Compressors

The movement of compressible fluids through the use of compressors, fans, blowers,
ejectors, and vacuum pumps is an integral part of the unit operation of fluid flow. Such
equipment is used industrially in a number of ways: (1) to provide the proper pressure
environment for chemical reactions, (2) to transport, gases, and (3) to transfer mechanical
energy to a fluid for the purpose of operating instruments solids transport, agitation etc.

Fans, blowers, and centrifugal and axial-flow compressors operate on the principle
of transferring kinetic energy to the fluid from a rotating shaft equipped with blades, or
impellers. In compressors this kinetic energy is converted with blades, or impellers. In
compressors this kinetic energy is converted partially into fluid pressure (pV energy) as is
done in the diffusing section of subsonic nozzle. Reciprocating compressors and vacuum
pumps , by contrast, compress a fixed volume of gas enclosed momentarily in a cylinder.

Centrifugal and axial – flow compressors can efficiently handle large volume of
fluid in a minimum of space. Hence, these units are generally economical than
reciprocating compressors for large installatations, at low or moderate discharge pressure
(up to 4000psia) Typical application include gas compressors in butadiene, ethylene, and
nitric acid plants and in catalytic cracking and re-forming operations in the petroleum
industry. For small compressors (less than 500 ft3/min at the discharge pressure) and for
high pressures, the reciprocating type is still requires the study of fluid flow against
moving and stationary solid surfaces; hence more fluid mechanics than thermodynamics
is involved. However thermodynamics analysis of reciprocating compressors does yield
useful information, at least for ideal?(reversible) operations. The important features of
such at least for ideal (reversible) operation. The important features of such analysis are
considered briefly in the remainder of this section. The operation of ejectors is described
in .
 In a reciprocating compressor the gas is admitted through an intake value
into a cylinder equipped with a piston. The cylinder may be single – acting, open at one
end, and capable of only one compression stroke per cycle, or it may be closed at both
ends and means provided to supply gas at both ends. With the a latter arrangement two
compression strokes are obtained per cycle (double acting). During one cycle the
following processes occur a) Low – pressure gas is admitted to the cylinder as the piston
travels through its stroke (represented ideally in as line (b) The piston reverses its travel
and compresses the gas to the exhaust pressure.

In practice the compression step is more nearly adiabatic than isothermal. © The
high-pressure gas is exhausted by opening the exhaust value and maintaining the inlet
valve closed. At the end of the exhaust process, the clearance volume (V4) of cylinder
still contains gas. (d) As the piston retraces its path, the pressure drops until the intake
value is reached, at which point the intake value opens and the cycle is repeated. The
valves are normally operated by the pressure differences between the exhaust and inlet
lines and the gas within the cylinder.

Reciprocating compressors, besides being either single or double acting, may be single or
multistage. In the single stage type the entire compression occurs in one step while in
multistage compression two or more cylinder are involved and the total pressure increase
is obtained in a series of steps, with cooling of the gas between each in order to reduce
the total work requirement. In the following paragraphs equations are presented for
calculating the minimum (reversible) work of compression for single – and multistage
units.

Single stage compressors in the hypothetical case of negligible clearance the

compression cycle will be . The total work of the cycle is the sum of the individual work
terms for each of the three steps and is given by the following equations:

v2
Ws = p1v1 + ∫ pdv − p 2v 2
v1
 p2
Ws = − ∫ vdp
p1

Where Ws is the work per mole or unit mass of fluid. Also the work is equivalent to the
area 1-2-3-4.It may be noted that this is the expression for flow work obtained from the
extended Bernoulli equation when changes in potential energy and kinetic energy and the
friction can be neglected.

The evaluation of depends upon the path followed during the compression process.
If it is isothermal and the ideal –gas applies, integration yields

p2
Ws = -RT ln
p1

If the pressures are high enough so that the gas is not idea, but follows the law of
corresponding states can be integrated graphically by evaluating v at a series of points
between the initial the final values and for all through use Then the results may be plotted
as a function of reduced temperature and reduced pressure This figure introduces the
terms fugacity, which will be given the symbol f. The ratio of the fugacities in the final
and initial states f2/f1 can be defined for an isothermal process in terms of the same
p2
integral ∫
p1
vdp that is equal to the work. The exact defining expression is

f2 1 p2 − Ws
ln =
f1 RT ∫
p1
vdp =
RT

Hence the work may be determined by evaluating f2 and f1 .

Without graphical integration. If the gas does not follow the law of corresponding states
but p-v-T data in the form of graphs or tables are available the integrations can be carried
out by plotting the specific and integrating graphically. However, if complete
thermodynamics data are available, it is simpler to use the following equation.
Ws = T ∆S -∆H
Which follows from the first law flow equation Q – Ws = ∆H and the second law
Q = T ∆S.

Equations are for the minimum isothermal work of compression, for reversible operation.
For example, in the development of it was possible to make the substitution Q = T ∆S
only because it was postulated that the process was reversible S only because it was
postulated that the process was reversible S only because it was postulated that the
process was reversible S only because it was postulated that the process was reversible S
only because it was postulated that the process was reversible S only because it was
postulated that the process was reversible S only because it was postulated that the
process was reversible S only because it was postulated that the process was reversible S
only because it was postulated that the process was reversible S only because it was
postulated that the process was reversible S only because it was postulated that the
process was reversible S only because it was postulated that the process was reversible S
only because it was postulated that the process was reversible S only because it was
postulated that the process was reversible S only because it was postulated that the
process was reversible S only because it was postulated that the process was reversible S
only because it was postulated that the process was reversible . Actual work
requirements are larger than the minimum values in accordance with the degree of
irreversibility.

In case the compression is adiabatic and the gas follows ideal behavior, can be integrated
using the relationship

pvγ =a const

provided that γ =Cp/Cv and this quantity is assumed to be constant over the pressure
range from p1 to p2 .The result in terms of the work per unit mass of gas compressed is
 γp 2 v1  p 2 (γ −1) / γ 
Ws = −  − 1
γ − 1  p1 
Where v1 is the specific volume of the gas at compressor inlet conditions . If the gas does
not follow ideal behavior but obeys the principle of corresponding states, the work can be
evaluated by using. These charts show the effect of pressure on the enthalpy and entropy
of gases. Since the total change in entropy must be zero (adiabatic and reversible
compression) and since ∆S is a state function,

∆S = 0 = ∆Sconstp + ∆HconstT

Where the terms represent the changes in S per mole for a two –step process (one at
constant temperature , followed by another at constant pressure)for accomplishing the
same change in state as occurs in the compressor. The first term is given by the equation.

The Effect of Clearance: The compressor cycle with clearance. The volume V4 of gas
remaining in the cylinder at the end of the exhaust process is termed the clearance
volume. The displacement VD is the volume corresponding to the complete stroke of the
piston, VI the intake volume, is the volume of gas taken into the cylinder per cycle. The
effect of clearance is to decrease the capacity of a compressor. By adding up the work
terms for each step in the cycle an expression can be developed for the work per cycle. If
the ideal –gas law is followed and the expansion is adiabatic, the equation obtained will
be exactly the same as provided that the actual volume of the gas taken into the cylinder,
VI is used in the equation in place of v1 (the specific volume at inlet conditions) It is
apparent that the only effect of clearance under these circumstances is to decrease the
capacity of the compressor.

In the event that the gas does not follow ideal behaviour development of equations
however the same general procedure of evaluating the area included on the p-v plot,
either by graphic integration or through the use of generalized tables of thermodynamics
properties is applicable. Illustrations of these methods are given in the problems at the
end of the chapter.

A term often used in connection with the discussion of compressors is the volumetric
efficiency. This is defined as the ratio of the intake volume VI to the displacement
volume VD .These clearance C is normally defined as the ratio of the clearance volume V4
To the displacement volume VD With these definitions, the volume of the intake gas can
be evaluated from the pressure ratio, the clearance, and the displacement volume by the
following equation (provided that the expansion is adiabatic and reversible)

1/ γ
  p2  
VI = VD 1 + C − C   
  p1  

Multistage Compression: For several reasons the ratio of the discharge pressure to
the suction pressure for a single stage compressor is limited. One reason is related to the
efficiency of operation. Illustrates the compression process for adiabatic and isothermal
paths. The isothermal process requires less work by an amount equivalent to the area 1-2-
3. Actually the compression step is more nearly adiabatic than isothermal, since it is
impossible to transfer a large quantity of heat through the cylinder walls in the short time
accompanying the stroke of the piston. Nevertheless, the benefits of isothermal operation
can be partly achieved by dividing the process into two steps, that is, by limiting the
discharge pressure from the first compressor cylinder to pB cooling the gas to the original
temperature t1 in an intercooler (a process occurring at essentially constant pressure, path
4-5), and finally completing the compression to pc in a second cylinder. In this two –
stage system a reduction of work equal to the area 2-4-5-6 has been accomplished. A
further decrease in the work requirement would be obtained by increasing the number of
stages to three or more. However, the maximum reduction in work is limited to the area
1-2-3; hence a point is soon reached at which the decrease in power costs is balanced by
the increased first cost of the equipment. The number of stages employed in practice
depends primarily upon the over-all pressure differential and the capacity. In large
machines the pressure ratio per stage is seldom more than 5 or 6 and may be less. In
small compressors, where power costs are of less importance, this ratio may be
considerably higher.

Very high pressure machines operating with discharge pressures of the order of
10,000 psia are usually built with five or more stages. As the pressure is increased, the
specific volume of the gas decreases. This is an important reason why high compression
ratios are not justified with single-stage machines; large cylinders would be required to
handle the low –pressure intake gas, and the entire cylinder would have to be of
expensive construction to withstand the high pressure existing at the end of the stroke.
The efficiencies of reciprocating compressors generally are between 70 and 90 percent.
This means that the actual work required is 11 to 43 percent greater than computed on the
basis or reversible adiabatic operation.