Unit 5 1

Notes

Gas Processing
Objectives
After reading this unit, you will be able to:

y Understand properties and the characteristics of

natural gas.
y Understand the objectives for processing the gas and
configuration of a gas processing complex.
y Get familiar with processing schemes for various gas
processing units.
y Understand the technical aspects of LNG business

Characteristics of Natural Gas

Physical Properties

0
Natural gas is gaseous at any temperature over -161 C
(2580F). Since that is a very cold temperature, we normally
consider natural gas as a gas. Natural gas boils at
0
atmospheric pressure and a temperature of -161 C,
0
exactly like water turns into a vapor (steam) at +100 C.
Natural gas is handled in a wide range of operating
conditions - as a liquid below -1610C (LNG) and also as
compressed gas at 200 Bar (3,000 psi) for automobile
(CNG).

In its pure state, natural gas is odorless, colorless, and

tasteless. For safety reasons, however, an odorant called
Mercaptan is added, so that any leak can be easily
detected because of the typical smell.

Concept of Volume and Weight

6 The volume of natural gas is measured in cubic meters

3
(M ) or cubic feet (cu.ft. or cft)

6 Its flow in M3/hr or cu.ft./hr or cfh at operating condition.

6 The production figures are normally given in Standard

Cubic Meters per Day (SCMD) or Standard Cubic Feet
per Day (SCFD).
 Understanding Oil & Gas Business

2 6 Since the quantity of gas per unit volume is highly

Notes sensitive to pressure and temperature of the gas, the
volumetric capacity is always referred to a standard
reference temperature and pressure. In metric unit. 1
SCMD means 1 cubic meter of gas at a standard
condition of 0 0C and 1 atmosphere pressure. Similarly 1
0
SCFD means I cubic foot of gas at 60 F and 1 atmosphere
pressure.

6 One SCMD equals 37.8 SCFD.

3
6 One cubic meter (SM ) of natural gas weighs roughly 0.8
Kg. Comparatively one M3 of oil weighs about 800 Kg.

6 Because of large volume the gas occupies, its

transportation is more expensive than oil for equivalent
weight.

6 For transportation across the seas, Natural gas is

condensed to LNG and put into marine tankers. This
reduces the volume more than 600 times.

3
6 That means 600 cubic meters (M ) of gas (which is
roughly 480 Kg) is made into 1 cubic meter of LNG.

The Composition of Natural Gas:

The composition of natural gas varies widely from one

field to the other. The main constituents of natural gas are
the lightest hydrocarbons i.e. Methane, ethane, propane,
butane, and traces of heavier components like pentane.
However, methane is generally the largest component.
Methane is normally between 85% to 95% of the total
volume. Other components like nitrogen, carbon dioxide,
oxygen, hydrogen sulfide and traces of other gases can be
present.

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and carbon dioxide (CO2) are often

present in the gas. CO2 is corrosive to the pipeline and
equipment in presence of water. H2S is both corrosive and
very toxic (hazardous to health). The range of composition
of natural gas has been presented in Unit 1.
 UNIT 5 Gas Processing

Important Physical Properties of Natural Gas 3

Activity 5a
Calorific value of a hydrocarbon is measure of heat
released by burning unit volume or weight of the
hydrocarbon. Heavier the gas, lower is the calorific
value per unit weight of the gas and higher the calorific Estimate the specific
gravity of methane and
value per unit volume of the gas.
butane.
Specific gravity of a gas is defined as the weight of a
given volume of the gas compared to the weight of the
same amount of air at the same temperature and pressure,
where air weight is taken as reference (= 1).

6 Specific gravity of air = 1.00

6 Specific gravity of methane = 0.55

6 Specific gravity of natural gas = typically 0.60

6 Specific gravity of propane = 1.56

6 Specific gravity of butane = 2.00

This means that natural gas being lighter than air will rise if
escaping, thus dissipating from the site of a leak. This
important characteristic makes natural gas safer than most
fuels.

Natural gas does not contain any toxic component;

therefore there is no health hazard in handling of the fuel.
Heavy concentrations, however, can cause drowsiness
and eventual suffocation.

Chemical Properties

The air-to-fuel ratio (AFR) indicates the amount of air

relative to the amount of fuel used in combustion. The
minimum amount of air relative to fuel for complete
combustion is called the stoichiometric ratio. The
stoichiometric ratio for natural gas (and most gaseous
fuels) is normally indicated by volume. The air to natural
gas (stoichiometric) ratio by volume for complete
combustion is 9.5:1 to 10:1. This ratio is approximate only
because of the variations in fuel composition.
 Understanding Oil & Gas Business

4 The Lower Explosive Limit (LEL) and the Upper

Notes Explosive Limit (UEL) determine the range of
flammability. For natural gas, the LEL is 4%, while the
UEL is 14%. It means that a natural gas mixture ignites
within a range of 25:1 to 7:1 air-to-fuel ratio by volume. By
comparison, a propane mixture ignites within a range 2%
LEL to 10% UEL. It means a gas leaner or richer outside
the explosive limits is not explosive.

Natural gas has a very high octane number,

approximately 130. By comparison, propane is
approximately 105, and gasoline 92 to 94 at best. This
means that a higher compression ratio engine can be used
with natural gas than gasoline. Indeed, many racing cars
use the high octane rating of natural gas to give them more
power.

Processing and Utilization

At the oil/gas fields, a number of processing steps are put in

place before the gas is sent to the consumer. These
include:

6 separation to remove liquids (oil or condensate), and

water.

6 dehydration to minimize moisture,

6 compression to meet destination pressure and

6 if necessary Sweetening to remove Hydrogen sulfide

and Carbon dioxide

The processing of gas needed in the oilfield has been

discussed in Unit 4.

The transportation of natural gas is normally done by long

distance cross-country pipeline (Unit-8). When the cost of
laying a pipeline is prohibitive or it is not practicable due to
technical, socio-political or any other reason, gas is
liquefied as LNG and transported over the high seas by
LNG tankers.

The further processing of gas for its utilization and

valorization is described in this section.
 UNIT 5 Gas Processing

Overview of Gas Processing 5

Activity 1a

Why Gas Processing

The purpose pf gas processing operation is three fold:

6 Removal of impurities like moisture, hydrogen sulfide,

carbon dioxide etc. to make it suitable for transportation
and consumer acceptability.

6 Liquefaction and recovery of hydrocarbon

components like ethane, propane, LPG, generally by
low temperature refrigeration or cryogenic processes.
These go as feedstock for petrochemical
manufacture.

6 Liquefaction of the entire gas to LNG under

cryogenic temperatures (-1600C) for transportation
purposes.

A gas processing plant may be built to meet one or more of

the above objectives. Now let us get an overview of the gas
processing facilities in terms of block diagrams.

Removal of Impurities

The main impurities present in the gas are moisture,

carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, nitrogen, mercury.

Some of these need to be removed totally (to a few ppm

level), while some need to be brought down in
concentration.

Gas Dehydration: The gas need to be dehydrated

because -

6 Moisture causes corrosion in the pipeline particularly

when carbon dioxide or hydrogen sulfide are present.
Also any condensation reduces pipeline efficiency.

6 Natural gas forms hydrates during low temperature

gas processing operations. As explained earlier,
hydrates tend to choke or block the equipment.
 Understanding Oil & Gas Business

6 Gas Sweetening: Removal of carbon dioxide and

Notes hydrogen sulfide from gas is called gas sweetening. Gas
bearing hydrogen sulfide is called acid gas.

Why carbon dioxide need to be removed:

6 Carbon dioxide corrodes pipeline and equipment

6 It forms ice during cryogenic processing

Why hydrogen sulfide need to be removed:

6 It is very toxic

6 It is highly corrosive

Mercury removal: In some of the gas fields, the gases

carry mercury. Removal of mercury is necessary as it
damages the steel equipment in gas processing.

Recovery of Hydrocarbons

The objective is to recover hydrocarbons like ethane,

propane, butane by condensing them at very low
temperatures and then purifying by fractionation. The word
'cryogenic' is used for low temperature processing.

The operating condition for recovery of the hydrocarbons in

gas are:

6 Recovery of NGL : +5 to 10 0C at high pressure

0 2
6 Recovery of LPG : -35 to -45 C at 12 Kg/cm
0
6 Recovery of Ethane : -65 to -75 C at 30 to 40
2
Kg/cm .
Liquefaction of Gas

For liquefaction of gas for transportation purpose (LNG),

temperature below -1600C is required at atmospheric
pressure. During liquefaction normally LPG and ethane are
recovered when temperature levels mentioned above are
reached. The remaining bulk of the gas, mainly methane, is
transported as LNG. As mentioned later, LNG by itself is a
large and complex industry.
 UNIT 5 Gas Processing

There could be processing at lower temperatures for 7

helium recovery or nitrogen rejection for gases containing Activity 1b
high amount of nitrogen.

Essentially to recover any component, the gas need to be

chilled to a temperature at which the component will Search and describe
ONGC’s gas processing
condense.
facility at Hazira and
Uran.
The flow diagram and brief description of the processes are
given later.

An overall block diagram of the processing steps in a gas

processing plant is given in Fig. 5.1.

Gas received from pipeline often comes along with 'slugs'

of liquid (NGL). This is trapped in 'Slug catcher'. The
liquids are separated in the slug catcher. The gas is first
sweetened to remove H2S (if it is a sour gas). Some amount
of carbon dioxide also gets removed along with H2S.
Normally H2S is not allowed to be discharged into the
atmosphere. It is converted to sulfur in a sulfur recovery
plant. Sulfur comes out as a byproduct.

Gas is then compressed to the desired pressure and

dehydrated to bone dry (below 1 ppm water) state for
cryogenic processing. Presence of moisture in the gas can
create hydrate formation. If cryogenic processing is not
done, dehydration requirement is still there, but less
severe.

Cryogenic processing of the gas is then carried out for

separation of the hydrocarbons into

6 LPG for use as domestic fuel

6 NGL for sale to refinery or petrochemical plant

6 Ethane/propane mix as feedstock for petrochemical

plant

6 Methane is used to generate power or make fertilizers

and other chemicals.
 8
Notes

Fig. 5.1
Gas Processing

H2S, CO2

Feed Gas Slug Gas Gas Sulfur

Catcher Compression Sweetening Plant

C5+
Sulfur Product
Condensate Gas
Stabilization Dehydration

Low Temp. LPG

C2
Processing
Condensate Product LNG

C5+
Dew Point
Understanding Oil & Gas Business

Gas to Pipeline
Control
 UNIT 5 Gas Processing

There are two possible ways the methane rich gas after 9
recovery of heavy hydrocarbons is transported to the user: Notes

6 Through pipeline

6 Converting the gas to LNG and exporting by marine

tankers

If LNG is to be made, a deeper cryogenic process will be

0
needed to bring the temperature of the gas to -160 C. LNG
is normally exported after recovering the LPG out of the
gas.

Part or whole of the gas can be sent by pipeline to the

consumers if transportation by pipeline is feasible. Before
sending to the pipeline, the gas is chilled to the lowest
temperature it will face in its route to the destination. This
helps to drop out and separate the NGL or condensate
which would otherwise drop off in the pipeline as liquids,
reducing pipeline efficiency and capacity to transport the
gas.

This process of chilling the gas to moderately low

temperatures to prevent further condensation in the
pipeline is called Dew Point Depression or Dew Point
Control. Literally, it means processing to prevent formation
of hydrocarbon dews in the pipeline due to cooling.

Condensates from various units of gas processing plant

(C5+ components) are passed through separators to drop
the pressure and stabilize it. Condensate is sold to a
refinery or a petrochemical feedstock. The refineries distill
it as blending stock for gasoline and kerosene.

Condensate could be a good feedstock for the

petrochemical plant also for

6 cracking to olefins and

6 polymerization of the olefins to plastics.

Thus gas processing plant essentially prepares the

feedstock for further processing at refinery and
petrochemical plants.
 Understanding Oil & Gas Business

10 Process Description
Activity 1 b Gas Dehydration

There are two types of gas dehydration processes:

Adsorption Processes: These are solid bed processes

using reagents like Molecular Sieve or Alumina as
adsorbents.

Absorption Processes: These use liquid absorbents

which absorb the moisture from the gas.

Normally Absorption Process using liquid absorbents are

used in the oilfield dehydration of natural gas. In the oil/gas
field gas is saturated with water vapor. To prevent corrosion
in the pipeline caused by moisture in presence of other
contaminants like carbon dioxide, the gas need to be dried
to a level of moisture content of 7 lbs/Million Standard
Cubic Feet (about 120 ppm). This is suitably achieved by
Absorption Process using Glycols as the reagent for
absorbing moisture from gas. Normally Tri-Ethylene
Glycol (TEG) is used as the reagent. A flow diagram of the
process is given in Fig. 5.2.

Wet natural gas is introduced in the Absorber (also called

Contactor) at the bottom and goes up through contactor
plates in the column. It contacts lean glycol solution fed at
the top of the column and traveling down the column. The
moisture from the gas is absorbed by the glycol and the dry
gas leaves the absorber for further processing. The rich
glycol (glycol with absorbed water) is drawn from the
bottom.

The rich glycol (glycol plus water) is then regenerated in a

stripping column at near atmospheric pressure using
heat to boil off the moisture at around 200 0C.

The absorption column operates at high pressure (at

pressure of the gas) in the range of 30 ata to 70 ata while
the stripper is operated at near about atmospheric
pressure. There is a heat exchange between rich glycol
and hot regenerated lean glycol which reduces the energy
requirement in the stripper and cools the lean glycol before
it is re-circulated to the absorber.
 Fig. 5.2
Gas Dehydration Using TEG (Glycol Dehydration)
Dry Natural Vent off-Gas
Gas Burner
Stripping
Gas Exhaust
Absorber Still
Moist
Natural
Gas Reboiler
UNIT 5 Gas Processing

Natural
Surge Gas
Gas/Glycol Flash Gas to Tank
Heat Vent, Fuel, or
Exchanger Stripping Gas

Lean Glycol
Inlet
Separator
Rich
Glycol Phase
Separator
Hydrocarbon Glycol
Filter Circulation Rich Glycol
Liquids to Tank
Pump
11
Notes
 Understanding Oil & Gas Business

12 The dry bed processes are not normally used in offshore or

Notes onshore oilfield due to more complexity of operation and
solid handling requirement.

Dry bed processes using molecular sieve granules as

drying agent is used to make the gas bone dry (below 1
ppm moisture) before processing at low temperatures.

Molecular sieves are zeolite granules manufactured

under controlled conditions to create microscopic pores at
its surface. These pores have affinity for water molecules
and moisture gets into the surface of the molecular sieve at
its pores. This process is called adsorption.

Complete drying of the gas is necessary because at low

sub-zero temperatures, under the pressure of gas, the
slightest presence of moisture in the gas can create
hydrate formation.

Hydrates are snow like compounds of hydrocarbons and

water (e.g. methane hydrate) which choke the equipment
and piping during low temperature processing of gas. Once
that happens, the hydrates have to be disintegrated by
injecting small dozes of methanol into the equipment.

Normally two dryers containing beds of molecular sieve are

used. One of the dryers is used for drying and the other is
meanwhile regenerated by removing absorbed water from
the molecular sieve bed by heating (Fig. 5.3). The dryers
are alternately switched over from drying mode to
regeneration mode.

For regeneration, normally dry natural gas heated in a fired

heater is passed through the bed of the dryer.

Dry bed processes are more difficult to operate compared

to the Glycol Dehydration process.

Normally in oilfields offshore and onshore, where

specification of gas for transportation by pipeline is not as
stringent, Glycol Dehydration units are used.
 Fig. 5.3
Dry Bed gas Dehydration

Molecular Sieve
Dryers Spent Regeneration Gas
Feed Gas
Separator

We Feed
UNIT 5 Gas Processing

Gas
Molecular
Sieve
Beds

Regeneration
Gas
Condensed
Liquid Product

Outlet Gas Filter

13
Notes
 Understanding Oil & Gas Business

14 Gas Sweetening
Activity 1d
Hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide and mercaptans can be
removed from natural gas by several processes. The
various processes for sweetening used are:

6 Amine as absorbents (shown here) utilizing mono

ethanolamine (MEA), di-ethanolamine (DEA), DGA.

6 MDEA (methyl di-ethanolamine) and MDEA based

proprietary amines (for all three - effectiveness varies for
Mercaptans) as absorbents.

6 Molecular Sieves (removes H2S and mercaptans only)

6 Batch processes such as Iron Sponge, Sulfa Check and

Chem Sweet (for H2S removal)

6 Physical solvents such as Sulfinol and Ifpexol

6 Membrane process to remove H2S

The choice of sweetening process depends a number of

factors such as:

6 Hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide content

6 Specification of treated gas

6 Temperature and pressure of gas

6 Volume of gas

6 Requirement of converting the hydrogen sulfide to sulfur

Gas sweetening using an amine solution is among the most

widely used method. Fig. 5.4 represents a simple amine
treating facility. Sour gas is introduced in the absorber at
the bottom and goes up through contactor plates in the
column. It contacts lean amine solution (amine solution of
high concentration, free of H2S and CO2) fed at the top of
the column and traveling down the column.
 UNIT 5 Gas Processing

The acid gas components, H2S and CO2, are absorbed by 15

the amine solution and the sweet gas leaves the absorber Notes
for further processing. The rich amine (amine with
dissolved hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide) is drawn
from the bottom.

The absorption column operates at high pressure (at

pressure of the gas) in the range of 30 ata to 70 ata while
the stripper is operated at closer to atmospheric pressure.
The temperature at the absorption column is close to the
ambient temperature (30-40 0C).

The rich amine is sent to a flash tank to drop the pressure

and absorbed hydrocarbons exit as the flash-tank vapor.
The rich amine flows through the lean/rich amine heat
exchanger increasing the temperature to above 1000C.

Fine particles, resulting from wear and tear of the piping

and other equipment, collect in the amine solution, which
ultimately lead to blocking and foam generation in the
column. So there is a amine filtration step before the
regeneration in the stripping column.

The rich amine (amine with dissolved hydrogen sulfide

and carbon dioxide) is separated (regenerated) in a later
step using steam in the stripping column. From the top of
the regeneration column mainly hydrogen sulfide and
carbon dioxide mixture with a little quantity of hydrocarbons
absorbed by the amine come out.

The hot rich amine is stripped at low pressure removing the

absorbed acid gases, dissolved hydrocarbons, and some
water. Considerable amount of energy is required to strip
the amine. Heat is supplied by a firetube type reboiler. The
temperature at the bottom of the stripping column can be
over 200 0C.

The stripped or lean amine is sent back through the

lean/rich exchanger decreasing its temperature. A pump
boosts the pressure such that it is greater than the absorber
column. Finally, a heat exchanger cools the lean solution
before entering the absorber. The lean amine entering the
absorber is usually 40 to 45 0C.
 16
Notes

Fig. 5.4
Amine Sweetening Process

Sweet Gas

Amine Pump

Amine
Amine Cooler & Stripping
Reflux Condenser Still
Charcoal
Filter
Amine
Amine Booster Pump
Contactor

Acid Gas

L.C. Reflux
Accumulator
Sour Gas
Reflux
Pump Amine
Reboiler
Amine Rich/Lean
Understanding Oil & Gas Business

Amine
Flash Tank Heat Exchanger
Filter
Source: www.natcogroup.com
 UNIT 5 Gas Processing

Liquefaction and Recovery of Hydrocarbon 17

Activity 1c
The objective is to recover hydrocarbons like ethane,
propane, butane by condensing them at very low
temperatures and then separating by fractionation. As
indicated earlier, the temperature to which gas need to be List down all gas LPG
chilled depends on what we are trying to recover. LPG can Recovery plants in India
with their location, owner
be recovered by chilling to -15 to -350C. To make the gas to and capacity.
0
LNG, chilling is required belo -160 C. Condensation of part
of the gases takes place at these temperatures.
Fractionation of the condensed liquid is carried out to
separate the components.

To chill the gas, refrigeration is required. There are three

types of processes:

(i) Processes using refrigeration supplied by external

refrigeration systems to chill the gas. Normally
some component of natural gas itself like ethane
or propane is used as refrigerant using conventional
compression refrigeration equipment.

(ii) Processes using expansion of the gas itself to

attain cooling. Gas chills when its pressure is
dropped just as it gets heated when it is
compressed. Turbo-expander process is used to
expand the gas while doing the work of driving a
turbine like equipment called turbo-expander. Thus
it attains cooling by losing its internal energy by
expansion as well by driving the turbo-expander
machine.

(iii) Processes using a combination of external and

internal refrigeration.

A simple conceptual diagram of an external refrigeration

process for LPG Recovery is depicted in Fig.5.5. The
important steps in the process are:

6 Natural gas coming from the source at high pressure is

first dried in molecular sieve dryers.

6 It is then chilled by exchanging heat with the chilled gas

 19
Notes
UNIT 5 Gas Processing

Fig. 5.5
External Refrigeration Process for LPG Recovery

-35 0C

Feed Gas Chiller

35 0C, 50 Bar DRYING -15 0 C
Light
SYSTEM HXR
-35 0C Ends
(Mol Sieve)

LPG
20 0C
Sales Gas Propane Refrig.
20 0C, 48 Bars
Liquids for fractionation

Separator-1 Separator-2
NGL
Fractionator
 Understanding Oil & Gas Business

coming out after LPG Recovery. 18

Notes
0
6 The gas is further chilled to around -35 C using external
propane refrigeration package.

6 At each of the two stages of chilling there are separators

0
to collect the condensed liquids from the gas. At -35 C,
almost all C4 andC5+, most of C3 and some amount of
C2 and C1 components condense.

6 This liquid need to be fractionated to take the light ends

(C1 and C2) out to meet the LPG specifications. LPG and
C5s (NGL) are also separated by the fractionation
system. Generally this is done in a series of two
fractionating columns.

When C2 also need to be condensed and separated, lower

temperatures (-50 to -60 0C)are needed and more than two
fractionation steps may become necessary. The lower
temperatures are obtained by expanding the gas to lower
pressures and by using external ethylene as refrigerant.

Lower temperatures can be achieved by using external

ethylene refrigeration cycle or by Turbo-expander
process shown in Fig.5.6. The diagram actually shows a
combination of external refrigeration and turbo-expander.
The energy given to the turbo-expander is used to re-
compress the outgoing gas. But due to the efficiency factor
of turbo-expander process, it can be recompressed to a
pressure much lower than its original pressure.

By an appropriate combination of external refrigeration and

turbo-expander process, very low temperatures can be
obtained. The choice of the process depends on various
factors like:

6 Pressure of the gas

6 Temperature to which the gas need to be chilled and

components to be recovered

6 Pressure requirement of the outgoing gas by the

customer.
 20
Notes

Fig. 5.6
Turbo-expander Process for LPG Recovery

Turboexpander
-60 0C, 20 Bar
Sales Gas
35 0C, 38 Bars -20 0C, 49 Bar
20 0C, 19 Bar
Light
Ends
Feed Gas Cold Box
35 0C, 50 Bar DRYING
SYSTEM LPG
(Mol Sieve)

Seperator-1 Seperator-2
Refrigerant
Understanding Oil & Gas Business

System NGL
Fractionator
 UNIT 5 Gas Processing

The LNG Cycle 21

Activity 1d
Natural Gas is a highly desirable energy source: it burns
cleanly, with little pollution, it is often inexpensive to
produce and can be transported easily through pipeline
Identify the major
like any other petroleum product. The demand for natural
producers of LNG
gas is growing at a fast pace as a source of energy and
in the world and the
petrochemicals. major importers.

At present, however, the technology does not exist to build

long distance pipelines through the depths of the ocean.
So moving natural gas between continents requires an
alternative approach.

Conversion of natural gas to Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)

is a proven commercial technology for transporting
large volumes of natural gas across oceans by marine
tankers. The utility of liquefying Natural Gas is the
substantial volume reduction gained by liquefaction
(1:620). This volume reduction makes the transportation
and storage of the gas much more convenient.

Typical composition and characteristics of LNG is

presented in Table- 5.1

Table 5.1
LNG Characteristics
LNG Composition (Typical Mol %)

N2 ® 01.0 %
Methane ® 85.1 96.7 % (Lean)
Ethane ® 1.9 8.6 % (Rich)
Propane ® 0.68 4.1 %
i- Butane, nButane ® Traces
Mol. Wt. ® 16.8 19.3 (Rich)
Gross Heating Value ® 10.450 Kcal/NM3
S. G. ® 0.455

6 Methane in Natural Gas does not liquefy under pressure. To make

LNG Natural Gas must be liquefied through refrigeration.

6 Becomes liquid at -160 deg C at atmospheric pressure.

6 Volume reduces by 620 times when liquefied.

6 Spilled LNG will crack a steel plate like boiling water hitting frozen
glass.
 Understanding Oil & Gas Business

22 The LNG industry is economic when liquefaction and the

Notes transportation of LNG is done in very large volumes (say
above 5 Million SCMD and above). This involves a number
of major investment and contractual activities including

6 Liquefaction by the producer of the gas

6 Storage facilities at producer end

6 Loading in tankers and Transportation

6 Receiving/unloading terminal and storage at buyers

end

6 Re-vaporization of LNG to gas, and

6 Distribution to the consumers with a cross country

pipeline network.

This is depicted in Fig. 5.7 and is known in the industry as

The LNG Cycle. This was developed for conceptualizing
one of the LNG projects planned with the LNG Receiving
terminal planned in the eastern coast of India. This would
involve buying of LNG from one of the South East Asian
countries or Australia Fertilizer plant and power plant,
which are large consumers of gas was proposed to be
installed near the receiving terminal. The balance gas was
proposed to be transported by pipeline with a northern grid
of pipeline and a southern grid to various parts of India.The
magnitude of investment in such a project is very large.

The facilities at the producer end of the cycle is called LNG

upstream and the buyer end is called LNG downstream.

LNG upstream comprises of gas treatment and

liquefaction steps as explained earlier in this section along
with LNG loading facility for loading in marine tankers. This
is shown schematically in Fig. 5.8.

The down stream section comprises of unloading from

tankers, storage, pumping, re-vaporization, and
transportation by pipeline. This is shown schematically in
Fig. 5.9.
 Fig. 5.7
The LNG Cycle

LNG TERMINAL
PORT
SOURCE TANKERS Storage/Vaporization

Phase - I
UNIT 5 Gas Processing

Cross Country Pipeline (To North) Power Fertilizer

Plant Plant

Cross Country Pipeline (To South)

Petrochemical Plant
Phase - II
Fertilizer Plant

Power Plant
23
Notes
 24
Notes

Fig.5.8
LNG Upstream

Train1
Feed Gas
from Offshore Dehydration Chilling LNG
Receiving Acid Gas
Mercury and Storage LNG
Station Removal
Removal Liquefaction Loading

CO2+H 2S

LPG
Sulfur
Condensate Liquids
Recovery
Fractionation
Sulfur
Storage Sulfur
Loading

Train2
Understanding Oil & Gas Business

Train3
 Fig.5.9
LNG Downstream

Flare / Vent

Return Gas BOG

Blowers Compressors
UNIT 5 Gas Processing

LNG Tank LNG Tank

Vapor Return
Recondenser
Arm

Vaporizer

JETTY HP PUMP
25
Notes
 Understanding Oil & Gas Business

26 Storage of Liquefied Gases

Notes
Storage and handling of gases is dealt with in later
sections. But it is important to know at this stage that there
are two ways liquefied gases are stored;

6 Pressurized storage where gas is in liquid phase under

pressure at ambient temperatures.

6 Cryogenic or low temperature storage (generally at

atmospheric pressure)

LPG is often stored in pressurized containers although it is

also stored under cryogenic conditions. Fig. 5.10 shows
two types of pressurized LPG storages - sphere and bullet.

LNG is always stored under cryogenic conditions (below

0
-160 C) at atmospheric pressures. At such temperatures,
steel becomes brittle like glass. The storages are made of
special nickel steel as normal steel becomes brittle at that
low temperature.

They are heavily insulated to minimize heat leakage from

the atmosphere into the tank. They are often double walled
with concrete outer shells utilized as additional resistance
to tank damage and as containment in the unlikely event of
tank leakage. This type of tank with containment of leakage
is the most costly, and has most often been used for the
storage of LNG.

Some leakage of heat do take place from the surrounding

atmosphere into the storage tanks. There is some amount
of liquid vaporization and boil-off. The vapors are
compressed, condensed by refrigeration and put back into
the tank.

The tankers carrying LNG also have spherical domed

storage tanks along with refrigeration system for boil-off
vapors.

LNG tanks could be on ground or mounded under earth.

Fig. 5.11 depicts an LNG receiving terminal with an LNG
tanker, jetty and LNG storage facility.
 UNIT 5 Gas Processing

The LNG tankers can have a carrying capacity from 20,000 27

cubic meter to 135,000 cubic meter. A large LNG storage Notes
tank can be holding around 100,000 cubic meters of LNG.
For this capacity, the tank would be about 70 meters in
diameter. Japan is the world's largest importer of LNG and
imports 94% of its gas as LNG.

Fig. 5.10
LPG Storage

Fig. 5.11
LNG Receiving Terminal
 Understanding Oil & Gas Business

28 LNG Project Economics

Notes
Basic gas price at source for LNG facilities are relatively
cheap varying around US$ 3 per Million BTU of energy
equivalent, based on large and easily produced reserves.
Processing (Liquefaction) and transportation equipment is
capital intensive and highly specialized, requiring large
investment for each new facility. For each million cubic feet
of gas delivered to end use, less than 30 percent of the cost
is associated with the raw material price (gas price at
source). The balance is the cost associated with
processing and transportation.

The investment cost of a LNG chain (production,

shipping, re-vaporization) for 10 Million SCMD of natural
gas per year would be approximately 3 billion US Dollars.

Re-vaporization plant costs are considerably lower than

liquefaction plant costs. Approximate breakdown of the
cost would be:

6 Liquefaction US Dollars 1.5 Billion

6 Shipping US Dollars 0.8 Billion
6 Re-vaporization US Dollars 0.7 Billion.

Liquefaction is a very energy-intensive process. Typically,

about 8 to 9 percent of the natural gas delivered as raw
material at an LNG plant, is used as plant fuel for
liquefaction. The number of tankers required is a function
of the distance between the export terminal and the import
terminal and the number of days it takes to move between
the source of gas and destination. The unit cost of marine
transport is primarily a function of the capital cost of the
tanker, distance, the financing terms and acceptable rate of
return for the tanker owners.

Complexity of an LNG Project

The complexity of a LNG project (ref: Fig.5.7, LNG Cycle)

is due to:

6 Sheer size of the project. Liquefaction, transportation

and re-vaporization of LNG can be economic at a very
large capacity, at least 5 to 10 Million SCMD. This
requires investment on billions of Dollars.
 UNIT 5 Gas Processing

6 Large number of 'operations blocks' or projects of 29

diverse technologies need to be developed Notes
simultaneously, integrated and planned together. For
example Liquefaction plant, Loading facilities,
Unloading facilities and re-vaporization facility along
with large consumers have to come up simultaneously.

6 Numerous locations covering countries and states.

6 Numerous agencies, consumers involved.

6 Market Development for the LNG by the buyer.

6 Strong technology base and support required.

6 Numerous contract negotiations.

7 Long Term Contract between LNG supplier and

buyer.

7 Long Term Contract between LNG buyer and

transporter.

7 Long Term Contracts between LNG buyer and LNG

users like Power Plant, Fertilizer Plant etc.

Because of enormous effort required on planning and

development of the project and numerous contracting
involved, the gestation period of an LNG based grass-roots
project is normally quite long (4 to 6 years).

Due to the immense costs of each link in an LNG cycle,

such projects can be undertaken only by large
organizations with great financial capacity and project
management skills. A successful project requires
cooperation and selling of the idea to:

6 The government of the country having gas source

6 The company that owns the natural gas

6 The government in the consuming country

6 Consuming organizations

6 Financiers
 Understanding Oil & Gas Business

30 The Indian Scenario

Notes
Recovery of LPG and Petrochemical Feedstock

Gas processing facilities in India started with the

commissioning of ONGC’s Uran gas processing facilities
with capacity of processing 4 MMSCMD of gas to produce
around 200,000 tons per year of LPG. This was based on
gas from Mumbai High as feedstock, Uran at Mahrashtra
being the first onshore terminal. Later Uran was expanded
to more than double the capacity and ethane along with
propane was recovered from the gas to provide feedstock
for a petrochemical complex (Mahrashtra Gas Cracker
Complex at Nagothane). Later with a bigger gas
processing terminal at Hazira, ONGC became a major
producer of LPG. Currently ONGC is producing over 1.2
Million Tons per year of LPG.ONGC produces close to 1
million tonnes of LPG at its Uran and Hazira terminals.
Another 175,000 tons are produced at Ankleshwar and
around 60,000 tons are produced at Gandhar.

Another major player emerged once Gas Authority of India

Ltd (GAIL) was formed to transport and distribute the gas.
A number of LPG plants were built along HBJ Pipeline.
Currently GAIL has extensive network of gas pipelingas
processing complexes to produce LPG, and one to
produce propane as feedstock for a petrochemical
complex. It also own a petrochemical complex based on
feedstock it generates from its own gas.

The facilities of GAIL is presented in Table - 5.2.

Table - 5.2
Pipeline and Gas Processing Facilities of GAIL
Gas Pipelines 4700kms
(100 MMSCMD Capacity)

LPG Pipeline 1265 Kms

(2.5 MMTPA Capacity)

Gas Processing Plants 7

37 MMSCMD
1 MMT / Annum LPG

Petrochemical Complex 3,00,000 TPA Ethylene

1,00,000 HDPE
1,60,000 LLDPE / HDPE
 UNIT 5 Gas Processing

LNG Facility 31
Notes
As indicated in Unit-2, there is a large gap between
demand and supply of gas in India. In the nineties
ambitious plans were drawn out by the government as well
as private sector Indian and Multinational companies to
import LNG and build LNG terminals in India. The
government facilitated formation of Petronet LNG Ltd. in
the public sector to lead the drive to import LNG and boost
gas supply in the country. Most of the plans have not
materialized.

As stated earlier, the success of LNG projects depends on

a number factors: reliable and continuous supply of LNG in
large volumes, constant technological support, reliable
long-term market demand and ability to finance. Many of
the companies who intended to enter into the LNG
business, has got into such detailed planning. As a result,
most of the LNG projects planned have failed to take off.

The first LNG terminal in India was built by Enron for its
Dhabol power plant.

The next LNG projects that are likely to see the light of the
day are the projects of Petronet LNG and Shell. Petronet
LNG project at Dahej is ahead of another LNG project being
implemented by Shell at Hazira.

With the Dahej LNG import terminal nearing completion

and expected to be commissioned by December 2003.
Five million tonne gas (20 million metric standard cubic
metres) will be supplied to users along HBJ Pipeline.

Shell LNG project, which will be completed by December

2004 will improve the prospect of significant augmentation
of gas supply in the country.

The large discovery of gas in 2002 off Andhra Coast by

Reliance and ONGC`s discovery at Vasai and near Surat
are expected to give further boost to the gas supply and gas
processing industry.

It should be noted that India being LNG importing country,

the LNG facilities planned fall under the category of LNG
upstream. For the import of LNG, the long term tie-ups are
with producers in the Middle East.
 Understanding Oil & Gas Business

32 Summary
Notes
Basic properties and characteristics of natural gas was
described in the beginning.

This was followed by highlighting the need or objectives of

processing natural gas - namely - removal of impurities and
separation of the components of gas.

Various processes used in gas purification was decsribed

with simple flow diagram. The importance of gas
dehydration and gas sweetening was highlighted.

Liquefaction of the gas to LNG and separation of various

components of gas were described with simple flow
diagrams. Various methods of getting low temperatures for
condensation of gas was described.

The LNG cycle was defined. The costs involved in an LNG

project and the complexity of such a project was
highlighted.

A brief description of gas processing industry in India was

given at the end.

Review Questions

(1) What are the objectives of gas processing? Name the

various gas treatment or purification processes.

(2) Write down a brief description of gas dehydration

process with simple flow diagram.

(3) Write down the approximate levels of temperature

required to recover ethane, LPG from natural gas. How
these temperatures are obtained. Describe a low
temperature LPG Recovery process with flow diagram.

(4) What do you understand by an LNG Cycle. Describe

with a schematic diagram.

(5) Describe upstream and downstream of LNG facility.

 UNIT 5 Gas Processing

Objective Type Questions 33

Notes

Category Question Answer

Tr ue or False Natural Gas is a major ingredient in

plastics.

Short Answer What are the 2 most abundant

elements in natural gas ?

True or False The dominant component in natural

gas is Ethane
Short Answer Name four major hydrocarbon
components in natural gas.
True or False Gas containing Nitrogen is called

Short Answer Gas containing Hydrogen Sulfide is

called
Short Answer What is associated gas?

Short Answer Name 3 ways that gas is

transported

Short Answer What is C3H8

Short Answer What is LEL

Short Answer What is the property of CNG or

gasoline that
Indicates its performance as
automobile fuel?

True or False NGL contains mainly methane

True or False Natural Gas is highly toxic

Short Answer List four uses of natural gas

True or False Sweet gas contains high levels of

sulfur.

True or False Methane is heavier than air

True or False Natural gas has strong smell

True or false CNG is used as feedstock for

petrochemicals