Compressor Calculations-1

RECIPROCATING CMPRESSORS CAPACITY, EFFICIENCY & POWER

CALCULATIONS

Prepared by: Baber Rafique

Process Engineer
www.linkedin.com/in/baberrafique
baberrafique@gmail.com
 Reciprocating Compressors
A process engineer is mainly required to perform the two type of calculation related to the compressor
design.

1. To estimate the power required to compress a certain volume of gas up to certain pressure
also termed as designing.
2. To determine the capacity an existing compressor under given suction & discharge conditions
termed as rating.

This document is intended to explain the concepts & calculation that a process engineer is supposed to
do during the any stage of project & is for education purpose only.

Compressors are mainly divided into three types Positive Displacement, Dynamic & Thermal type.

Positive displacement compressors include plunger type aka reciprocating type, straight lobe, helical
or screw type.

Dynamic types include centrifugal, Integral gear & Stator Vanes type.

Thermal compressor includes ejectors.

Details on the types of compressors are discussed in detail in references provided.

RECIPROCATING COMPRESSORS

Power varies from fractions to 40000 hp with discharge pressure till 30000 psi. Compression ratio
mainly depends upon the discharge temperature usually doesn’t exceed 4.

Must be supplied with clean gas, unable to deal with gas containing liquid or solid particles.

Reciprocating compressors are designed according to;

“API Standard 618 "Reciprocating Compressors for Petroleum, Chemical, and Gas Industry Services.”

Or

API Specification 11P "Specification for Packaged Reciprocating Compressors for Oil & Gas Production
Services."

API 618 covers 300-700 rpm speed range mostly separable design usually electric motor as prime
mover. These compressors are mostly used in refineries & chemical plants

API 11P covers the high speed compressors ranging 900-1800 rpm & these compressors are mostly
used in field gas compression purposes.

Compressor performance

There are many factors involved in the performance evaluation of compressor that use average
properties of gas being compressed thus results obtained from these calculations are close
approximate to the compressor performance.

Main factors involved are Capacity, Volumetric Efficiency, Equivalent Capacity & Discharge
Temperature.

Capacity

For the purpose of performance calculations, compressor capacity is expressed as the actual
volumetric quantity of gas at the inlet to each stage of compression on a per minute basis (ICFM)
while gas is reported usually at standard conditions (SCFM), thus SCFM to ICFM is converted using
equation-1.
𝟏𝟒. 𝟕 𝐓𝟏 𝐙𝟏
𝐐 = 𝐒𝐂𝐅𝐌 [ ][ ] Eq-1
𝟓𝟐𝟎 𝐏𝟏 𝐙𝐋
Q=Inlet cubic feet per minute at suction condition, P1= suction pressure (psia), T1=suction
temperature (°R), Z1= Gas compressibility at suction pressure, ZL= Gas compressibility at standard
condition.

By using eq-1 gas flow at the suction of any stage can be calculated.

In reciprocating compressor effective capacity is calculated using piston displacement multiplied with
volumetric efficiency.

Piston displacement (PD) can be calculated using eq-2 ,3 & 4.

For single acting outer end;

𝐏𝐃 = 𝟒. 𝟓𝟓 × 𝟏𝟎−𝟒 × 𝐒𝐋 × 𝐍 × 𝐃𝟐 Eq-2

For single acting crank end

𝐏𝐃 = 𝟒. 𝟓𝟓 × 𝟏𝟎−𝟒 × 𝐒𝐋 × 𝐍 × (𝐃𝟐 − 𝒅𝟐 ) Eq-3

For double acting (other than tail rod type)

𝐏𝐃 = 𝟒. 𝟓𝟓 × 𝟏𝟎−𝟒 × 𝐒𝐋 × 𝐍 × (𝟐𝐃𝟐 − 𝒅𝟐 ) Eq-4

PD= Piston displacement (ft3/min), SL= Stroke length (in), D= Piston diameter (in), d=Piston rod
diameter (in). N=Speed (rpm).

Volumetric Efficiency

The term “volumetric efficiency” refers to the actual pumping capacity of a cylinder compared to the
piston displacement. Practically piston does not travel completely to the end of the discharge stroke
result in some clearance volume. Clearance volume is usually expressed in percent of piston
displacement.

𝐂𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐕𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐦𝐞, 𝐢𝐧𝟑

𝐂= × 𝟏𝟎𝟎 Eq-5
𝐏𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐢𝐧𝟑
For double acting cylinders’ clearance volume is based on both sides.

𝐙𝐬 𝟏
𝐕𝐄 = 𝟏𝟎𝟎 − 𝐫 − 𝐂 [ (𝒓 ⁄𝒌 ) − 𝟏] Eq-6
𝐙𝐝
VE = Volumetric efficiency (%), r = Compression ratio, Zs = Gas compressibility as suction conditions,
Zd = Gas compressibility at discharge conditions, k = Isentropic exponent, Cp/Cv.

Another thing that account for the volumetric efficiency reduction is the suction & discharge valve
losses. Typically, an arbitrary value of 4% VE loss is used for valve losses thus eq-6 becomes;

𝐙𝐬 𝟏
𝐕𝐄 = 𝟗𝟔 − 𝐫 − 𝐂 [ (𝒓 ⁄𝒌 ) − 𝟏] Eq-7
𝐙𝐝
Volumetric efficiencies for “high speed” separable compressors tended to be slightly lower than
estimated from Eq-6 & 7, thus in evaluating efficiency, horsepower, volumetric efficiency, etc., the
user should consider past experience with different speeds and models. Larger valve area for a given
swept volume will generally lead to higher compression efficiencies.

It is noteworthy that most of the compressor design companies uses 14.4 psia as base pressure other
than 14.7 psia.

Equivalent Capacity

The equivalent capacity in MMcfd can be calculated using eq-8

 𝐏𝐃. 𝐕𝐄. 𝐏𝐬 . 𝟏𝟎−𝟔
𝐌𝐌𝐜𝐟𝐝 = Eq-8
𝐙𝐬
If capacity evaluations are required other then 14.4 psia then MMcfd calculated from eq-8 must be
adjusted for that pressure & temperature using eq-9.

𝟏𝟒. 𝟒 𝐓𝐋 𝐙𝐋
𝐌𝐌𝐜𝐟𝐝 𝐚𝐭 𝐏𝐋 & 𝐓𝐋 = 𝐌𝐌𝐜𝐟𝐝 × [ ][ ][ ] Eq-9
𝐏𝐋 𝐓𝐬 𝐙𝐬
Discharge Temperature
Discharge temperature of compressed gas can be calculated using eq-10 & 11.
(𝐤−𝟏)⁄
𝐏𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐤
[( ) − 𝟏]
𝐏𝐢𝐧 Eq-10
∆𝐓𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥 = 𝐓𝐢𝐧
Ƞ𝐢𝐬𝐧

𝐓𝐨𝐮𝐭 = 𝐓𝐢𝐧 + 𝐓𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥 Eq-11

Ƞisn = Isentropic efficiency in decimals, Temperature must be in abosolute scale °R or K.

Power calculations

Break horse power required for each stage can be calculated by using Eq-12. Reciprocating
compressors are usually designed for compressor ratio of 4. If compressor ratio is more than 4 then
take the square root of compression ratio to divide into two satges if compression ratio of each stage
is geater than 4 again take cube root & so on.

Eq-12 gives the power required for one stage in case of multi stages power for each stage is
calculated individually and sumed up afterwords to get the total BHPrequired.

𝐁𝐇𝐏⁄ 𝐐𝐠 𝐓𝐬 𝐤⁄ 𝐏𝐋 𝐏𝐝 ((𝐤−𝟏)⁄𝐤)
𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞 = 𝟑. 𝟎𝟑 ∗ 𝐙 ∗ [ ⁄ ] ∗ ( ) ∗ ( ) [( ) − 𝟏] Eq-12
𝐚𝐯𝐠 𝐄 (𝐤 − 𝟏) 𝐓 𝐋 𝐬𝐏

BHP = brake horsepower, Qg = gas flow rate, (MMSCFD) , Ts = suction temperature, (°R),
Zavg=(Zs+Zd)/2, Zs = suction compressibility factor , Zd = discharge compressibility factor , E =
overall efficiency (High speed reciprocating units — 0.82 & Low speed reciprocating units — 0.85), K =
ratio of specific heats, (Cp/Cv) , Ps = suction pressure, (psia), Pd = discharge pressure, (psia), PL=
standard pressure, (psia) , TL= standard temperature, (°R)

Note: For multi satge compression system 5-10 psi inter stage pressure drop should be consider to
account for valves, cooler & scrubber vessel loses.

In general practice compressor discharge temperature should be less then 300 °F.
References:

1. GPSA Engineering Data Book.

2. Compressor Handbook edited by Paul C. Hanlon.
3. Industrial Refrigeration Handbook by Wilbert F. Stoecker.
4. “API Standard 618 "Reciprocating Compressors for Petroleum, Chemical, and Gas
Industry Services.”
5. API Specification 11P "Specification for Packaged Reciprocating Compressors for Oil &
Gas Production Services."