GAS DEW POINT CONTROL

Introduction
• Natural Gas produced from wells is
– Saturated with water
– Contains heavier hydrocarbon components

• Water vapour & heavier hydrocarbon components

condenses when temperature and pressure changes
• Dew point is the temperature [at a particular pressure] at
which liquid begins to condense
• To prevent the condensation
– Dehydrate the gas [depress the water dew point]
– Control hydrocarbon dew point [depress the hydrocarbon dew point]
 CONTENTS
1. Introduction
2. Why Hydrocarbon Dew Point Control
3. Typical Hydrocarbon Dew Point Specification
4. Typical Phase Envelope
5. Methods
6. Comparison of Various Methods
7. Summary
 Introduction
• Hydrocarbon dew point control is the process of
depressing the hydrocarbon dew point of the gas to
prevent condensation in the downstream pipeline /
system

Why Hydrocarbon Dew Point Control

• To recover valuable hydrocarbon liquid from gas
• To meet pipeline sales gas specification
• Increases pipeline capacity.
• Avoid liquid slugs
 Typical Hydrocarbon Dew Point
Specification
• 5 deg C (minimum) less than lowest ambient temp @
sales gas supply pressure

OR

• To prevent condensation of hydrocarbon

– Sales gas temperature in the pipeline always above
Cricondentherm

– Sales gas pressure in the pipeline always above Cricondenbar

[dense phase]
 Typical Phase Envelope

Cricondenbar [ pressure
at which condensation
does not occur at all
temperatures

Cricondentherm [highest
temp at which
condensation occurs at all
pressures]
 Methods
The following methods are available for dew point
control
• JT System & Low Temp Separator *
• Mechanical Refrigeration *
• Turbo Expander *
• Membrane Separation
• IFPEXOL-1 Process *
• Twister Process *

The above methods depress the dew point of water

along with hydrocarbon dew point.
* Dew point depression is achieved by cooling the gas stream to
the Dew point temperature [equivalent to the required specification]
 JT System & Low Temp Separator
• JT Effect - Expansion refrigeration
• Isenthalpic process [irreversible Adiabatic process -
constant enthalpy]
• Pressure let down across JT Valve - Temperature drop
condenses water & hydrocarbon liquid
• Dew point depression depends on pressure drop across the
JT valve
• Typical application - hydrocarbon & water dew point control
• Low temperature - Potential for hydrate formation
• Dehydrate gas prior to dew point depression
OR
• Inject glycol [MEG] for hydrate inhibition [will require glycol
regeneration unit]
 JT System & Low Temp Separator
• System comprises
– JT Valve [angle valve - high pressure drop]
– Gas / Gas Exchanger
– Low Temp Separator & Filter Separator
• PCHE type Gas / Gas Exchanger - lower
temperature approach, lower pressure drop across
JT Valve
 JT Coefficient

JT Coefficient is positive = Temperature of the fluid decrease upon

expansion

JT Coefficient is negative = Temperature of the fluid increase upon

expansion

Temperature increases for a few scenarios [JT Coefficient

is negative] :
a ) sub cooled liquids at low temp
b) super heated gas at high temperature
c) gas / liquid at high pressures
JT System & Low Temp Separator
 Alternative JT Cooler Process
• Hydrocarbon condensate is flashed across JT valve
• JT Cooler - Flashed condensate [low temp] cools the
process gas
• Hydrocarbon condenses [dew point is depressed]
• Dew point depression depends on extent cooling &
quantity of condensate

Dew pointed Gas

Saturated Gas

Flashed Condensate
 Mechanical Refrigeration
• Mechanical refrigeration is an alternative if pressure drop is
a limitation
• Refrigeration - condensation of hydrocarbon & water
• System comprises
– Gas / Gas Exchanger
– MEG injection [Hydrate inhibition]
– Low Temp Separator
– Propane refrigeration system
– Glycol recovery & regeneration
• Typical temp achieved using propane refrigeration is -15 to -
40 deg C
• Limitations on glycol viscosity at low temp
• Dehydrate gas prior to dew point depression instead of MEG
injection
Mechanical Refrigeration
Cryogenic Method - Turbo Expander
• Cryogenic = Very low temperature [< ~ - 40 deg C ]
• Turbo-expanders are expensive and are typically used
for high NGL recovery [ethane]
• Same principles as refrigeration machines, except that
the gas is also the refrigerant.
• Isentropic process [eff 85%, reversible adiabatic
process-constant entropy]
• A turbo-expander = centrifugal compressor running
backwards [Gas is expanded, not compressed]
• Blades of the expander rotate because of the flow -
generating power
• Typical to use molecular sieve dehydration method [to
prevent hydrates]
• Nearly ~ 70 to 80% of pressure drop is recovered
Cryogenic Method - Turbo Expander
Flow Scheme
 IFPEXOL-1 METHOD
• IFPEXOL-1 for dehydration & NGL recovery
• Methanol for hydrate inhibition
• Cold process [Mech Refg. / Turbo] for dew point
depression
• Methanol stripper [ feed gas strips methanol from
water]
• Eliminates methanol regeneration unit
 Twister METHOD
• Developed by SHELL consortium
• Twister = Turboexpander + Separator+ Re-compressor
• Isentropic expansion [Eff ~90%] process condenses water and NGL
• Lava nozzle to efficiently expand the gas to supersonic
• Mist type flow is subjected to Twister-like swirl
• Centrifugal forces (over 300,000 g) drive the droplets to the outside.
• Resulting dry gas then flows into a diffuser
• Short residence time [milliseconds], hydrates do not form
 Twister METHOD
• Pressure loss = 20 to 30% of inlet pressure
• Design of Twister - computational fluid dynamics
• Static device, with no rotating parts
• Turndown achieved by multiple tubes
• No emissions, such as BTEX’s
Twister METHOD
Twister METHOD
Comparison of Twister METHOD & JT
Method

• 30 bar pressure drop

• Dew point = ~ -44 deg C [ Twister Process]
• Dew point = ~ - 2 deg C [JT Process ]
Comparison of Twister METHOD, JT
Method & Mech Refrig.
• Gas flow rate = 100 MMSCFD
• Water & hydrocarbon dew point = 13 deg C @
60 bar g
Comparison of Various Methods
• JT Method
– Large pressure drop limitations
– Simple & robust
– No utility requirements
– High availability
– Relatively low CAPEX & OPEX

• Mechanical Refrigeration
– Low pressure drop
– Low dew point achievable
– Additional propane refrigeration system
– Relatively high CAPEX & OPEX
– Utility requirements
– Low availability
Comparison of Various Methods (cont’d)
• Turbo Expander
– Low dew point achievable - suitable for NGL recovery
– Complexity
– Medium pressure drop
– Relatively High Capex
– Low availability
– Turn down limitations

• Membrane Separation
– Limitations on capacity
– Permeate stream disposal
– Low pressure drop & High turndown
– Low foot print, weight, no moving parts
– Relatively High CAPEX & OPEX for large capacity unit
Comparison of Various Methods (cont’d)

• IFPEXOL
– Relatively new technology
– Methanol for hydrate inhibition
– Cold process for dew point depression
– Methanol loss in gas & condensate

• Twister
– Very low dew point
– New technology
– Turndown limitations
– Static device, with no rotating parts
 Summary
The Dehydration/water and hydrocarbon dew point control
of gas can be achieved simultaneously [i.e in the same unit
operation] or independently.
The deciding factors for the process scheme are :
• Hydrocarbon dew point specification
• Water dew point specification
• Water content in the feed [ dehydrated or saturated
with water]
• Viscosity limitations of hydrate inhibition chemical
• Pressure drop available
• Recovery of NGL
• CAPEX & OPEX
• Simplicity, Turndown
• Footprint / Weight
THANK YOU