CASE STUDY PROPOSAL

Simulation of Liquefaction Petroleum Gas (LPG) Production from

Natural Gas Using Fractional Towers

Figure 1. Process flow diagram (PFD) using HYSYS for LPG production from natural gas
(Elbadawy, Teamah, Shehata, & Hanfy, 2018)

Process Description

Natural gas shares approximately 23% of the total world energy and it is also considered to be
one of the cleanest, safest, and most efficient of any other energy resources. The process for this
system consists of 4 columns. The 1st stage happens in Deethanizer, in this column propane and
methane is separated wherein the heavier hydrocarbons will flow from the bottoms in the liquid
phase and entering from the next column which is the Debutanizer.

In the 2nd process which is the Debutanizer propane and methane are separated and goes at the
top the column which is the distillate while the stabilize natural gas liquid (C5+) flows at the bottoms.
To obtain the pure specified propane product, propane and butane that come from the top of the
Debutanizer go from the Depropanizer column wherein propane goes at the top as distillate and
butane goes to the bottoms; then finally, the butane goes into the final column which is the Butane
Splitter where the n-butane goes at the bottoms and isobutane becomes the distillate.

Standards That May Cover the Design

Distillation columns in each process should handle high pressures and high temperatures
because the process is dealing with different boiling points. Reboiler and condenser should be
efficient to minimize product loss. Expansion valve for the bottoms should decrease the desired
pressure effectively.

I. De-Ethanizer

Figure 2. PFD of De-Ethanizer (Elbadawy et al., 2018)

 The feed will first go to the deethanizer wherein the desired product methane and propane will
go out of the system in vapor form of the distillate and heavier hydrocarbons will remain at the
bottoms. These heavier hydrocarbons will be fed to the next column to extract the unrecovered
propane and methane.

II. Debutanizer

Figure 3. PFD of Debutanizer (Elbadawy et al., 2018)

To further increase the total yield of the process, debutanizer will split the mixture of butane and
propane and other hydrocarbons present in the feed to the debutanizer.

To increase the efficiency, a side stream of propane-butane will be fed to the next column, and
other components such as butane and other hydrocarbon will leave the system.
 III. Depropanizer

Figure 4. PFD of Depropanizer (Elbadawy et al., 2018)

Propane present in the side stream will be separated from the butane using the depropanizer to
maximize the yield of the process. The separated butane in the mixture will be fed to the next column.

IV. Butane Splitter

Figure 5. PFD of Butane Splitter (Elbadawy et al., 2018)

 Butane will be splitted into n-butane and isobutane. Wherein the more volatile component goes
to the distillate and the lower volatile component goes to the bottoms. N-butane will go at at the
bottoms, isobutane at the distillate.

Equipment Specifications:
Reason for implementing automated control

Optimizing Performance. Process needs to perform at optimum levels, and that means
improving the systems. Manual operations are a bit tedious therefore a need for automated controls to
improve the performance. As we all know, automated operations can accomplish processes that cannot
be done manually.

Maintaining Reliability. Repetitive tasks like manually pushing buttons, or even changing
operation conditions may bore an employee and can make mistakes that may lead to errors in the
system. However, when automation is implemented, it ensures that jobs are not forgotten or run out of
sequence, that pre-requisite jobs are completed successfully, that the input data is correct, and that any
special processing is performed.

Increasing Productivity. Automated controls can save time. The time required to process a
typical production is generally reduced with automation. And that ability can add to cost savings by
making the employees more productive.

Easier Changing of Conditions. One of the reasons of implementing automated controls is the
ease to change operating conditions in the system. It doesn’t need complicated steps to be changed
immediately.

On application, the goal of this process was to produce or to recover rich n-Ethane, n-Propane,
and n-Butane products. The case of low pressure may produce impurities or residues in each product
stream of each columns. To prevent this scenario, increasing the pressure of each column is required.
Therefore, rich products will be recovered.

References:

• Recovery, L. P. G., Khabibullin, E., Febrianti, F., Sheng, J., Bandyopadhyay, S., &
Skogestad, S. (2010). TKP4170 PROCESS DESIGN. PROJECT.
• Elbadawy, Khaled & Teamah, Mohamed & Shahata, Ali & A Hanfy, Ahamed. (2018).
Simulation of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) Production from Natural Gas Using
Fractionation Towers. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ADVANCED SCIENTIFIC AND
TECHNICAL RESEARCH. 6. 10.26808/rs.st.i7v6.16.