Dehydration process involves removing water from natural gas Why Dehydrate Natural Gas?

Meet a pipeline spec Avoid hydrates Avoid corrosion Dehydration is also done so that a dry gas can be used for fuel in the processing plant. Typical fuel gas consumers in a process plant are building heaters, fire-tube in heaters, instrumentation, purging during a start-up operation, etc.

One of the dangers of NOT dehydrating natural gas is the formation of undesirable hydrates. They are hard white crystalline material and will damage piping components in gas transmission. Hydrate form when water is combined with small molecules called hydrate formers. Most of the components in natural gas actually contribute to the presence of hydrate formers. Disassociating hydrates is not easy; it requires high temperature and low pressure and is a slow process.

You can use the following steps in process designing a dehy.

In Alberta the pipeline spec is typically 4 lb/MMscf This article presents a process engineer approach in designing a TEG (Tri Ethylene Glycol) dehydration system. Techniques for dehydrating natural gas include: 1. Absorption using liquid desiccants, Adsorption using solid desiccants, Dehydration with CaCl2, Dehydration by refrigeration, Dehydration by membrane permeation, Dehydration by gas stripping, and Dehydration by distillation Water Content Of Inlet Gas: This value is necessary for two reasons; (a) to design the contactor (b) to find the heat required to vaporize the water absorbed in TEG. There are many ways of determining the amount of water entering along-with gas as a single phase. This is called saturated water much like the humidity of air on a raining day.

a. Process simulation software b. GPSA charts c. Empirical co-relation Water content in a given volume of gas is related with the temperature and pressure of the gas. For a given pressure water holding capacity in natural gas INCREASES with temperature. That also explains why clouds in the sky are formed on a hot day? Air holds water droplets in a hot climate. For example: at 800 psia natural gas will have 70 lbs/MMscf of water at 100F.

at 128F (increase of 15.5C) will double this quantity of water. Since higher temperatures hold more water cooling the gas will break out that water which is usually called free water. How much can we cool? As a thumb rule I would not cool the gas below 9F (5C) of its hydrate temperature. For example: if the gas is available at 120F and its hydrate temperature is 65F, I would make attempts to cool the gas from 120F to 74F. This actually cuts the water content down from 120 lbs/MMscf to 35 lbs/MMscf assuming the same pressure above. A savings in terms of capital cost of a dehy is seen right here. Determining the water content of natural gas with H2S more than 0.001% and CO2 more than 2% can get more complicated. Saturated water content of pure H2S and CO2 can be significantly higher than a sweet natural gas. Acid gas water content is a complex subject. GPSA gives only a guide to determine the effective water content by adding up the product of mole fraction of components with the water content of those components at a given temperature and pressure. The use of simulation software such as Hysys, VMG Sim, Prosim, etc. to determine the saturated water content of a sour gas at any given T and P is a more reliable method. An empirical relation exists to find the water content in the inlet gas. The following equation was taken from an article published in the oil and gas journal in 1999 by P. Gandhidasan and A.A Al-Farayedhi staff at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals. Win = 593.335 * exp (0.0549T) * P-0.8156 Where T and P are in C and Mpa respectively and Win is kg/MMscm. Conversion of kg/MMscm to lbs/MMscf is multiply by 0.0624 2. Water Removal Efficiency: Water removal efficiency is dependant on the amount of water entering and leaving with the gas after dehydration. This value is important in determining the number of theoretical stages in a contactor and concentration of regenerated TEG . In most cases 2 to 3 theoretical stages are sufficient for effective contact of TEG with wet gas in a counter current flow across trays or packing. GPSA charts can be used to determine the number of theoretical stages. The charts have been developed based on absorption calculations for the TEG systems. An assumption is made here to circulate TEG at a rate of 3 gal/lb of H2O removed and have a water content in the outlet gas to be 4 lbs/MMscf. Water removal efficiency = (Win-W out)/Win Using the example above at 100F and 800 psig Win = 70 lbs/MMscf therefore efficiency = 94.3% Now look at the absorption charts in GPSA for a removal efficiency of 94.3% and a circulation rate of 3 gal/lb of H2O removed the number of theoretical stages = 2 and the concentration of regenerated TEG is about 99.4% 3. Number of Trays and Contactor Size: Theoretical stages or ideal number of separation trays can be converted to actual number of trays by assuming a tray efficiency of 25-30%. Tray efficiency = (ideal number of trays / actual number of trays). Therefore at 25% tray efficiency, two theoretical stages will interpret to be 8 trays. When it comes to a structured packing the height of a theoretical stage various factors like gas rate, TEG rate, density and packing characteristics. As a guide 60 per stage is adequate and therefore a packing height of 120 is adequate in our example.

Height of the contactor is now based on the number of trays and space required for vapor disengagement. Design can also incorporate a scrubber in the lower section for collecting any entrained liquid. The scrubber can be hooked up for two phase or three phase depending on the inlet gas composition. Typically about 10 ft is given for vapor disengagement and 24 spacing between trays. A scrubber height of 5-7 is adequate. Diameter of the contactor is function of terminal velocity necessary for particle of size D to settle out of gas phase. Following equation is used to find the terminal velocity which is a function of densities for liquid and gas: VT = K(L-G/G) Where K is a sizing contact usually 0.35 The cross sectional area is actual gas flow rate divided by the terminal velocity A = QA/VT. Diameter of the contactor is obtained from the area obtained. Internals in a contactor include the following: An inlet diverter to create a breakout of the entrained liquid and settle in the scrubber section. A chimney for the separated gas to enter the absorption section. Bubble cap trays/ packing Heat exchange coil in the scrubber section to cool the lean glycol Demister pad for coalescing liquid droplets that may entrain with the outlet gas Heat exchange coil at the outlet of the contactor to condense any droplets being carried away with the outlet gas, and ensure the lean glycol entering is in equilibrium with the contactor temperature. 4. TEG Re-concentrator: The fire tube in the reboiler should be sized based on glycol circulation, heat of vaporization of the absorbed water, condenser duty and 10% losses. Its convenient for calculations to find a per gallon heat required and then multiply with the circulation rate. Sensible heat = m Cp T For TEG the density in terms of lbs/gal = 9.34, Assuming the rich TEG entering the reboiler at 200F. TEG should not be heated more than 400F to ensure it does not degrade. Heat capacity of TEG is 0.665 BTU/lb. F. Therefore in most cases the sensible heat per gallon will be a constant which is = 9.34 * 0.776 * (400-200) = 1,450 Btu/gal To find the heat of vaporization assume the circulation rate is 3 gal per pound of water removed. To evaporate a pound of H2O heat required is 970 BTU/lb H2O. Therefore heat of vaporization per gal of TEG = 970 BTU/lb H2O * (1 lb H2O/ 3 gal of TEG) = 323 BTU/gal. This is also a constant considering a gal of TEG as the basis. To find the condenser duty assume 25% reflux ratio. Condenser duty is the heat of vaporization times 25% which will be equal to 0.25 * 323 = 81 BTU/gal. As can be seen this will also be a constant. Adding all all the above with a 10% losses yields (1,450 + 323 + 81)*1.1 = 1,854 BTU/gal. Now for the final value; remember we assumed 3 lbs of TEG per lb of H2O removed? And we know the amount of water being removed and the gas rate? (1,854 BTU/gal) * (3 gal/lb of H2O) * (MMSCFD/24) *(lbs of water removed) = total reboiler duty. Based on 70 lbs/MMscf entering water and 4 lbs/MMscf leaving and taking 1 MMscfd gas the total reboiler duty is = 15,300 BTU/hr. There is also a quick reboiler sizing formula = 1500 * TEG US gal/hr. This gives a higher value than the rigorous calculations above, but can be used for making a cost estimate. 5. Other units in the system: (a) Glycol pumps: These are usually electric driven plunger pumps with a low NPSH and offering a huge discharge head. Lean glycol is circulated by these pumps receiving glycol from a low pressure tank and supplying to a high pressure (usually 2 psi greater than the contactor pressure). Electric pumps involve building a level control which is a small bottle supported by the contactor at the draw-out height, instrumentation and associated valves. (b) Gas Driven Pumps: In lieu of electric pumps you can also use a gas driven pump which uses the operating pressure of the contactor as the driving force. Since these pumps operate on the level of glycol there is no need for a level control bottle and associated valves. These pumps are cheap and trouble free. The pumps are operational only when the contactor is under pressure and as such we cant have cold weather circulation. (c) Flash tank: The use of a flash tank is being regulated of late due to environ reasons. Most clients would not prefer a flash tank with their dehy plant. Aromatics has an affinity to glycol and can be removed in a flash tank and sent

to flare. The flash tank operates at 75 psig and hence there is enough pressure to drive it to the flare. In the absence of a flare the gases are vented to atmosphere causing a environmental hazard. An alternative to flash tank can be to have a taller contactor and lower circulation rates. The choice of a flash tank depends on the composition of the inlet gas and the presence of a flare. Aromatics combined with glycol on a continuous recycle will degrade glycol faster and requires a sooner change-out. (d) Filters: Particulate filters are used with a differential pressure indicator, bypass and PSV to separate stage wise 25 micron and 10 microns particulates in the rich glycol. Vendors such as Cuno, Peco and Natco have filters in stock for natural gas dehy.

(e)

Heat Exchangers: A dehydration plant is classified into a low temperature/high pressure zone and a high temperature/low pressure zone. Since the glycol is circulated between these two zones its worthwhile to realize some of the heat and reduce the fire tube size of the reboiler/fuel gas consumption. Rich TEG before entering into the reboiler can be preheated with the sensible heat of the lean TEG by introducing either a coil in the skimmer or having an external shell and tube exchanger upstream of the reboiler. Where space is constrain an Ultramax plate heat exchanger can be used which are reputed for their efficiency and compact size.