The oil and gas industry uses a lot of specialized equipment. Without this equipment, the oil and gas industry would not be able to function successfully and efficiently. Learn more about the most common equipment found in the oil and gas industry.
Boilers
Steam has many uses in the oil and gas industry, and boilers are one of the tools that can create large amounts of steam. Steam distillation, process heating, and vacuum distillation processes all use boilers to convert water into steam. In fact, the production process for oil and gas uses boilers multiple times before sending the product to the refinery.
Heat Exchangers
Heat exchangers transfer heat from one medium to another and are essential tools in the oil and gas industry. These heat exchangers are usually made from nickel alloys, which are some of the common metal alloys used in the oil and gas industry. Heat exchangers are made of nickel alloys because nickel can withstand both high and low temperatures. There are a few different heat exchangers that you’ll find in this industry.
- Plate exchanger: A heat exchanger that transfers heat between two fluids using metal plates.
- Shell and tube exchanger: A heat exchanger that uses many tubes gathered in a single container to transfer heat from the liquid in the tubes to the surrounding liquid in the container.
- Regenerative exchanger: A heat exchanger that stores hot fluid in thermal storage before transferring heat to the other liquid.
Valves and Pipelines
The last of the most common equipment found in the oil and gas industry are valves and pipelines. Valves and pipelines control and transport fluids and gases safely from one area to another. The valves control the fluid or gas flow while the pipes control the direction.
