Environmental Efficiency Assessment of Gas Supply Systems Based on Their Life Cycle Analysis

Abstract

Introduction. The most forward-looking method of choosing the optimal technology of the populated areas’ life support systems is the environmental and economic efficiency assessment of each type of such systems, wherein their life cycle assessment analysis is considered to be the primal stage. The scientific problem distinguished by the authors is the need to assess a life cycle of a gas supply system, which provides the organised supply and distribution of gas fuel to consumers. The study aims at finding the optimal combination of the environmental and economic factors for the gas control station variants by means of the life cycle analysis method followed by the environmental and economic efficiency assessment of the gas supply systems’ management and operation.Materials and Methods. The authors' research was based on the object’s life cycle analysis method compliant with the quality management system, methods of selection theory and environmental and economic efficiency assessment of various objects.Results. As a result of the research, it was determined that:- a gas control station is of particular interest in terms of choosing the optimal technology of the organised supply and distribution of gas fuel to consumers;- for gas control stations, the life cycle analysis and environmental and economic efficiency assessment method is the most appropriate one;- a gas control station life cycle includes 11 stages, among which the operational stage is identified by the authors as the main one;- for the selected variants of a gas control station layout, the environmental and economic efficiency assessment is made.Discussion and Conclusions. The life cycle analysis of the gas control stations of the gas supply systems made it possible to distinguish the operational stage as the most significant one. For each of the two variants of such stations selected by the authors, the environmental and economic efficiency assessment was carried out. Upon calculation results, it was discovered that among the variants under consideration, a gas control station with an expander-generator unit has the highest environmental and economic efficiency and its layout could be widely implemented in future.