Modelling of heat supply for natural gas pressure reduction station using geothermal energy

In this paper, a series of works are conducted to study the effect of replacing natural gas burning heaters by a ground source heat pumps (GSHPs) to prevent natural gas freezing in the pressure regulating stations. In fact, the pressure drop causes a great temperature drop that can block out the pipeline and it is very crucial to control the phenomenon. Firstly, a conventional heater in the gas pressure drop station of Damavand city is selected as a case study. Then, a shell and tube heat exchanger coupled with GSHP is modelled to replace the conventional heater for eliminating the natural gas consumption in heaters. Finally, consumed energy, costs, and greenhouse gasses emissions are compared with the conventional system. Some main findings from the model show that: (1). Based on the GS2000 software results, the GSHP pipe trench is 601 m which are 7% less than the calculated data. (2). considering different inflation rates (15%-30%), the payback time would change between 4.5 and 7.5 years. (3). Due to the reduction in fossil fuel consumption, the CO₂ emission would be reduced by 47%.