LECTURE 4

NATURAL GAS DEHYDRATION

(Removal water)
Introduction
Natural gas dehydration is the process of removing water vapor from the gas
stream to lower the dew point of that gas. The dew point is defined as the
temperature at which water vapor condenses from the gas stream. The sale
contracts of natural gas specify either its dew point or the maximum amount of
water vapor present.
There are three basic reasons for the dehydration of natural gas streams:
1. It could form solid hydrates. at certain pressures and temperatures, which can
plug facilities and pipelines.
2. When pressure and temperature drop, water vapor condenses and can cause
slug flow and possible erosion and corrosion in the system, especially when acid
gases are present.
3. Water vapor increases the total volume and decreases the heating value of
gas.
Most free water is removed after the gas-liquid separation is at or near the
wellhead. However, there are still small amounts of water vapor associated with
the main stream of natural gas that requires further treatment to remove
(dehydration).
The water content in a natural gas stream will be determined. First, as it impacts
the selection of the type of dehydration method and the design procedure of the
dehydration system; then hydrates will be discussed; and finally, the
dehydration process is presented.
3.1 Water Content Determination
Natural gas, however, is usually a complex mixture and sometimes contains
acid/sour gas that changes the behavior of the natural gas, and causes the
deviation of water content calculation.
The water content of NG at saturation is dependent on temperature and pressure.
With increasing pressure of the gas the water content decreases, and with
increasing temperature the water content in the gas increases.
The water content of the gas can be calculated using the following equation:
W water =593.335 exp (0.05486 -tG) PG -0.81462

Where w water is in kilograms of water per 106 ms3 of NG, tG is temperature of

NG in °C, and PG is pressure of NG in MPa.
3.2. Dehydration methods
2.1. Absorption
The most widely-used method for industrial dehydration of NG is absorption.
Absorption is usually performed using triethyleneglycol sorbent (TEG).
Absorption proceeds at low temperatures and the absorbed water is boiled out
from TEG during regeneration in a reboiler at high temperatures.
the kinematic viscosity of TEG increases dramatically with low temperatures.
The temperature of TEG during a process should never decrease below 10°C.
The reason is to prevent pump damage or even clogging of the flow. For
temperatures above 100°C, the viscosity changes just slightly and the average
kinetic viscosity value 5*10-6 m2/s can be used.
The density of TEG is a linear function of temperature in the range of working
temperatures. The following equation can be used for determining the density at
a certain temperature.
ρ = −0.7831 t + 1140
Finally, the thermal conductivity of TEG does not change in the range of
working temperatures and has a value of 0,194 W/m2/°C.
For determining the physical properties of TEG solutions with water
(concentrations CTEG above 95 wt.%), the activity coefficient of water in TEG
can be approximated by the following equation.
γ = −0.0585 ∙ CTEG + 6.2443
The industrial absorption dehydration process proceeds in a glycol contactor (a
tray column or packet bed). In a contactor, a countercurrent flow of wet NG and
TEG is arranged. During the contact, the TEG is enriched by water and flows
out of the bottom part of the contactor. The enriched TEG then continues into
the internal heat exchanger, which is incorporated at the top of the still column
in the regeneration section of the absorption unit. It then flows into the flash
drum, where the flash gases are released and separated from the stream. The
TEG then runs to the cold side of the TEG/TEG heat exchanger. Just afterwards,
the warmed TEG is filtered and then runs into the regeneration section, where is
it sprayed in the still column. From there, the TEG runs into the reboiler. In the
reboiler, water is boiled out of the TEG. The regeneration energy is around 282
kJ per liter of TEG. The temperature inside should not exceed 208°C, due to the
decomposition temperature of TEG. Regenerated (lean) TEG is then pumped
back through the hot side of the TEG/TEG and NG/TEG heat exchanger into the
top of the contactor. The entire method is depicted in Figure 4-1.

Figure 4-1. TEG absorption dehydration scheme

The circulation rate (lTEG/kgH2O) and the purity of the regenerated TEG are the
main limiting factors determining the output Tdew of NG. The amount of
circulating TEG is around 40 times the amount of water to be removed. The
minimal TEG concentration should be above 95 wt.%, but the recommended
value is higher. However, to obtain TEG concentration above 99 wt.% enhanced
TEG regeneration has to be implemented.
• Dehydrating Agents
The most desirable dehydrating agents that can be used for commercial
dehydration purposes should possess the following important properties:
• High water absorption efficiency;
• High decomposition temperature;
• Low vaporization losses;
• Easy and economic to be separated and regenerated;
• Non-corrosive and non-toxic to the system.
Glycols such as ethylene glycol (EG), diethylene glycol (DEG), triethylene
glycol (TEG), and tetraethylene glycol (T4EG) fall into this category.
2.2. Adsorption
Adsorption dehydration removes water by flowing gas through a granulated
solid bed called solid desiccant or adsorbent. Because of the microscopic pores
and capillary openings, the solid desiccant has a very large effective surface area
per unit weight to retain water on the surface of the solid medium.
A comparison of the physical properties of each desiccant is shown in Table1
below:
Table 1. Comparison of the physical properties of desiccants used for
dehydration of NG
The amount of adsorbed water molecules increases with the pressure of the gas
and decreases with its temperature. These facts are taken into account when the
process parameters are designed. Adsorption dehydration columns always work
periodically. A minimum of two bed systems are used. Typically, one bed dries
the gas while the other is being regenerated. Regeneration is performed by
preheated gas, or by part of the dehydrated NG, as depicted in Figure 4-2.

Figure 4-2. Scheme of the temperature swing adsorption dehydration process.

2.3. Condensation
The third conventional dehydration method employs gas cooling to turn water
molecules into the liquid phase and then removes them from the stream. Natural
gas liquids and condensed higher hydrocarbons can also be recovered from NG
by cooling. The condensation method is therefore usually applied for
simultaneous dehydration and recovery of natural gas liquids.
NG can be advantageously cooled using the Joule-Thompson effect (JT effect).
The JT effect describes how the temperature of a gas changes with pressure
adjustment.
During expansion, there is no heat exchange with the environment, and no work
creation. Therefore, due to the conservation law, the increase in potential energy
leads to a decrease in kinetic energy and thus a temperature decreases of NG.
However, there is another phenomenon connected with the cooling of wet
NG. Attention should be paid to the formation of methane hydrate. Hydrates
formed by cooling may plug the flow. This is usually prevented by injecting
methanol or monoethylenglycol (MEG) hydrate inhibitors before each cooling.
Figure 4-3 depicts anindustrial application of dehydration method utilizing the
JT effect and MEG hydrate inhibition.

Figure 4-3. Dehydration method utilizing the JT effect and hydrate inhibition
2.4. Supersonic separation
The principle of this method lies in the use of the Laval Nozzle, in which the
potential energy (pressure and temperature) transforms into kinetic energy
(velocity) of the gas. The velocity of the gas reaches supersonic values. Thanks
to gas acceleration, sufficient temperature drops are obtained. Tdew of water
vapor in NG is reached, and nucleation of the droplet’s proceeds. Figure 4-4
depicts the basic design of a supersonic nozzle.

Figure 4-4. Design of a supersonic nozzle for NG dehydration.

At the inlet to the nozzle there are static blades which induce a swirling flow of
the gas. The water droplets that form are separated by the centrifugal force on
the walls. The centrifugal force in the supersonic part of the nozzle can reach
values up to 500 000 g. The thin water film on the walls moves in the direction
of flow into the separation channel. The separation channel leads into the heated
degas separator. From here, the slip gas is returned back to the main stream and
the water condensate is removed. After separation of the water it is important to
recover the pressure of the gas from its kinetic energy. A shock wave is used to
achieve this. Generally, shock waves form when the speed of a gas changes by
more than the speed of sound. In supersonic nozzles, the shock wave is created
by rapid enlargement of the nozzle diameter. This part of the nozzle is called the
diffuser. Thanks to the diffuser 65 - 80% of the inlet pressure is recovered. This
section might also include another set of static devices to undo the swirling
motion. The profile of pressure, temperature and velocity of a gas passing
through the supersonic nozzle is depicted below.

Figure 4-5. Profile of pressure, temperature and velocity of a gas passing

through the supersonic nozzle