Technical and Economical Investigation of Electricity Generation from Associated Gas

Increasing energy prices has caused a special interest in unconventional energy sources. Associated gas is mostly flared as an useless byproduct of oil extraction while regarding it’s high heating value and considerable available volume in the country، it has a huge potential for use. Electricity generation is one of the most economical options to recover associated gas. This article investigates technical feasibility and economical justifiability of this method. Gas turbine، reciprocating engine and steam turbine are modelled using Thermoflow software، allowable conditions of these power generators’ fuel are gathered and needed preparation technologies are studied. After cost estimation a comprehensive parametric analysis is conducted which studies the effects of associated gas composition’s variation، gas flow، ambient temperature، design point، electricity price and discount rate on project economy. Results show using this energy source is completely feasible and by choosing appropriate power generator mostly economical.