Gas Processing 141

Part 2 2
Gas Processing
Contents
NGL RECOVERY CONSIDERATIONS 2-141
VALUE OF NGL COMPONENTS 2-143
GAS PROCESSING TERMINOLOGY 2-145
LIQUID RECOVERY PROCESSES 2-146
PROCESS SELECTION 2-153
FRACTIONATION 2-154
DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS 2-155

NGL RECOVERY CONSIDERATIONS

“Gas Processing” Is Used to Refer to the
Removal of
Ethane
Propane
i-Butane
n-Butane

Liquids May Be
Fractionated and sold as pure components.
Combined and sold as natural gas liquids mix or
NGLs mix.

Processing Objectives
Produce transportable gas
Meet sales-gas specifications
Maximize liquid recovery

DOI: 10.1016/B978-1-85617-982-9.00001-6
142 Gas Sweetening and Processing Field Manual

Producing Transportable Gas

Remote locations require gas to be pipelined without
condensation.

Condensation Has Two Drawbacks

Two-phase flow requires a larger pipe diameter than
single-phase flow for the same DP.
When the two-phase stream arrives at its destination,
elaborate slug-catchers may be required to produce
the equipment downstream.

Two Alternatives Exist

NGL recovery at the remote site or
Dense-fluid pipelining

Meeting Sales-Gas Specifications

Most Gas Specifications Contain
Minimum gross heating value (GHV) specification
and
Possibly a hydrocarbon (HC) dew point
requirement.

If HC Is More Valuable as a Liquid

NGL removal should be maximized and
Still satisfy the minimum heating value
specification.

If HC Is More Valuable as a Gas

It may be desirable to retain them as gas, subject
to the HC dew point requirement.

Maximizing Liquid Recovery

A normal heating value specification of about
1000 Btu/scf can be met with methane alone as is
shown in Table 2-1.
Gas streams containing N2 and/or CO2, which are
incombustible, can require the presence of ethane
to provide the required heating value.
 Gas Processing 143

Table 2-1 Typical hydrocarbon gross heating values

Hydrocarbon Component GHV/(Btu/scf) 2
Methane 1010
Ethane 1770
Propane 2516

If the heavier HCs are more valuable as liquids,

then complete liquification of propane and
heavier HCs and partial ethane recovery is
desirable.
Cycling of natural gas in a condensate reservoir,
that is, reinjecting natural gas so as to keep the
reservoir pressure above the gas dew point, will
maximize ultimate NGL recovery. If the reservoir
pressure is allowed to fall into the two-phase
region, valuable liquids are condensed and will
not be recovered.

VALUE OF NGL COMPONENTS

Ethane and Heavier HC Components (C2þ)
Can Be Liquefied
Relative liquid and gas phase values of HCs are illustrated
for propane.
In sales gas, propane is worth the contract price of
the gas, assuming it can be left in the gas and sold
for its GHV.
If natural gas is worth $5.00 MMBtu1 and from
the previous table the heating value of propane is
2516 Btu/scf, then
(1,000,000 Btu)  (1 scf/2516 Btu) ¼ 397.5 scf propane
If propane is liquified, the amount of liquid recovered
at 60  F is
(397.5 scf)  (1 gal/36.375 scf) ¼ 10.9 gal propane
Note: 36.375 scf/gal is read from the physical
constant table under volume ratio scf gas/gal
liquid.
144 Gas Sweetening and Processing Field Manual

FIGURE 2-1 Energy equivalent of natural gas.

The equivalent value of this propane as a liquid is

$5.00/10.9 gal ¼ $0.459 gal1 (when gas is worth
$5.00 MMBtu1)
If liquid propane can be sold for more than $0.459 gal1
plus the cost of liquification, there is an economic
incentive for propane liquification when gas is worth
$5.00 MMBtu1.
Figure 2-1 shows the equivalent for NGL components as
a function of gas price.

“Crude Spiking”
Increases the total barrels of oil
Raises the API gravity (increases the sales price per barrel).
Crude value is important
$0.459 gal1 converts to $23.87 bbl1
Crude would have to be worth more than
$23.87 bbl1 to make the spiking economical.
The extent of condensate removal may be limited by the
sales-gas GHV specification, particularly, if appreciable
N2 and/or CO2 are present.
Figure 2-2 shows how ethane recovery is limited by inert
gas content.
 Gas Processing 145

FIGURE 2-2 Maximum ethane recovery correlated with inlet gas

nonhydrocarbon fractions.

GAS PROCESSING TERMINOLOGY

Definitions of LPG and NGL
Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) products
Defined by their vapor pressure
Unfractionated NGL
146 Gas Sweetening and Processing Field Manual

Made up of pentanes and heavier HCs

May contain some butanes and very small amounts
of propane
Cannot contain heavy components that boil at
more than 375  F

LIQUID RECOVERY PROCESSES

Any Cooling Will Induce Condensation
and Yield NGL
Figure 2-3 illustrates the phase diagram paths for NGL
recovery.

FIGURE 2-3 Phase diagram paths for NGL recovery.

 Gas Processing 147

The higher the pressure, the more condensation, other

factors being equal.
Another NGL recovery technique is the use of a mass- 2
transfer agent (MTA).
Basic NGL liquification processes are now described and
related to Figure 2-3, when possible.
It is beyond the scope of this manual to discuss detailed
designs of a gas processing plant.

Absorption/Lean Oil Process (Figure 2-4)

General Considerations
“Lean oil” (kerosene) is used to absorb light HC
components from the gas.
Light components are separated from the rich oil
and the lean oil is recycled.
Inlet gas is cooled by a heat exchanger with the
outlet gas and a cooler before entering the absorber.
The absorber is a contact tower similar in design to
a glycol contact tower.
Lean absorber oil trickles down over trays or
packing while the gas flows upward.
Gas leaves the top of the absorber while the
absorber oil, now rich in light HCs, leaves the
bottom of the absorber.

FIGURE 2-4 Simplified flow diagram of an absorption plant.

148 Gas Sweetening and Processing Field Manual

The cooler the inlet gas stream, the higher the

percentage of HCs that will be removed by the oil.
Rich oil flows to the rich oil deethanizer (or
demethanizer) to reject the methane or ethane (or
methane alone) as flash gas.

In Most Lean Oil Plants

Rich Oil Dehydrator (ROD) unit rejects both
methane and ethane because very little ethane is
recovered by the lean oil.
If only methane were rejected, then it would be
necessary to install a deethanizer column
downstream of the still to make a separator ethane
product and keep ethane from contaminating
(increasing the vapor pressure of) the other liquid
products made by the plant.
Heat is added at the bottom to drive off almost all
the methane (and most ethane) from the bottoms
product by exchanging heat with the hot lean oil
coming from the still.
A reflux is provided by a small stream of cold lean oil
injected at the top of the ROD.
Gas off the tower overhead is used as plant fuel
and/or compressed.
Absorber oil then flows to a still where it is heated
to a high enough temperature to drive off the
propanes, butanes, pentanes, and other NGL
components to the overhead.
The closer the bottom temperature approaches the
boiling temperature of the lean oil, the purer the
lean oil which will be recirculated to the absorber.
Temperature control on the condenser keeps lean
oil from being lost with the overhead.
Thus, the lean oil, in completing a cycle, goes
through a recovery stage where it recovers light
and intermediate components from the gas, a
rejection stage where the light ends are eliminated
from the rich oil, and a separation stage where
the NGLs are separated from the rich oil.

Liquid Recovery Levels

C3 ¼ 80%
C4 ¼ 90%
C5þ¼ 98%
 Gas Processing 149

Disadvantages
Difficult to operate
Difficult to predict their efficiency at removing 2
liquids from the gas as the lean oil deteriorates
with time

Mechanical Refrigeration (Figures 2-5 and 2-6)

Supplied by a vapor compression cycle
Uses RF-22 as the refrigerant or working fluid
Inlet gas is cooled to a low enough temperature to
condense the desired fraction of LPG and NGL.
Free water must be separated and the dew point of the
gas lowered before cooling the feed to keep hydrates
from forming.
TEG or molecular sieve or
Glycol injection
Glycol and water separate in the cold separator where
they are routed to a regenerator, the water is boiled off
and the glycol is circulated back to be injected into the
inlet stream.
Ethylene glycol is used because of its low cost and at low
temperatures it is not lost in the gas phase.
The chiller is typically a shell-and-tube, kettle-type
exchanger.
RF-22 (which is cooled in a refrigeration cycle to 40  F)
is able to cool the gas to approximately 40  F.

FIGURE 2-5 Simplified flow diagram of a refrigeration plant.

150 Gas Sweetening and Processing Field Manual

FIGURE 2-6 Mechanical refrigeration.

Gas and liquid are separated in the cold separator, which

is a three-phase separator.
Water and glycol come off the bottom.
HC liquids are routed to the distillation tower.
Gas flows out the top.
If it is desirable to recover ethane, this still is called a
demethanizer.
If only propane and heavier components are to be
recovered, it is called a deethanizer.
The gas is called “plant residue” and is the outlet gas
from the plant.
The refrigeration process is shown as line ABC in the
phase diagram.
From A to B indicates gas-to-gas exchange; from B
to C, chilling.
Gas-to-gas exchange is very common in NGL
recovery processes.
Typical liquid recovery levels are
C3 ¼ 85%
C4 ¼ 94%
C5þ ¼ 98%
These are higher than for a lean oil plant.
 Gas Processing 151

It is possible to recover a small percentage of ethane in a

refrigeration plant.
Limited by the ability to cool the inlet stream to no 2
lower than 40  F with normal refrigerants.

Joule–Thomson (J–T) Expansions (Figure 2-7)

Inlet gas passes first through the gas-to-gas exchanger
and then to an expansion or “choke” valve.
The expansion through the choke is essentially a
constant enthalpy process.
Nonideal behavior of the inlet gas causes the
temperature to fall with the pressure reduction, as
shown by line ABC0 in the phase diagram of Figure 2-3.
The temperature change depends primarily on the
pressure drop.
The J–T process is a “self-refrigeration” process, as
opposed to mechanical refrigeration.
Again the condensed liquids must be fractionated to
meet vapor pressure and composition specifications.
This process is most favored when the wellhead gas is
produced at a very high pressure and can be expanded to
sales line pressure with no recompression.

Cryogenic (Expansion Turbine) Plants (Figure 2-8)

Cool gas to 100 to 150  F using expansion and J–T
effect.
Chiller or J–T valve is replaced by an expansion turbine.

FIGURE 2-7 Low temperature separation (J–T valve).

 152
Gas Sweetening and Processing Field Manual
FIGURE 2-8 Simplified flow diagram of a cryogenic plant.
 Gas Processing 153

As the entering gas expands, it supplies work to the

turbine shaft, thus reducing the gas enthalpy.
Decrease in enthalpy causes a much larger 2
temperature drop than that found in the J–T
(constant enthalpy) process.
Expansion process is indicated as line “ABC.”
The gas is routed through heat exchangers where it is
cooled by the residue gas, and condensed liquids are
recovered in a cold separation at approximately 90  F.
These liquids are injected into the demethanizer at a level
where the temperature is approximately 90  F.
Gas is then expanded (its pressure is decreased from inlet
pressure to 225 psig) through an expansion valve or
turboexpander.
Turboexpander uses the energy removed from the gas
due to the pressure drop to drive a compressor, which
helps recompress the gas to sales pressure.
The cold gas (150  F) then enters the demethanizer
column at a pressure and temperature condition where
most of the ethanes-plus are in the liquid state.
As the liquid falls and is heated, the methane is boiled off
and the liquid becomes leaner and leaner in methane.
Heat is added to the bottom of the tower using the hot
discharge residue gas from the compressors to assure
that the bottom liquids have an acceptable Reed Vapor
Pressure (RVP) or methane content.
Because of the lower temperatures that are possible,
cryogenic plants have the highest liquid recovery levels
C2 ¼ 60%
C3 ¼ 90%
C4þ ¼ 100%
Advantages
Simple to use
Easy to package (more expensive than
refrigeration)

PROCESS SELECTION

Normally, an economic comparison between viable

alternatives will be required; however, the following
guidelines are offered.
154 Gas Sweetening and Processing Field Manual

If the NGL Content of the Feed Gas Is Low

Use the expander process.

For Gases Very Rich in NGL

Simple refrigeration is probably best choice, while
expansion is not usually satisfactory.

If the Inlet Gas Pressure Is Very High

Low temperature separation (ITS) may be attractive.

Low Inlet Gas Pressure

Favors an expander plant or straight refrigeration (if the
gas is very rich).

Very Low Gas Rates

May justify only a very simple process such as an
automatically operated J–T unit.

Large Flow Rates

Justify a more complex plant with more complex controls
and more operating personnel.

Remote Wells
Remote wells may dictate simple operation and
processing such as J–T plant.
A large number of wells may justify a central processing
facility with more complex processing.

FRACTIONATION (FIGURE 2-9)

Bottoms liquid from any gas plant may be sold as a mixed

product.
Bottoms liquid may be separated into its various components:
Ethane
Propane
 Gas Processing 155

FIGURE 2-9 Simplified flow diagram of a fractionation system.

Butane
Natural gasoline
Fractionation splits liquids into its various components.
Liquids are cascaded through a series of distillation towers
where successively heavier and heavier components are
separated as overhead gas.
Specifications are normally in the form of RVP (controlled by
upstream tower) and amount of heavy ends set by
fractionator.

DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS

Proper design requires choosing an

Operating pressure
Bottoms temperature
Reflux condenser
Temperature
Number of trays.
Normally accomplished by using any one of several
commercially available process simulation programs