Sistemi di ottimizzazione del preriscaldo negli impianti di prelievo, riduzione e misura (IPRM) = Preheating optimization systems in a Withdrawal, Reduction and Measurement sites

The present thesis work has been carried out in partnership with the "Technological Innovation" unit of the Italgas Reti SpA, the main company in the gas distribution sector in Italy and the third in Europe. One of the goals of great importance, that this unit carries out inside this company, is to direct investments towards the use of innovative low-emission technologies, which is undoubtedly one of the most relevant issues nowadays. In particular, this work was developed after the result of accurate energy analysis done by Italgas, using data collected over time, that increased awareness of the fact that the most important impact on energy consumption in the gas distribution processes derives from the combustion of gas inside an IPRM (Withdrawal, Reduction and Measurement sites) for preheating purpose. Therefore, the thesis explores the devices already applied inside these plants on how to reduce energy consumption due to the preheating of natural gas. The dual purpose of the thesis is composed by these two aims: -??conduct a comparative analysis, from the hardware/software point of view, among the various device models tested, in order to identify the most suitable features for the development of a Product Technical Specification; -??compare the performances of the models installed on site, in terms of increased energy efficiency, in order to identify the best management methods of the preheating process. The core of the thesis provides an explanation of the technical and functional characteristics of the control and optimization systems used in 4 case study models for the purpose of energy saving due to the preheating of natural gas inside an IPRM. Each control system has different basic operation model capable of controlling the preheater boilers and the circulating pumps in order to keep under control in real time all the necessary variables that are part of the process. Finally, in order to capture the functionality and essentiality of such systems, it has been done a comparative analysis through the trends of the process variables collected before and after installation of the 4 above mentioned devices on four real cases of IPRM, using specific KPIs.