DESIGN BASIS

20601930‐DOC‐01‐001

2 29-OCT-19 ISSUED FOR DESIGN J. AU - JBG

1 26-SEP-19 ISSUED FOR DESIGN J. AU - JBG
0 26-AUG-19 ISSUED FOR DESIGN J. AU - JBG
A 25-JUL-19 ISSUED FOR REVIEW J. AU - JBG

WRITTEN BY CHECKED BY APPROVED BY

REV. DATE STATUS
(NAME & SIGN) (NAME & SIGN) (NAME & SIGN)
DOCUMENT REVISIONS
 20601930‐DOC‐01‐001
Rev. 2
Design Basis
29‐Oct‐19
1.1 Introduction

Client has been contracted by RDF Stevens LLC (client) to provide a renewable natural gas
treatment facility to treat and compress bio digester gas to meet pipeline specifications for natural
gas. The facility is to be a hub and spoke design with three farm sites and a central treatment and
custody transfer site. The project is located in Stevens County, Minnesota, USA. This document
entails the basis for which the process will be designed and the necessary requirements.

1.2 Capacity

The plant will include three farm site locations and one central processing facility. The central
processing site will be designed for a normal capacity of 1,520 SCFM of digester biogas with a peak
capacity of 1,800 SCFM. The pre‐treatment capacity is designed for each of the farm sites as follows:
 West River Dairy: 480 SCFM normal, 600 SCFM peak
 Riverview Dairy: 480 SCFM normal, 600 SCFM peak
 District 45 Dairy: 560 SCFM normal, 600 SCFM peak

The system will be designed to have a turn down of 33% of the maximum capacity.

No uptime or availability requirement. Best engineering practices will used to maximize the plant
availability and uptime within the scope of the client’s budget. Individual equipment vendors
performance guarantees will pass through.

There is no specific requirement for utility consumption other than Venturi performance guarantee.
However, best engineering practices will be used to optimize the utility consumption.

1.3 Feedstock Properties

AMP provided the feedstock properties at each of the farm sites for the design of the plant:

West River Dairy Riverview Dairy District 45

Pressure (psig) 0 0 0
Temperature (°F) 80‐105 80‐105 80‐155
Methane, CH4 (mol) 52‐60% 52‐60% 52‐60%
Carbon Dioxide, CO2 (mol) 40‐48% 40‐48% 40‐48%
Nitrogen, N2 (mol) < 1% < 1% < 1%
Oxygen, O2 (mol) < 0.4% < 0.4% < 0.4%
Hydrogen Sulfide, H2S (ppm) 3000 – 6000 3000 – 6000 3000 – 6000
Siloxane N/A N/A N/A
Volatile Organic Carbon (VOC) < 10 < 10 < 10
(ppm)
Water Saturated Saturated Saturated
Table 1.1: Farm Site Feedstock Properties

For the Heat and Material Balance, here are the design feedstock properties:

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 20601930‐DOC‐01‐001
Rev. 2
Design Basis
29‐Oct‐19

Dry Gas Feedstock Wet Gas Feedstock

Flow (SCFM, lb/hr) ‐ 600, 2619.5
Pressure (psig) 0 0
Temperature (°F) 100 100
Methane, CH4 (mol) 55.6% 52.02%
Carbon Dioxide, CO2 (mol) 43% 40.23%
Nitrogen, N2 (mol) 0.7% 0.66%
Oxygen, O2 (mol) 0.3% 0.28%
Hydrogen Sulfide, H2S (ppm) 4000 (0.4 mol%) 3743 (0.37 mol%)
Siloxane 0 0
Volatile Organic Carbon (VOC) 0 0
(ppm)
Water (mol) 0 6.44%
Table 1.2: Design Feedstock Composition

1.4 Product Specifications

The intermediate product from each of the farm sites will have the H2S reduced to less than <15
ppm. The water dew point will be below 30°F at 100 psig. Due to the low due point for the gas from
the farm sites, there is no requirement for any knock out pots in the interconnect pipeline due to
free water.

The product from the central processing facility will be designed to meet the Alliance pipeline
specification. The specifications for the product gas are:

Product Specification
Energy Content ≥ 962 BTU/SCF
Carbon Dioxide, CO2 ≤ 2% v/v
Oxygen, O2 ≤ 0.4% v/v
Water Vapor ≤ 4 lbs / MMSCF
Hydrogen Sulfide, H2S ≤ 1 grain / 100 SCF
Total Sulfur ≤ 5 grain / 100 SCF
Total non‐hydrocarbon gases ≤ 4%
Temperature > 41°F and < 122°F
Hydrocarbon dew point ≤ 14°F at operating pressure
Table 1.3: Product Specification; Alliance Pipeline Specification

In addition to these specification, the pressure for the product from the system will be designed to
be 1935 psig.

1.5 Operating Range and Feedstock Criteria

The process equipment will be sized to operate in the range of 33% to 100% of the design
throughput. This can be achieved through recirculation when operating at lower flow rates.

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 20601930‐DOC‐01‐001
Rev. 2
Design Basis
29‐Oct‐19
The designed operating range for the farm site facilities are:

Feedstock Criteria
Methane, CH4 (mol) > 45%
Carbon Dioxide, CO2 (mol) < 52%
Nitrogen, N2 (mol) < 1%
Oxygen, O2 (mol) < 0.4%
Hydrogen Sulfide, H2S (ppm) 3000 – 6000
Siloxane 0
Volatile Organic Carbon (VOC) < 10
(ppm)
Water No free water
Table 1.4: Farm Site Feedstock Properties

1.6 Site Conditions

1.6.1 Site Location

The geographic coordinates (Lat, Lon, Elev) of four site locations and their respective tie‐ins
will be determined by client survey and provided to Client at a later date. The rough
coordinates of the 4 sites are provided below and are referenced on proposal drawing
20601832‐DWG‐01‐500‐01 Amp Overall Site Plan.

Location elevation is 1150 ft above sea level.

Riverview Dairy
Lat: 45.525240 deg. N
Lon: 95.884047 deg. W

West River Dairy

Lat: 45.493755 deg. N
Lon: 96.010789 deg. W

District 45 Dairy
Lat: 45.433932 deg. N
Lon: 95.847236 deg. W

Central Processing Plant

Lat: 45.474713 deg. N
Lon: 95.872036 deg. W
Note: Final location TBC. Pending Alliance hot tap location and final site layout.

1.6.2 Site Conditions

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 20601930‐DOC‐01‐001
Rev. 2
Design Basis
29‐Oct‐19

1.6.2.1 Barometric Pressure

 Minimum: 29.4 inHg (14.44 psia)

 Maximum: 30.5 inHg (14.98 psia)
 Average: 30.0 inHg (14.73 psia)

1.6.2.2 Air Temperature

 Design Maximum Temperature: 100°F

 Design Minimum Temperature: ‐30°F for outdoor equipment (subject to final design); ‐20°F
for indoor equipment
 Average Temperature: Avg. low‐high (July): 60 ‐ 81°F; Avg. low‐high (January): 0 ‐ 20°F
 Design Temperature for Air Cooling: 85°F subject to financial evaluation at 95°F

1.6.2.3 Rainfall

 Average Annual Rainfall: 26.5 in/year.

1.6.2.4 Ground Snow Load

 50 lbs/ft2 per ASCE 7‐10

1.6.2.5 Frost Depth

 22 – 27 inches as of winter 2018

1.6.2.6 Relative Humidity

 Annual Average: 75.26%

 Normal Average (low to high): Avg. low‐high (July ’19): 53.8%‐97.3%; Avg. low‐high (Jan.
’19): 60.8%‐87%
o Humidity data based off St. Cloud’s regional airport station
 Design Humidity: 75.26%

1.6.2.7 Wind Load Basis

 Design Wind Speed: 120 mph per ASCE 07‐2010

1.6.2.8 Seismic Rating

 Site SS – 0.088, Si 0 0.026 per ASCE7 – 2010 Site Class D (Subject to Final Geotech Report)

1.6.2.9 Noise Limits

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Rev. 2
Design Basis
29‐Oct‐19

Equipment shall not exceed 85 dBA at a distance of 3 ft. (except for equipment located indoors,
to be provided by the client).

1.7 Key Process Decisions

1. The basis for the farm site treatment will be:

a. Venturi System to reduce H2S levels to most optimum for operating cost followed by a
carbon polishing system to reduce the H2S to below levels required for the DMT process.
i. The carbon bed will also be used as a backup to achieve full H2S removal in the
event the venturi system is not operating. A fresh load of carbon media will be
designed to last 26 days for the entire vessel. Half the carbon bed can be
changed while the system is online.
b. Water removal will be done by chilling the gas to 40°F at 100 psig; followed by further
removal by adsorbent to reach a 30°F at 100 psig dew point.
2. The central treatment facility will use DMT membrane technology to upgrade the biogas to
meet the pipeline specifications.
3. Heat tracing only on piping outside the building with water content.
4. Plastic (e.g., PCV/HDPE, or equivalent as required) or stainless steel (304), depending on
temperature, pressure and service, will be provided for all BOP piping at the farm sites.
5. No operational spares. During design the client will evaluate to see where space for a future
operational spare may make sense and advise Client to reserve designated space as such.
This must take place during the plot plan review cycle prior to piping layout (transposition).
6. Preliminary flare sizing will be based on maximum flow and normal composition from digesters.
7. Data collection for metering of the gas flows needs to be recorded every minute and cannot
exceed 15 minutes. The data needs to have redundancy. Redundancy to be finalized during
detailed engineering. Redundancy can be in the form of calculated redundancy (i.e. mass
balance on other instruments), not a meter on the same line.
8. Farm site flow measurement entering the interconnect pipeline needs to have redundancy.
9. Gas flow to flare needs to have redundancy and the flare tip temperature must be monitored.
10. AMP has accepted the risk of having the product compressor only able to flow 1,156 SCFM at
105°F. This is below the design requirement.

1.8 Codes and Standards

1.9 Units

The standard conditions are 60°F and 1 atm.

Variable Unit
Preferred Optional
Pressure psig in. H2O
Flow (Volume), liquid gal/min ft3/hr
Flow (Volume), gas ft3/min ft3/hr
Flow (Molar) lbmole/hr

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Rev. 2
Design Basis
29‐Oct‐19
Flow (Mass) lb/hr
Mass lb
Volume ft3 gal (liquid)
Temperature °F
Vacuum mmHg psig
Density lb/ft3
Viscosity cP
Rotation RPM
Speed ft/s
Distance ft in
Force lbf
Diameter (Pipe / Valves / inch
Connections)
Area ft2 in2
Voltage V kV
Mechanical Power hp
Current A
Frequency Hz
Electrical Power kW
Time s min, hr
Noise dB
Enthalpy btu/lb
Heat Capacity Btu/lbmol °F
Heat Exchanged btu/hr MMbtu/hr
Fouling Factor °F‐hr‐ft2/btu
Concentration mol % ppm
Level % (0 – 100%) ft
Table 1.5: Units of Measure
Note: If metric units are used, US units shall also be provided.

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THIS DOCUMENT IS THE WORK PRODUCT OF Client, INC. IT IS TO BE USED SOLELY FOR THE PURPOSE FOR WHICH IT IS FURNISHED.
REPRODUCTION, COPYING, OR TRANSFER DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY IS PROHIBITED.