CHAPTER 5: NATURAL GAS
DEHYDRATION
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Natural gas dehydration: is the process of removing water vapor from
the gas stream to lower the dew point of that gas.
The dew point is defined as the temperature at which water vapor
condenses from the gas stream.
The sale contracts of natural gas specify either its dew point or the
maximum amount of water vapor present.
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There are three basic reasons for the dehydration
of natural gas streams:
1. To prevent hydrate formation.
2. To avoid corrosion problems.
3. Downstream processing requirements. In most commercial hydrocarbon
processes, the presence of water may cause side reactions, foaming, or
catalyst deactivation. Consequently, purchasers typically require that gas
and liquid petroleum gas (LPG) feedstock meet certain specifications for
maximum water content. This ensures that water-based problems will not
hamper downstream operations.
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Dehydration Methods:
Dehydration of Natural Gas
Absorption Adsorption Condensation
Cooling Below Dew
Glycol Dehydration Molecular Sieve,
point By Refrigeration
using: Silica Gel,
with Glycol or methanol
TEG Activated Alumina
Injection
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1- Absorption (Glycol Dehydration Process):
The basic principles of relevance to the absorption process are as
follows:
1. In this process, a hygroscopic liquid is used to contact the wet
gas to remove water vapor from it. Triethylene glycol (TEG)
is the most common solvent used.
2. Absorption, which is defined as the transfer of a component
from the gas phase to the liquid phase, is more favorable at a
lower temperature and higher pressure.
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Four Glycols are used for dehydration:
1. Monoethylene Glycol ( MEG).
2. Diethylene Glycol ( DEG).
3. Triethylene Glycol (TEG).
4. Tetraethylene Glycol ( TREG).
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Process description:
Lean glycol is fed to the top of an absorber (also known as a "glycol
contactor") where it is contacted with the wet natural gas stream.
The glycol removes water from the natural gas by physical absorption and
the "rich glycol“ leaves from the bottom of the column.
The dried natural gas leaves from the top of the absorption column and is
fed either to a pipeline system or to a gas plant.
After leaving the absorber, the rich glycol is fed to a flash vessel where
hydrocarbon vapors are removed and any liquid hydrocarbons are
skimmed from the glycol. This step is necessary as the absorber is
typically operated at high pressure and the pressure must be reduced
before the regeneration step.
Due to the composition of the rich glycol, a vapor phase having a high
hydrocarbon content will form when the pressure is lowered.
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After leaving the flash vessel, the rich glycol is heated in a cross-
exchanger and fed to the stripper (also known as a regenerator).
The glycol stripper consists of a column, an overhead condenser, and a
reboiler.
The glycol is thermally regenerated to remove excess water and regain
the high glycol purity.
The hot, lean glycol is cooled by cross-exchange with rich glycol
entering the stripper. It is then fed to a lean pump where its pressure is
elevated to that of the glycol absorber.
The lean solvent is cooled again with a trim cooler before being fed back
into the absorber. This trim cooler can either be a cross-exchanger with
the dry gas leaving the absorber or an air-cooled exchanger.
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2- Adsorption Soil-Bed Dehydration
When very low dew points are required, solid-bed dehydration becomes the
logical choice.
It is based on fixed-bed adsorption of water vapor by a selected desiccant.
A number of solid desiccants could be used such as silica gel, activated
alumina, or molecular sieves.
The selection of these solids depends on economics.
The most important property is the capacity of the desiccant, which
determines the loading design expressed as the percentage of water to be
adsorbed by the bed. The capacity decreases as temperature increases.
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Operation of Solid-Bed Dehydrator:
The system may consist of two-bed , three-bed, or Multi-bed operation. In
the three-bed operation, if two beds are loading at different stages, the third
one would be regenerated.
During normal operation in the drying (adsorbing) cycle, three separate
zones exist in the bed:
(i) Equilibrium zone: In the equilibrium zone, the desiccant is saturated
with water; it has reached its equilibrium water capacity based on inlet gas
conditions and has no further capacity to adsorb water.
(ii) Mass transfer zone (MTZ):Virtually all of the mass transfer takes
place in the MTZ, a concentration gradient exists across the MTZ.
(iii) Active zone: In the active zone the desiccant has its full capacity for
water vapor removal and contains only that amount of residual water left
from the regeneration cycle.
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The amount of adsorbed water molecules increases with the pressure of the
gas and decreases with its temperature. These facts are taken into account
when the process parameters are designed.
Regeneration is performed by preheated gas, or by part of the dehydrated
NG. This method is known as temperature swing adsorption (TSA).
In classical applications, the TSA heater is realized as an ordinary burner or
as a shell and tube heat exchanger warmed by steam or by hot oil.
The regeneration gas warms in the heater and flows into the column. In the
column passes through the adsorbent and the water desorbs into the
regeneration gas.
The water saturated regeneration gas then flows into the cooler. The cooler
usually uses cold air to decrease the temperature of the regeneration gas.
When the water saturated regeneration gas is cooled, partial condensation of
the water occurs. The regeneration gas is led further into the separator,
where the condensed water is removed.
After water separation, the regeneration gas is added back to the inlet stream
or alternatively to the dehydrated stream.
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3- Condensation:
The third conventional dehydration method employs gas cooling to turn water
molecules into the liquid phase and then removes them from the stream.
Natural gas can be advantageously cooled using the Joule-Thompson effect (JT effect).
The JT effect describes how the temperature of a gas changes with pressure adjustment.
For natural gas expansion, the average distance between its molecules increases leading
to an increase in their potential energy (Van der Waals forces).
During expansion, there is no heat exchange with the environment, and no work
creation. Therefore, due to the conservation law, the increase in potential energy leads
to a decrease in kinetic energy and thus a temperature decrease of Natural gas.
However, there is another phenomenon connected with the cooling of wet NG.
Attention should be paid to the formation of methane hydrate. Hydrates formed by
cooling may plug the flow. This is usually prevented by injecting methanol or
monoethylenglycol (MEG) hydrate inhibitors before each cooling.
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Predicting the conditions leading to
hydrate formation using approximate
methods:
1st:To determine hydrate formation pressure or
temperature: This method utilizes the curve shown in the next slide;
it involves the following steps:
1. Calculate the apparent molecular weight of the gas mixture MWa.
2. Calculate the specific gravity of the gas, γG, where γG =MWa/MWair..
3. Given the gas temperature (T) and its specific gravity (γG), find the
corresponding gas pressure for hydrate formation using the curve.
4. Similarly, at a given gas pressure, the hydrate formation temperature
can be determined from the curve.
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Example 1:
If the specific gravity of a natural gas stream is calculated
and found to be 0.69, find the hydrate formation pressure (in
psia) at a temperature of 50 oF.
Solution:
From Figure in slide 19, a pressure of about 330 psia is
determined for the corresponding conditions of temperature
and specific gravity stated.
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2nd: To Determine the amount of water vapor at dew point
condition:
This method utilizes McKetta–Wehe chart, which relates the gas
temperature T and its pressure P to the water vapor content of
the natural gas at saturation conditions, as presented in the chart
in the next slide.
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Example 2:
■ Natural gas, saturated with water vapor at conditions of 1000 psia and
90oF is exposed to cooling in a flow line due to heat losses, where the
temperature reaches 35oF and the pressure remains the same. Calculate
how much liquid water will drop out of the gas.
Solution:
■ From the chart, we obtain the following: Water content of the gas stream at
the initial conditions (1000 psia and 90oF) is 46 lb/MMCF (MMCF: 106
cubic feet).
■ Water content of the gas stream at conditions of 1000 psia and 35oF is 7.6
lb/MMCF.
■ Water to be separated is 46-7.6=38.4 lb/MMCF (MMCF: 106 cubic feet).
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