Gas Dehydration Rev-Av1

Gas Dehydration
Petronas, Kuala Lumpur

3rd– 7th November 2008
Andrew Vieler
Copyright Virtual Materials Group, Inc. 2008 - All Rights Reserved
Why Dehydrate?
• Avoid water condensation
• Avoid hydrate formation
• Avoid corrosion
– Water and CO2 or water and sour components can
increase corrosion
– inhibitors must otherwise be added to prevent
corrosion
• Meet pipeline specifications
– In Alberta, sweet gas = 4 lb water/MMscf with a water
dew point of 14 F at 800 psig

Methods to Dehydrate Gas
• Adsorption with solid desiccant
• Cooling, condensation and separation
– With injection of hydrate inhibitor to prevent hydrate
formation
• Absorption with liquid desiccant
• Injection of hydrate inhibitor and absorption with
a liquid desiccant

Water Content
• Need to know the water content in a given gas
stream
• Water will depend on T, P and gas composition
• Composition effect increases as pressures
increase
• Acid gases tend to increase the water capacity
of a gas stream

Water Content
• Number of methods available to predict the
water content in gases including high AG
content
• Historically thermodynamic models in process
simulators did not always predict the water
content of gases well
• Advanced Peng Robinson for Natural Gas
Property Package (APR for Natural Gas) was
developed, partly to address this deficiency

APR for Natural Gas
• Developed to address difficult areas in natural
gas and crude oil processing, particularly where
polar compounds are involved.
• These include:
– Acid Gas Properties
• Water Content
• Physical Properties
• Solubilities in Solvents
– Physical Properties of Glycols
– Hydrocarbons in Glycols
– BTEX in Glycols

APR For Natural Gas
• Gas Hydrate Predictions
– Including the effects of acid gases
• Hydrate Inhibition Predictions
– Ethylene Glycol
– Methanol
• Mercury
– Mercury Vapor Pressure
– Mercury solubility in hydrocarbons
• Brine Properties

APR For Natural Gas
• The APR for Natural Gas should be used in any
system that involves these systems
• The APR for Natural Gas, in conjunction with the
unit operations available in iCON, provides a
powerful simulation tool for these processes

Water Content Prediction
Saturated Water Content CO2 Rich Mixtures - GPA RR-120
450
400
350
300
Water Content, lb/MMSCF
250
200
150
100
50
0
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000
Pressure, psia
Pure C1 90°F CO2-rich 90°F CO2-rich 120°F CO2-rich 122°F

Saturation/Psychrometric Ops
• Useful for determining the water contents of gas
streams
• Both allow the dry process stream and
saturating liquid compositions to be specified
• The saturated stream will leave at the same T
and P of the dry stream
• The Psychrometric Op allows a fraction of
saturation to be specified

Dehydration
• Absorption with liquid desiccant
• Liquid desiccant is usually more economical
• Equipment is easier to maintain, operate and
automate
• Glycol (DEG, TEG) most common liquid
desiccant
• Suitable for water dewpoint depressions from 60
to 120 F

Typical Process Configuration

Inlet Separator
• Prevents liquids from entering the absorber
– Water
– Hydrate inhibitor
– Liquid hydrocarbons
• Entrained liquids will cause foaming
• The design of the inlet separator should be
carefully considered

Absorber
• Used to contact Lean Glycol and Feed Gas to
produce a Dry Gas and Rich Glycol
• The Lean Glycol temperature should be 10°F
(6°C) above the Feed Gas Temperature
• The Lean Glycol Temperature should not
exceed 120°F (~50°C)

Absorber
• Typically will need 2-3 theoretical stages
• Stage efficiency with bubble caps is 25%
• Stage efficiency with valve trays is 33%
• Hydrocarbon uptake increases with pressure
and circulation rate

Rich/Lean Exchanger
• Recovers heat in the regenerated glycol by
preheating the rich glycol entering the
regenerator
• Typical outlet temperature of the rich stream
entering the regenerator is 300°F (~150°C)
• Large units may have more elaborate heat
exchange configurations

Regenerator
• 3 - 4 theoretical stages are usually required
(condenser, reboiler and 1 - 2 theoretical stages)
• The reboiler temperature depends on the glycol
being used (lower than the degradation
temperature)
– TEG 400°F (204.5°C)
– DEG 330°F (165.5°C)
• The condenser temperature should be
maintained at 210-215°F (~98-101°C) to
minimize the make-up water required

Regenerator
• The condenser in the model may be moved
outside the tower and replaced with a three
phase separator to recover liquid hydrocarbons
(typically with a dehydration feed gas with high
BTEX content)

Initial Simulation Parameters
• Lean TEG Recycle to Contactor
– Typically 98.6 wt% TEG
• Note that it is most values are reported in mass fraction or
wt%
– Lean TEG T = Feed Gas T + 10°F (6°C)
– Pressure above Absorber Overhead pressure
– Use an initial circulation rate of 3 USGal per lb of
water to be removed

• Absorber
– 2 - 3 ideal stages
– Tower DP = 3 psi (~0.2 bar)
• Flash Drum
– Pressure = 60 psig (~5.2 bar)
• Rich Lean Exchanger
– Both Side DP = 2 psi (~0.15 bar)
– Rich TEG to Regenerator T = 300°F (~150°C)

• Regenerator
– 3 stages (1 ideal tray, reboiler and condenser)
– Condenser P = 14.7 psia (1.01 bara)
– Reboiler P = 15 psia (1.
– Condenser T spec = 215°F (101°C)
– Reboiler T spec = 400°F (204°C) for TEG

• TEG Makeup Stream
– T = 100°F (~38°C)
– P > P of reboiler
– 100 % TEG
• TEG Makeup rate calculation
– Specify required circulation rate at the TEG makeup
mixer outlet
– The TEG makeup flow will be calculated

• Charge Pump
– 75 % efficiency
• Sales Lean Exchanger
– Both sides DP = 5 psi
– Lean TEG T = Feed Gas T + 10°F (6°C)
– Lean TEG P= Absorber Overhead P + 5 (0.35 bar)

Key Operating Parameters
• Number of stages in the absorber
• The glycol circulation rate
– Note that hydrocarbon uptake increases with
circulation rate
• Lean glycol concentration
– Limited by degradation T of glycol if conventional
dehydration plant is used
– Enhanced regeneration schemes are required to
obtain leaner glycol

Enhanced TEG Regeneration
Fig 20-77 From the 12th Edition of the GPSA Engineering Data Book 2004
• Stripping Gas
– Passes dry gas into the regenerator
– Can be injected directly into the reboiler
– Can also be injected into a packed section below the
reboiler
• Vacuum
– The regenerator is run under a vaccum

• Drizo®
– Uses superheated paraffinic and aromatic HCs to
strip TEG to >99.99 wt% purity
– TEG can be further dried with solid desiccant
• Coldfinger®
– Condensing tube inserted into surge tank vapor
space to condense equilibrium vapor
– Condensed vapor is removed
– Rich TEG from contactor often used as coolant in
COLDFINGER tube bundle

• The following is a summary of the reported TEG
Concentrations and possible water dewpoint
depressing with each of the enhanced TEG
regeneration processes
Fig 20-79 From the 12th Edition of the GPSA Engineering Data Book 2004

Name Wet Gas
T [C] 35
P [bar] 69
Mole flowrates [kgmole/h]
NITROGEN 58.12
HYDROGEN SULFIDE 0.00
CARBON DIOXIDE 16.88
METHANE 1533.82
ETHANE 63.20
PROPANE 31.18
ISOBUTANE 6.00
n-BUTANE 14.30
ISOPENTANE 4.38
n-PENTANE 4.29
C6+
C6+* 4.04 MW 110.0
WATER 6.92 NBP 120.0 °C
TRIETHYLENE GLYCOL 0.00

Gas Dehydration Rev-Av1

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Gas Dehydration

Petronas, Kuala Lumpur

Copyright Virtual Materials Group, Inc. 2008 - All Rights Reserved

Copyright Virtual Materials Group, Inc. 2008 - All Rights Reserved

Copyright Virtual Materials Group, Inc. 2008 - All Rights Reserved

Copyright Virtual Materials Group, Inc. 2008 - All Rights Reserved

Copyright Virtual Materials Group, Inc. 2008 - All Rights Reserved

Copyright Virtual Materials Group, Inc. 2008 - All Rights Reserved

Copyright Virtual Materials Group, Inc. 2008 - All Rights Reserved

Pure C1 90°F CO2-rich 90°F CO2-rich 120°F CO2-rich 122°F

Copyright Virtual Materials Group, Inc. 2008 - All Rights Reserved

Copyright Virtual Materials Group, Inc. 2008 - All Rights Reserved

Copyright Virtual Materials Group, Inc. 2008 - All Rights Reserved

Copyright Virtual Materials Group, Inc. 2008 - All Rights Reserved

Copyright Virtual Materials Group, Inc. 2008 - All Rights Reserved

Copyright Virtual Materials Group, Inc. 2008 - All Rights Reserved

Copyright Virtual Materials Group, Inc. 2008 - All Rights Reserved

Copyright Virtual Materials Group, Inc. 2008 - All Rights Reserved

Copyright Virtual Materials Group, Inc. 2008 - All Rights Reserved

Copyright Virtual Materials Group, Inc. 2008 - All Rights Reserved

Copyright Virtual Materials Group, Inc. 2008 - All Rights Reserved

Copyright Virtual Materials Group, Inc. 2008 - All Rights Reserved

Copyright Virtual Materials Group, Inc. 2008 - All Rights Reserved

Copyright Virtual Materials Group, Inc. 2008 - All Rights Reserved

Copyright Virtual Materials Group, Inc. 2008 - All Rights Reserved

Copyright Virtual Materials Group, Inc. 2008 - All Rights Reserved

Copyright Virtual Materials Group, Inc. 2008 - All Rights Reserved

Copyright Virtual Materials Group, Inc. 2008 - All Rights Reserved

Copyright Virtual Materials Group, Inc. 2008 - All Rights Reserved

Copyright Virtual Materials Group, Inc. 2008 - All Rights Reserved

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