PANDIT DEENDAYAL PETROLEUM

UNIVERSITY

Natural Gas Processing and LNG

Assignment - III

SUBMITTED BY:
NAME: GAIRIK CHAKRABORTY
ROLL NO.: 17BPE032 (SEC: A)
COURSE CODE: 17PEB403
Question: Discuss about Condensate Stabilization unit designed to produce a condensate
with 4 ppm H2S and Reid Vapor Pressure specification of 8 to 12 psi.

Answer:

Abstract:
Gas condensate or natural gasoline is a valuable liquid hydrocarbon mixture which could be
utilized as fuel or converted to different petroleum products like gasoline, light oil, jet fuel etc.
It should be processed so that its water, salt, and acid contents meet the required standards for
storage and transportation. Its vapor pressure, determined as Reid Vapor Pressure (RVP), must
lie within a range that light components don’t evolve as a separate gas phase in transport
pipelines or storage tanks. The optimum value is usually 10 psia in summer and 12 psia in
winter. Thus, condensate stabilization has been studied using two methods of multistage flash
vaporization and distillation (fractionation). The results show that depending on the properties
of feed to be stabilized, one or both of the two methods could be practical or economic.

Introduction:
Production well fluids entering the inlet reception facility are first separated in the slug catcher.
The hydrocarbon liquid stream contains mainly light hydrocarbons (methane and ethane in
particular), water, salts, corrosion and hydrate inhibitors, acid gases, mercaptans, and other
sulfur compounds. The condensate production unit is designed to separate these contaminants
to produce a marketable hydrocarbon liquid (condensate) for export. Condensate production
involves three steps: water washing, condensate stabilization, and condensate treating.
Depending upon the associated water quality, the condensate may require a water wash to
remove salts and additives. After dewatering step, which requires a careful evaluation of the
condensate/water separation technology, the condensate goes to the condensate stabilization
unit where remaining lighter hydrocarbons are stripped and recombined with the gas that
leaves the inlet reception facility. The process of increasing the amount of intermediate (C 3–C5)
and heavy (C6+) components in the condensate is called condensate stabilization. This process
is performed primarily in order to reduce the vapor pressure of the condensate so that a vapor
phase is not produced upon flashing the liquid to atmospheric storage tanks. Stabilized
condensate generally has a vapor pressure specification, typically identified by its Reid Vapor
Pressure (RVP) or True Vapor Pressure (TVP). RVP is set by local emissions authorities to limit
hydrocarbons emissions during storage and transport. Typical RVP specification ranges from 4
to 8 psia. For hydrocarbon storage in high elevation, the atmospheric pressure is lower, and
consequently a low RVP as low as 4 psia may be necessary, allowing some safety margins. After
the stabilization step, condensate must be treated to remove heavy mercaptans and other
undesirable contaminants to very low levels in order to produce a liquid product that has
specifications to be sold as “natural gasoline.” In addition to the above-mentioned RVP
specification, other typical specifications of the commercial grade condensate are: water
content (0.05 volume %), butanes (2 volume %), H 2S (10 ppm), and total sulfur content as S (50
ppm). Recent accidents of condensate rail cargoes and condensate trucks in North Dakota and
Oklahoma areas prompt the transportation authority and administrators to tighten the safety
codes. It is expected that the condensate specifications will be more stringent: lower RVP and
lower sulfur content.

Condensate Stabilisation:
There are two basic stabilization processes: cascade flash separation and distillation
separation. Cascade flash separation, consisting of multiple separators and compressors, is
common in offshore gas processing plants due to its simplicity, but its efficiency and condensate
yields are lower. The distillation separation type is more complex, and more efficient, which is
common in onshore gas processing plants.

 Stabilization by Cascade Flash Separation: The principle of the cascade flash separation
is to remove the lighter components by flashing to lower pressures in several steps. The
condensate can also be heated to promote removal of the light components. The
process equipment can be very compact, which is advantageous in offshore gas
installation where equipment weight and plot space must be minimized. However, the
condensate yield is low, particularly when processing a lighter condensate to meet a low
RVP requirement. The process is more suitable for processing crude oil or heavier
condensate.

The condensate is flashed and separated at three successive pressures at 500, 100, and
15 psig respectively. The flashed vapor can be used as fuel gas in the facility or sent to
the flare during early production developments. Typically, the vapors are compressed
back to the feed section for recovery. Vapor from compressor discharge is cooled and
the condensed liquid is blended with the condensate product which helps to reduce the
condensate losses. To achieve a low RVP condensate, the feed must be heated to higher
temperatures, typically about 150–250oF. In fact, the feed temperature must be
sufficiently high to drive off its H2S content to meet the H2S specification in the product.
Once the H2S specification has been met, heating can be adjusted as needed to meet the
vapor pressure specification. It is impractical for the flash stabilization process to meet a
very low RVP specification. If a low RVP is required, the only solution is the distillation
type.

 Stabilization by Distillation: Distillation process is an efficient method for separating the

C5+ from the lighter components, instead of using multiple flash stages. The distillation
column can be a refluxed type or a non-refluxed type (simple stripper). A non-refluxed
type is lower in capital cost, as the overhead reflux condenser system is not required.
The drawback is the loss of the C5+ components in the overhead. The C5+ components
can be partially recovered by recycling the condensate later, which in most cases, can be
economically justified.
 With the refluxed column, there are two design options. The first option is to produce a
condensate product, with the butane and lighter components returned to the acid gas
removal unit (AGRU). The second option is to produce a condensate and a liquefied
petroleum gas (LPG) fraction.

Fig. Condensate stabilisation by Cascade Flash separation

Condensate production only: The condensate is flashed and separated in an intermediate

separator, with flashed vapors compressed and returned to the AGRU. The flashed liquid is
preheated with the stabilizer bottom and routed to the stabilizer for separation. The stabilizer
typically operates between 150 and 250 psia, and contains about 20–25 trays. The stabilizer
column is heated with medium pressure steam to meet the RVP specification. The overhead
vapor is partially condensed, by air or cooling water, producing a reflux to the column and a
butane and lighter vapor that is compressed to the AGRU. No liquid overhead product is
produced in this configuration. Since the condensate is saturated with water, water will be
stripped and condensed in the upper column. Water is collected in the reflux drum as an
aqueous phase and may be trapped in the upper section of the stabilizer column.

Any free water must be removed from the column or it will build up inside the column,
resulting in column flooding. Typically, interface controllers are provided to allow withdrawal of
water from the reflux drum and the top trays. The draw tray locations can be determined to
detect three phase conditions with simulation software. The advantage of the condensate only
design is that it recycles the LPG portion to the gas processing plant. This avoids producing LPG
that may not meet the color and water specifications for export. The disadvantage is that the
gas plant has to be designed for a higher duty from the recycled LPG.

Fig. Condensate stabilisation by Distillation

Condensate and LPG production: The condensate stabilization process can be configured to
produce LPG from the stabilizer column. In order to meet the ethane content in the LPG
product, a feed liquid stripper is required upstream of the stabilizer. This stripper is designed to
remove all the acid gases and lighter components such that the LPG product from the
downstream stabilizer would meet the H2S and vapor pressure specifications. The feed liquid
stripper pressure is typically set at about 200 psia or at slightly higher pressure than the
stabilizer such that pumping can be avoided. The advantage of this process is that it avoids
recycling the LPG portion and minimizes the size of the gas processing plant. However, the LPG
product may contain other contaminants that may not meet specifications for export.

Design Considerations:
The condensate stabilization unit shall be designed to meet the process design basis which
must consider the ranges of condensate flow rates and compositions, inlet pressures, and
temperatures. The design basis must be conservative as it is difficult to predict the upstream
operations. These design parameters will affect the sizing of the separators, stabilizer column,
reboiler, heat exchangers, and compression system.
 Fig. Condensate and LPG production

 Stabiliser Column Pressure: For a given condensate composition (i.e., 0.1% C 4, 14.6%
iC5, 27.8% nC5, and 57.5% C6+), there is a relationship between the stabilizer bottom
temperature and the product’s vapor pressure, and they vary with operating pressures.
For a given stabilizer pressure, the bottom temperature decreases with increasing RVP
specification. Conversely, the bottom temperature increases when the RVP specification
is lowered, as more butane and pentane components are stripped overhead. As can be
expected, higher column pressure requires more stripping steam and tends to increase
the equipment cost. However, this may be offset by the lower compression cost of the
column overhead gas. The column pressure should be selected by considering the
operating costs such as utilities consumption (steam, cooling water, and power), capital
costs, and incremental revenue from condensate production.

 Stabiliser Control System: The stabilizer operation is very sensitive to inlet feed gas
changes. To maintain a stable column pressure, the slug catcher and the feed separator
should be designed conservatively to dampen out flow fluctuation which the plant will
experience during pipeline pigging operation. Predictive methods can also be built into
the control system such as the use of upstream feed conditions and column tray data to
adjust the reboiler steam flow using a feed-forward controller. Dynamic simulation
model can be setup to optimize the control variables that can respond to changes in
feed composition and flow conditions.
 Fig. Stabiliser bottom temperature vs. RVP

Operating Problems:
The common operating problems of the condensate stabilization units are failure to meet
product specifications and unstable column operation. These can be contributed by one of the
following factors:

 Feed flow rate and conditions are significantly different than design
 Carryover of contaminants and injection chemicals from upstream operation
 High corrosion, resulting in failure of piping and heat exchanger equipment
 Column flooding and unstable operation
 Equipment fouling.

Many of these problems can be avoided in the FEED stage of the project by defining the ranges
of operating conditions.

Conclusions:
In the present study, two methods of multistage flashing and non-refluxed fractionation were
used to stabilize gas condensate by reducing its RVP to 10 psia. Gas condensates from gas
processing plants were considered and results of the two processes show that depending on
the feed properties (especially its RVP), one or both of the afore-mentioned techniques could
be applied. Normally, multistage flashing provides less total heat duty and more condensate
recovery which makes it more interesting to choose. Whereas, fractionation yields less total
heat duty and much higher condensate recovery. It is also capable of lowering H 2S
concentration to less than 1 ppm. Therefore, fractionation is highly preferred. Finally, cost
benefit analysis should be performed to select one of these techniques.

References:
 “Handbook of Natural Gas Transmission and Processing (Principles and Practices)” by
Saeid Mokhatab, William A. Poe and John Y. Mak.

 “Simulation of Gas Condensate Stabilisation Unit aiming at selection of the right

technique and assessing the optimised operational parameters” by Navid Moghadam,
Masoud Samadi and Zahra B. Mokhtari Hosseini.