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At the outlet of the field: the first step is the separation of the liquid condensate, water and
gas. In this lecture, we will discuss the treatment of the gas recovered from the stabilization
process.
The treatments and the process units that need to be installed depend on the final use of
the gas and the type of transportation: by pipelines in gas form or by tankers in liquid form.
Gas Consumers
You have already seen the first two uses of the gas available at the outlet of the stabilization
process. It can be utilized directly on the production field. Remember the gas re-injection in
the well for reservoir pressure management, or activation of the production, by gas lift.
Gas Composition
Here you can see the normal boiling temperature of light compounds.
From 36 degrees Celsius for pentane to -161 degrees Celsius for methane. We use these
differences of temperature from C1 to C5 to extract the heavy hydrocarbons present in the
natural gas.
First we eliminate the condensate with a carbon number higher than C5. Then we eliminate
the propane and butane, called LPG for liquified petroleum gas. The processes of removing
LPG is done by adjusting the dew point, by cooling and separation, in combination with a
pressure drop. Finally we obtain the Liquified natural gas called LNG.
Amine Unit
The two main acid gas compounds in Natural gas are Hydrogen Sulfide (called H2S) and
Carbon dioxide (called CO2) To eliminate these 2 acids, the main process used is amine
absorption.
The gas containing H2S and CO2 is put in contact with a chemical liquid absorbent. For H2S
and CO2 removal, the solvent is an amine, such as diethanol amine called DEA.
A chemical reaction occurs between the H2S and the DEA.
The sour gas containing CO2 and H2S enters at the bottom of an absorber column. The DEA
enters at the top of the column. The sweet gas, without H2S and CO2, is recovered at the
top of the absorber. The DEA, with the H2S, flows to a regenerator column.
The DEA and the H2S goes inside the column where the H2S is stripped from the DEA by
steam generated at the bottom of the column by a reboiler.
The H2S is stripped out of the DEA solution at the top of the regenerator. The regenerated
DEA goes to the absorber again.
Because H2S is a poison, H2S and CO2 are treated in an additional unit called a Claus unit.
Claus Unit
This unit transforms H2S into liquid or solid sulfur used by chemical industries.
The first equipment of the Claus unit is a furnace where H2S is mixed and burnt with air,
under controlled operating conditions, to give sulfur and water. The sulfur is condensed and
recovered in liquid form.
Because this reaction is not complete, we add 2 or more catalytic stages to the process.
The reactors containing the catalyst are operated at around 250 degrees at 1 bar. Liquid
sulfur is again recovered at the outlet of each reactor.
Gas Dehydration
The water comes from the gas itself. Water in Natural Gas can create problems during
transportation and processing, like hydrates or ice formation which may block the
instrumentation, equipment or pipe lines. A hydrate is a solid formed from the combination
of water and low-molecular weight molecules, such as CH4.
There are 3 common processes of dehydration:
Physical absorption using Glycols like Triethylene glycol (called TEG). This process is
the most frequently used for transportation by pipeline. This process is really similar
to an amine unit used to eliminate H2S and CO2 where the DEA is replaced by TEG to
eliminate water from the natural gas.
The second process is based on adsorption on solids such as a molecular sieve,
activated alumina or silica gel. This process is used when you need a very low level
of water, like when producing LNG , which requires a very low temperature and thus
a level of water below 1 ppm volume.
The third dehydration process is membrane permeation.
Mercury adsorption
The chemical reaction takes place again in a reactor full of another type of solid.
The mercury is adsorbed and stays on the adsorbent. From time to time, it is necessary to
change the adsorbent when is full of mercury. The natural gas flows, free of mercury, to the
bottom of the reactor.
Liquefaction Unit
To transport the gas in liquid form, it is necessary to add a liquefaction unit. Then, the LNG is
transported by tanker at -160C and then re-vaporized for the different consumers.
The natural gas is cooled down to -160C to condensate methane and obtain LNG at the
outlet of the liquefaction unit.
To decrease the temperature, step by step, the gas passes through a series of cooling
systems.
The first one is a cooling system full of propane. In this condition, we obtain a temperature
around -35 degrees Celsius. Then a second loop is full of ethylene to obtain a temperature
around -98C. The last cooling loop is with Methane to reach the outlet of the unit at a
temperature around -155C.
The pressure at the inlet of the unit is around 60 bars. At the outlet, the LNG is stored at a
pressure of 1 bar and at a temperature of -160C.
To conclude, at the outlet of the gas treatment plant, we have two options.
1. the gas is exported in gas form by pipeline after compression to around 150 bars.
2. after the liquefaction unit, the LNG is exported in liquid form by tanker.