic Rankine cycle, North Sea, Coproduced hot brines.

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Copyright Statement
NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Energy. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Energy, 78, 15 December 2014, 10.1016/j.energy.2014.10.056.