Gas Processing and Liquefaction

Chapter 5:
Hydrocarbon Liquids Recovery
By
Abdul Halim Abdul Razik
FKKSA, UMP
Topic Outcomes:
 Describe the terms of Sales Gas and Natural Gas Liquid
(NGL)
 Describe the fractionation/distillation process and
perform related calculations
 Describe the functions of Low Temperature Separation
Unit (LTSU) and Product Recovery Unit (PRU) in gas
processing plant
 Describe the processing installation that must be
designed to meet natural gas transport or final
specification
 Describe the refrigeration process and perform related
calculations (Similar to chapter 6)
Sales Gas
 Sales Gas is the treated natural gas that mainly consists of
methane, ethane and small amount of propane and butane. In
GPP, this sales gas is the main product which is taken from the
overhead of the de-methanizer column.
 Below is the typical natural gas (sales gas) compositions:
Components Before 1995 (vol %) After 1995 (vol %)

Methane, CH4 84.75 92.74

Ethane, C2H6 10.41 4.07

Propane, C3H8 0.98 0.77

i-Butane, i-C4H10 0.07 0.08

N-Butane, n-C4H10 0.04 0.06

Nitrogen, N2 0.39 0.45

Carbon dioxide, CO2 3.36 1.83

Total 100.00 100.00

Natural Gas Compositions and
Separations
 If a natural gas contains a relatively large fraction of
hydrocarbons other than methane (i.e condensate gas or
associated gas), separation of these heavier components are
needed to avoid formation of liquid phase during transport.
 This separation is usually performed by lowering gas
temperature with the formation of a liquid phase (according
to the component’s boiling point shown by Figure 7.15). In this
regard, it is often called as fractionation process. Other than
that, absorption and adsorption can be also applied in doing
such separation.
 From figure 7.15, it is representing normal boiling point of
natural gas fractions. Separation by lowering temperature
needs to get the temperature below this normal boiling point,
which is at 1 atm. In this context, separation by lowering
temperature known as fractionation by refrigeration.
Figure 7.15: Standard Terminology with Respective Boiling Points
Fractionation Process
 Fractionation is process that utilized to separate mixtures into
individual products.
 Fractionation involves separating components by relative volatility.
 The difficulty of a separation is directly related to the relative
volatility of the components and the required purity of the product
streams.
 All gas processing plants producing natural gas liquids require at
least one fractionator to produce a liquid product which will meet
sales gas specifications.
 In a fractionator, heat is introduced to the reboiler to produce
stripping vapors. The vapor rises through the column contacting
the descending liquid.
 The vapor leaving the top of the column enters the condenser
where heat is removed by some type of cooling medium. Liquid is
returned to the column as reflux to limit the loss of heavy
components overhead.
Fractionation Schematic Diagram
Fractionation Process Cont..
 Internals such as trays or packing promote the contact
between the liquid and vapor streams in the column.
 Intimate contact of the vapor and liquid phases is
required for efficient separation. Vapor entering a
separation stage will be cooled which results in some
condensation of heavier components.
 The liquid phase will be heated which results in some
vaporization of the lighter components. Thus, the
heavier components are concentrated in the liquid
phase and eventually become the bottom product.
 The vapor phase is continually enriched in the light
components which will make up the overhead product.
Fractionation Process Cont..
 The vapor leaving the top of the column may be totally or partially
condensed.
 In a total condenser, all vapor entering the condenser is condensed
to liquid and the reflux returned to the column has the same
composition as the distillate or overhead product.
 In a partial condenser, only portion of the vapor entering the
condenser is condensed to liquid. In most partial condensers, only
sufficient liquid will be condensed to serve as reflux for the tower. In
some cases, however, more liquid will be condensed than is
required for reflux and there will actually be two overhead products,
one a liquid having the same composition as the reflux and the other
a vapor product which is in equilibrium with the liquid reflux.
 Example of fractionators in LTSU and PRU are de-methanizer, de-
ethanizer, de-propanizer and de-butanizer.
Example of Calculation
For the given feed stream, estimate the product stream
compositions for 97% propane recovered in the
overhead product with a maximum iso-butane content
of the overhead stream is 1%.
Components in the feed Molar flowrate (kmol/hr)
C2 2.4
C3 162.8
iC4 31.0
nC4 76.7
C5 76.5
Total 349.4
Some Important Terms in Hydrocarbon Liquid
Recovery Process (After fractionation is taking
place)
Natural gasoline or condensate which is a light gasoline
representing mainly the C5+ fraction.
LPG fraction which includes propane and butanes (normal
butane and iso-butane)
NGL fraction which contains C2, C3, C4 (iso and normal),
natural gasoline – Process goal is not to separate between
natural gasoline and LPG.
LNG- by lowering the temperature to about -160oC at 1
atm. Mainly contains methane and generally contains
ethane. This product will specifically discussed in Chapter
6: Hydrocarbon Gas Liquefaction Process
LTSU
 The low temperature separation unit (LTSU) is designed to produce
sales gas by separating heavier hydrocarbons from methane.
 In GPP A, this unit is designed to produce 250MMSCFD of sales gas
plus plant fuel consumption. Therefore, the total production rate is
approximately 266MMSCFD.
 The LTSU is accomplished in 3 steps:
◦ Cool down by heat exchange (by using refrigeration process.
Refrigeration will be discussed later)
◦ Expansion to reduce the temperature further (either the use of
expander or valve)
◦ Demethanization to separate the condensed components from
the gas (fractionation process)
 Methanol injection system is necessary to avoid hydrate formation
especially at refrigeration section.
PRU
 The product recovery unit (PRU) consists of three
fractionation systems in series. It has de-ethanizer, de-
propanizer and de-butanizer. All of these are
fractionation towers.
 In any fractionation towers, the part below the feed tray is
a stripping section, and the part above the feed tray is
rectification section.
 Control of any tower requires that the product take offs
rates match the product quantities in the feed.
 For stripping defects (bottom getting lighter), increase the
bottom temperature. For rectification defects (overhead
getting heavier) decrease the top temperature.
Fractionation by Refrigeration
 If the natural gas is transported by pipeline, the
processing installation must be designed to meet either
transport or final specifications.
 Three main objective and main specification are
summarized below:
Objective Main specification

Gas for transport Hydrocarbon dew point

Commercial /sales gas Gas heating value

Lean gas NGL recovery factor

Fractionation by Refrigeration Cont..
 If the gas is to be transported, the main requirement is to
prevent the formation of liquid phase.
 For example, during transportation, the minimum temperature
of the gas is 0oC under 7 MPa, the dew point condition must
not exceed this temperature at the same pressure.
 However, the pressure generally varies considerably in the
pipe, as a result of the pressure drop.
 To avoid possible liquid-phase formation, one condition
frequently imposed is to set the cricondentherm (in this
context, the minimum temperature of the gas before dew
point occurs) at a value not exceeding the minimum
temperature during transport i.e 0oC in the example discussed.
Fractionation by Refrigeration Cont..

Figure 7.16: Phase Envelope for a Condensate Gas

Fractionation by Refrigeration Cont..
 From figure 7.16, it illustrates the phase envelope for a
condensate gas at the outlet of the high pressure
separator placed at the wellhead.
 The point corresponding to the pressure and
temperature conditions in the separator is located on
the dew-point curve.
 The shape of the phase envelope of the gas after
processing (curve A) is such that no liquid will appear as
long as the temperature remains above the minimum
value imposed.
Fractionation by Refrigeration Cont..
 A second objective is to deliver a commercial/sales gas.
Such gas must be distinguished by a certain range of
gross heating value (GHV) lying, for example, between 39
100 and 39500 KJ/Nm3.
 This specification normally imposes more thorough
fractionation than the simple adjustment of the dew
point fro transport. Curve B shows the phase envelope of
such gas.
 Finally, the ultimate goal may to maximize the
production of NGLs, by producing a lean gas stripped off
most of the hydrocarbons other than methane.
 This happens particularly when the residual gas is re-
injected of flared. The phase envelope of the gas
obtained is shown by curve C.
Conclusion
 In GPP, fractionation processes happen in LTSU and PRU.
 This fractionation process is required to avoid the
formation of liquid during transportation of sales gas, to
meet specified heating value of sales gas and to produce
NGLs, LPG and gasoline.
 Beside sales gas, single fractions produced such as C2,
C3, C4 and C5++ are valuable products that will be sold
to the nearby plants.
 Typically, fractionation is accomplished by refrigeration
and high pressure/low temperature separators
(distillation and/or flash) depending to the purity
required.