Dehydration of Natural

Gas

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 Dehydration Cont.
3. Dehydration by Adsorption
 It is a process in which gas flows through a bed of
granular solids that have an affinity for water.
 The water is retained on the surface of the particles of
the solid material.
 The vessel that allows
adsorption process to
take place is called
the contactor or sorber.
 The solid that has
affinity for water
and is used in the
contactor or sorber
is called the desiccant. 2
Dehydration Cont.

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 Dehydration Cont.
 Adsorption is defined as the ability of a substance to hold gases
or liquids on its surface.
 In adsorption dehydration, the water vapor from the gas is
concentrated and held at the surface of the solid desiccant by
forces caused by residual valiancy.
 Solid desiccants have very large surface areas per unit mass to
take advantage of these surface forces.
 Under normal operating conditions, the usable life of a desiccant
ranges from one to four years.
 Solid desiccants become less effective in normal use due to loss
of effective surface area as they age.
 Abnormally fast degradation occurs through blockage of the
small pores and capillary openings from lubricating oils, amines,
glycols, corrosion inhibitors, and other contaminants, which
cannot be removed during the regeneration cycle.
 H2S can also damage the desiccant and reduce its capacity.
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 Dehydration Cont.
 The most common adsorbents used today are:
Silica gel , Alumina , molecular sieves.

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Dehydration Cont.

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 Dehydration Cont.
Advantages of solid-desiccant dehydration include:
1. Lower dew point, essentially dry gas (water content
< 1.0 Ibm/MMscf) can be produced.
2. Higher contact temperature can be tolerated with
some adsorbents.
3. Higher tolerance to sudden load changes, especially on
startup
4. Quick startup after a shutdown
5. High adaptability for recovery of certain liquid
hydrocarbons in addition to dehydration functions.

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 Dehydration Cont.
Operating Problems with the Solid-
Desiccant Dehydration Include:
1. The adsorbents degenerate ‫ تدهور‬with use and require
replacement.
2. Dehydrating tower must be regenerated and cooled for operation
before another tower approaches exhaustion. ‫إنهاك‬
3. The maximum allowable time on dehydration gradually shortens
because desiccant loses capacity with use.
4. If a plant is operates 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 rated capacity, high-pressure loss
may cause some attrition causing fines, which in turn cause
excessive pressure loss results in loss of capacity.
5. Although high adaptability to sudden load changes,
sudden pressure surges ‫ يرتفع الضغط‬should be avoided
because they may upset ‫ اضطراب‬the desiccant bed and
channel the gas stream resulting in poor dehydration. 11
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 Dehydration Cont.
4. Dehydration by Absorption
 It is a process in which water vapor is removed from
NG by bubbling the natural gas counter-currently
through certain liquids that have a special attraction
or affinity for water.
 Water vapor in gas bubbles is
entrained and carried away by
the liquid (desiccant).
 Water vapor is removed from
the gas by intimate contact with
a hygroscopic liquid desiccant
in absorption dehydration. 13
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Dehydration Cont.

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 Dehydration Cont.
 The contact is usually achieved in packed
or trayed towers.
 Glycols have been widely used as
effective liquid desiccants.
 Dehydration by absorption with glycol is
usually economically more attractive
than dehydration by solid desiccant
when both processes are capable of
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meeting the required dew point.
 Dehydration Cont.
Glycols used for dehydrating of NG are:
1. Ethylene glycol (EG)
2. Diethylene glycol (DEG)
3. Tri-ethylene glycol (TEG)
4. Tetra-ethylene glycol (T4EG).

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 Usually a single type of pure glycol is used, but
sometimes a glycol blend is economically attractive.
 Dehydration Cont.
Advantages of TEG
1. TEG universally accepted as the most cost effective of
the glycols due to its superior dew point depression,
operating cost, and operation reliability.
2. TEG has been successfully used to dehydrate sweet
and sour natural gases over wide ranges of operating
conditions.
3. Dew point depression can be achieved at a gas
pressure ranging from 25 -2500 psig and gas
temperature between 40 0F to 140 0F.
4. The dew point depression obtained depends on the
equilibrium dew point temperature for a given TEG
concentration and contact temperatue. 18
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 Dehydration Cont.,
 Operating Problems with the Dehydration using
Absorption :
1. Increased glycol viscosity may cause problems at lower contact
temperature. Thus, heating of the natural gas may be desirable.
2. Very hot gas streams are often cooled prior to dehydration to prevent
vaporization of TEG.
3. The feeding-in gas must be cleaned to remove liquid water,
hydrocarbons, wax, sand, drilling mud and other impurities.
 The presence of the above substances in the feeding gas can
cause:
 Severe foaming
 Flooding
 Higher glycol losses
 Poor efficiency
 Increased maintenance in the absorber. 21
 These impurities can be removed using an efficient scrubber, separator, or
even a filter separator for very contaminated gases
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 Dehydration Cont.
4. The injection of CH3OH at the wellhead as a
hydrate inhibitor, can cause several
problems for glycol dehydration plants.
 It increases the heat requirements of the glycol
regeneration systems.
 Slugs of liquid methanol can cause flooding in
the absorber.
 Methanol vapor vented to the atmosphere
with the H2O vapor from the regeneration
system is hazardous and should be recovered
or vented at nonhazardous concentrations. 22
Dehydration Cont.

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Dehydration Cont.

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Dehydration Cont.

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 Dehydration Cont.
Figure 1 shows a typical, simplified flow sheet for a glycol
absorption unit.
1. The wet gas passes
through an inlet scrubber
to remove solids and free
liquids, and then enters
the bottom of the glycol
contactor.
2. Gas flows upward in
the contactor, while lean
glycol solution (glycol with
little or no water) flows
down over the trays.
3. Rich glycol absorbs water
and leaves at the bottom of the 26
column while dry gas exits at the top.
 Dehydration Cont.
4.The rich glycol flows
through a heat exchanger
at the top of the still where
it is heated and provides
the coolant for the still condenser
5. Then the warm solution
goes to a flash tank, where
dissolved gas is removed.
6. The rich glycol from the
flash tank is further heated
by heat exchange with the still
bottoms, and then becomes
the feed to the still.
7. The still produces water at
the top and a lean glycol at the
bottom, which goes to a surge tank
before being returned to the contactor. 27