1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A HBK of many merits, needs editorial debugging, November 27, 2010
This review is from: Handbook of Natural Gas Transmission and Processing (Hardcover)
****
"We suddenly have over a one hundred year supply of natural gas at current consumption rates and that number has been growing by about one decade more each year since 2005."
If the above quotation is confirmed, Peak gas era is just unfolding, and it pays to learn the best technology to push its energy share up from 24% which helps slowing global warming. Since my initiation in gas processing, when gas discoveries boomed following the energy crunch in mid seventies, I kept updating through articles written by gas engineering experts, that addressed technical advances and proven industrial processes. The consolidation of technical solutions for NGL as a potential energy supply at the outbreak of the twenty first century, required engineers and technologists in the gas industry to seek an integrated fresh assessment of the developing technology. The problem was that such handbooks become outdated more frequently, even with gas technology advanced and processes optimized.
The HBK authors combine expertise in different aspects of natural gas industry; processing, treatment, and transmission, starting with NG fundamentals, a large scoop on pricing, and chapters on automation, simulation, environmental aspects, complemented with profitability and gas project management. It seems a hard task to address the whole range of handbook user's expectations; according to its definition: a manual of NG facts, a reference on a fast developing technology, to which I may add, promote good engineering practice, in this case. The HBK may have satisfied most of the above criteria, but endorsed also an instruction role of a gas technology textbook.
The information assembled for such undertaking is voluminous, and its preparation and editing can be overwhelming, but this is how it ultimately acquires a distinction of a hand book. It is clear that some subjects treatment (as multiphase flow & coalescers) are exhaustive, and the sources timely, but the editors kept interrupting the explanation text with source references, (author and year) for up to a dozen times in some pages, where just a number was enough. Imagine that the reference list on raw gas transmission exceeded 15 pages!
Now, while the coverage of phase separation is very thorough, acid gas treating did not give the licensed processes enough attention, let alone a proper comparative study, the one page process selection (with no selection charts, necessary as screening tools) became ineffective for initial selection of potential process choices. Generally, physical properties charts are clear, but some pricing charts are tedious to follow (2-8, -9, -10). A standardized PFDs for process flow charts is lacking, with a mixture of an odd collection of manufacturer drawings.
You also encounter some mistakes and few odd chemical equations that need correction. The text editing and presentation needs a face lift. Block flow diagrams are neglected, except once (fig 4-1). BFDs help in perception of gas processes' overall conceptual approach, that is missing from all related chapters (6-10).
This HBK has many strong points, its coverage is extensive, but is compromised by many petty details and bug references, and a lack of efficient creative presentation.
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2 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
more relevant since discovery of major sources, July 27, 2009
This review is from: Handbook of Natural Gas Transmission and Processing (Hardcover)
The huge finds of natural gas in the United States since this book came out just a few years ago helps make it more relevant. Now instead of a looming shortage of domestic natural gas, the brimming surpluses (with more to possibly follow) means that it can continue to be widely used in the US, for both home heating and for industry, especially in electricity generation.
Thus the book's information on how to design, build and maintain gas pipelines is vital to the establishment of new pipelines. While the sections on the processing of gas for various end uses, like nitrogenous fertilisers, helps engineers running refineries.
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