UNIVERSITY OF PORT HARCOURT

GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

MASTERS PETROLEUM AND GAS ENGINEERING

A THESIS PROPOSAL
ON

OPTIMIZATION OF CONDENSATE PRODUCTION IN AN LNG

PLANT
Submitted by

OKORO MATTHEW IFEBADIOFU

G2014/MENG/PNG/FT/1013

Supervisor: Prof. G. J. IGWE

Co-Supervisor: Dr. EMEKA OKAFOR

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF MASTERS IN ENGINEERING

DEGREE,PETROLEUM AND GAS ENGINEERING
SEPTEMBER 2015

INTRODUCTION
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Natural gas is a naturally occurring gaseous mixture of hydrocarbons and nonhydrocarbon gases found in underground reservoir rocks either as associated gas,
that is natural gas in contact or co-existing with crude oil in reservoirs, nonassociated gas which are free gases not in contact or exists without crude oil in the
reservoir and as gas condensate(dissolved gas) which are gases in solution with
crude oil or exist in gaseous form in the reservoir but liquefy on production as a
result of reduction in pressure and a change in temperature. Though of these three,
gas condensate is of a higher quality and therefore has more economic value. There
is no one composition or mixture of hydrocarbons and impurities that can be
referred to as natural gas. Whether its associated, non-associated or dissolved in
solution, each gas stream that is produced has its own composition. The principal
hydrocarbon gases found in natural gas are methane, ethane, propane, butanes,
pentanes and heavier hydrocarbons, the impurities include Nitrogen, water vapour,
hydrogen sulphide, carbon-dioxide, mercury and helium.
Natural gas processing is basically done for two main purposes which are; for the
use of natural gas as fuel which is mainly methane and a small percentage of
ethane (LNG) and as feed stock for other petrochemical processes which are
usually natural gas liquids (NGL) with a composition of ethane, propane, butanes,
pentanes and heavier hydrocarbon fractions. In the processing of natural gas, NGL
recovery is done as an additional process through a fractionation train or unit,
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consisting of three distillation columns in series; a de-ethanizer, a de-propanizer

and a de-butanizer. The overhead product of the deethanizer is ethane (C2) and
bottom products which are propane (C3), butane (C4) and heavies are fed into the
depropanizer whose overhead product is propane (C3) and bottoms butane (C4)
and heavies are fed to the debutanizer. The overhead product from the debutanizer
gives a mixture of iso-butane (iC4) and normal-butane (nC4), while the bottom
product is a mixture of pentane plus which will be our focus in this project.
Natural gas condensate can be defined as a low density, high API gravity liquid
hydrocarbon mixture that is present in raw natural gas as gaseous component. They
have a specific gravity ranging from 0.5 to 0.8 and normally has a composition of
mainly butane, pentane plus and other non-hydrocarbon gases as impurities.
Natural gas condensate can also be known as simply condensate or gas condensate
or sometimes as natural gasoline and drip gas. It is produced mainly at an oil and
gas surface production facility (wellhead), where it is been separated or at a gas
processing plant (LNG plant) where it is produced as one of the by-products.
Therefore because of its economic value different operators process their
condensate in different ways based on their commercial considerations and
operational preference. As a result of this, the demand for gas condensate in
Nigeria and around the world has become increasingly important due to the need

for additional liquid recovery and an increase in the demand for light oil and
natural gas
In the processing of Natural gas liquids, which is an additional process of the LNG
process train, condensate as the last by-product of the fractionation unit requires
careful process analysis with which to exploit and optimize its recovery.
Condensate as mention earlier is produced at several stages during natural gas
processing and often contains lighter hydrocarbons which can make it dangerous to
store and transport by increasing its vapor pressure. Therefore it should further be
processed through stabilization in order that it meets the required standards for
storage, transportation and sales. The process of stabilization is simply separating
lighter hydrocarbon gases from the heavier hydrocarbon liquid component in order
to reduce its vapor pressure as the produced condensate would be stored in tank or
transported in a pressure vessel which has a definite pressure limits with their Reid
Vapor Pressure range of 10psia-12psia maximum. There are basically two methods
of stabilization: flash vaporization and fractionation (distillation), which would be
reviewed further in this study.
There are many different simulation programs used in the industry, depending on
the field of application and desired simulation. ASPEN HYSYS Simulation
package would be used in this project for the optimization of condensate
production in an LNG plant since it is a tool that can be used to improve plant
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control and operability, ensure a more efficient and profitable design and it
represents a more realistic model.
STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
In the industry today, condensate has many uses but its primarily used as a diluent
in heavy crude blending and processed for its individual components. Condensate
as it is known is lighter than crude oil but heavier than natural gas liquids and one
major issue associated with it is that in its natural form it contains lighter
hydrocarbons that increases its vapor pressure to the point that it is not saleable ,
dangerous to store and transport. It is therefore required to accurately anticipate the
quality of condensate produced (that it meets the required standard) before it is
sold to consumers, sent to storage or transported
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The primary objectives of this study are
To model and simulate the production of condensate from the NGL
fractionation unit and its stabilization in an LNG Plant with the use of
ASPEN HYSYS.
To identify the optimal operational conditions in the units mentioned above
to predict the quality of condensate produced.

 To know the effect of heat duty, pressure temperature variations and column
design to the production of condensate with respect to the fractionation unit
and the stabilization unit.
SCOPE OF THE STUDY
This work will be focused on the optimization of condensate production from the
NGL fractionation unit and its stabilization with the use of ASPEN HYSYS.
Various methods of stabilization will be reviewed and this study will also focused
on finding the best operational conditions for the production of condensate to meet
the required standard for sales, storage and transportation.
METHODOLOGY
Relevant data on condensate production and its stabilization in an LNG Plant
would be collected. Existing literatures on condensate production process would be
reviewed especially in the area of its stabilization. ASPEN HYSYS simulation
software would be used for simulations and optimizations that would be carried out
in this study.

REFERENCE
1. A.Rahman, K. Kirtania, Simulation Study Of A Fractionation Column With
Varying Parameters department of chemical engineering, Bangladesh University
of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh. Engineering etransaction(ISSN 1823-6379) 1, June 2011 pp 43-49.
2. Navid Moghadam and Masoud Samadi, Gas Condensate Stabilization Unit:
Different Design Approach international journal of chemical Engineering and
Application. Volume 3, No 6. December 2012.
3. Partho S. Roy and Ruhul Amin M., Aspen-HYSYS Simulation of Natural Gas
Processing plant. department of chemical engineering, Bangladesh University of
Engineering and Technology, Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh. Journal of chemical
engineering. IEB Vol. ChE. 26, No 1, December 2011
4. Ikoku, Chi U. Natural Gas Production Engineering. New York: John Wiley and
Sons, 1984
5. Ikoku, Chi U. Natural Gas Reservoir Engineering. New York: John Wiley and

6.

Sons, 1984
Henri Parodowski et al, Compare the different options for NGL Recovery from
Natural gas. Gas processing Department, Technip, 92973 Paris La Defense,
CEDEX, France.