Combined heat and power - optimal power flow based on thermodynamic model with associated petroleum and wet gas utilization constraints

<span lang="EN-GB">Oil fields produce associated petroleum and wet gas, which can be mixed with commercial natural gas as fuel. Associated petroleum and wet gas are a low cost, low quality fuel, whereas commercial natural gas is the opposite. Two parameters are affected by this mixture: the fuel cost and the power – steam output of gas turbine – heat recovery steam generators. This research develops a Unit Commitment and Optimal Power Flow model based on Mixed Integer Nonlinear Programming to optimize combined heat and power cost by considering the optimal mixture between associated petroleum - wet gas and commercial natural gas. A thermodynamic model is used to represent the performance of gas turbine – heat recovery steam generators when subjected to different fuel mixtures. The results show that the proposed model can optimize cost by determining the most efficient power – steam dispatch and optimal fuel mixture. Furthermore, the optimization model can analyse the trade-off between power system losses, steam demand and associated - wet gas utilization. </span>