Effect of geometrical parameters on thermal efficiency and fuel consumption of heaters of a natural gas pressure reduction station using Sobol statistical sensitivity analysis

The main objective of natural gas pressure reduction station or city gate stations (CGSs) is to adjust gas pressure within a standard range for home usage. CGSs usually utilize heaters for pressure tuning, which generally consume a considerable amount of energy. In this paper, the effect of six influential parameters, namely, the length of gas-coil, the diameter of gas-coil, the radius of heater shell, length of heater shell, fire tube diameter, and length, on the amount of fuel consumption and thermal efficiency is investigated using Sobol statistical sensitivity analysis. The results show that gas-coil length and diameter are not effective in fuel consumption and thermal efficiency. In contrast, increasing the heater shell radius, heater shell length, and fire tube radius has the same effect as they cause a linear increase in fuel consumption. According to results taken from Sobol analysis, they similarly have an influence of 19%–23% on fuel consumption and 21%–22% on thermal efficiency. Finally, it was revealed that the effect of fire tube length on fuel consumption and thermal efficiency of the heater was 37% and 35%, respectively.