CHAPTER 9

Natural Gas Dehydration

9.1 INTRODUCTION
Natural, associated, or tail gas usually contains water, in liquid and/or vapor
form, at source and/or as a result of sweetening with an aqueous solution.
Operating experience and thorough engineering have proved that it is neces-
sary to reduce and control the water content of gas to ensure safe processing and
transmission. The major reasons for removing the water from natural gas are
1. Natural gas in the right conditions can combine with liquid or free water
to form solid hydrates that can plug valve fittings or even pipelines.
2. Water can condense in the pipeline, causing slug flow and possible ero-
sion and corrosion.
3. Water vapor increases the volume and decreases the heating value of
the gas.
4. Sales gas contracts and/or pipeline specifications often have to meet the
maximum water content of 7 lb H2O per MMscf. This ensures that
water-based problems will not hamper downstream operations.1
Pipeline drips installed near wellheads and at strategic locations along
gathering and trunk lines will eliminate most of the free water lifted from
the wells in the gas stream. Multistage separators can also be deployed to
ensure the reduction of free water that may be present. However, the
removal of the water vapor that exists in solution in natural gas requires a
more complex treatment. This treatment consists of “dehydrating” the nat-
ural gas, which is accomplished by lowering the dew point temperature of
the gas at which water vapor will condense from the gas.
There are several methods of dehydrating natural gas. The most common
of these are liquid desiccant (glycol) dehydration, solid desiccant dehydration,
and cooling the gas. The first two methods utilize mass transfer of the water
molecule into a liquid solvent (glycol solution) or a crystalline structure (dry
desiccant). The third method employs cooling below the initial dew point, by
expansion and/or refrigeration, to condense the water molecule to the liquid

1
The water content in a natural gas stream entering a liquefaction plant must be reduced to less than 0.1
ppmv to prevent hydrate formation and freezing in the cryogenic section of the plant.

Handbook of Natural Gas Transmission # 2012, Elsevier Inc; copyright # 2006,

and Processing, Second Edition Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. 317