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Mitigation of BTEX emission from gas

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Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jngse

Mitigation of BTEX emission from gas dehydration unit by application

of Drizo process: A case study in Farashband gas processing plant; Iran
Majid Saidi, Mahboubeh Parhoudeh, Mohammad Reza Rahimpour*
Department of Chemical Engineering, School of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, Shiraz University, Shiraz 71345, Iran

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: As greenhouse gas emissions have became a concern to the entire natural gas industry, it is always
Received 22 February 2014 balanced with the obligation of reasonable investment levels and production costs. According to envi-
Received in revised form ronmental regulations, emission of aromatic compounds and other hazardous materials from this pro-
9 April 2014
cess is a challengeable issue. In the natural gas dehydration process, glycol solvents use to remove water
Accepted 12 April 2014
from the natural gas stream in order to meet the pipeline quality standards. Farashband gas processing
Available online
plant consists of six dehydration units operate using stripping gas injection. In this study, to mitigate the
BTEX compounds emission rate in the Farashband gas processing plant, two alternatives based on the
Keywords:
Gas dehydration unit
Drizo process for solvent regeneration are proposed. In the first technique, application of a single Drizo
Gas stripping process in each dehydration unit is investigated and in the second, use of a complex Drizo process
Drizo process instead of three separated single Drizo processes is suggested. These alternatives aim to minimize
BTEX emission environmental disadvantages and improve the most important operating parameters such as dry gas
Process simulation water dew point temperature, glycol loss and glycol purity. Simulation results indicate that TEG as
dehydrating agent has a better performance with respect to DEG. Single Drizo process shows the most
significant change of water dew point followed by complex Drizo process and conventional stripping gas
dehydration process. Also in the case of Drizo process, the water content of natural gas reduces with
increasing the reboiler operating temperature from 180
C to 200
C. Although the BTEX emission rate in
three single Drizo processes is lower than a complex Drizo process, economic evaluations represented
that the additional total capital investment decreased from 2.406 million$ to 1.365 million$ using the
complex Drizo process instead of three single Drizo processes. Also investigation of different solvents
showed that though n-Heptane has the best performance among different solvents, use of the recycled
BTEX compounds as a solvent, not only reduces the BTEX emission rate, it decreases the additional costs.
Also data analysis represents that by considering this fact that the BTEX emission rate enhances with
increasing glycol circulation rate, the optimum TEG circulation rate for both single and complex Drizo
processes is approximately 4 (gal TEG/lb water).
Ó 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
The major concern in the natural gas industry is the presence of
impurities such as hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, ar-
omatics compounds, water and other heavy compounds. Natural
gas is saturated with water vapor under normal production con-
ditions (Bahadori and Vuthaluru, 2009a,b). Glycol dehydration is a
continuous liquid desiccant process in which the water content of
natural gas is removed from hydrocarbon streams by selective ab-
sorption and then the glycol is regenerated or reconcentrated by
* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ98 711 2303071; fax: þ98 711 6287294.
E-mail address: rahimpor@shirazu.ac.ir (M.R. Rahimpour).
thermal desorption. Several units such as slug catcher, gas sweet-
ening, gas dehydration (dew point adjustment unit), glycol regen-
eration and, etc. have been established for gas treatment in the
natural gas processing. Gas dehydration process is an important
process in the natural gas processing in order to decrease the water
content of the natural gas to some allowable limit (Rojey and Jaffret,
1997; Faulkner, 2006).
Engineering investigations and industrial experiences indicate
that controlling and decreasing impurity content of the natural gas
is so necessary to ensure safe processing and transmission. Pres-
ence of water vapor in the natural gas can cause different opera-
tional problems such as equipments corrosion and hydrate
formation. The formation of hydrate in natural gas systems has
been a problem in the gas processing industry for nearly a century

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jngse.2014.04.008
1875-5100/Ó 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Downloaded from http://www.elearnica.ir

 M. Saidi et al. / Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering 19 (2014) 32e45
which leads to pipeline transmission blockage (Hammerschmidt,
1934; Rahimpour et al., 2011).
Water vapor removal or dehydration process is accomplished by
decreasing the inlet water dew point to temperature at which vapor
begins to condense into a liquid. Absorption of water vapor in the
glycol solution is the common method. The wet gas is brought into
contact with dry glycol in an absorber. Water vapor is absorbed in
the glycol and consequently, its dew point reduces. The wet rich
glycol then flows from the absorber to a regeneration system in
which the entrained gas is separated and fractionated in a column
and reboiler. The heating allows boiling off the absorbed water
vapor and the water dry lean glycol is cooled and pumped back to
the absorber.
There are various methods for water removal from the wet
natural gas through this unit. One of the most common methods in
the large scale is the application of absorbent liquid such as Trie-
thyleneglycol (TEG), diethyleneglycol (DEG) and mono-
ethyleneglycol (MEG). Among these compounds, TEG is the most
applicable absorbent liquid for natural gas dehydration process due
to its high chemical resistance, high water absorption, easy
regeneration, low capital and operational costs, fewer vaporization
losses and, etc (Paymooni et al., 2011).
In the natural gas dehydration unit, TEG (absorbent solvent) is
contacted with the wet gas in a counter-current mass transfer
operation mode in an absorption tower to gain the acceptable
water content in the outlet gas (dry gas) (Bahadori, 2007). Rich
glycol stream, which contains amount of water, exits from the
bottom of the absorption tower and then enters the desorption
tower in order to regenerate TEG. Since the glycol is a valuable
compound and also, due to this fact that the glycol purity and dry
gas water dew point temperature are inversely related, glycol
should be regenerated appropriately (Bucklin and Won, 1987).
Emission of aromatic compounds, including benzene, toluene,
ethylbenzene and xylene isomers (BTEX) compounds and other
volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which vent from the reboiler of
the glycol dehydration unit is another concern in the natural gas
processing (Rahimpour et al., 2013a,b). The type and amount of
emissions from dehydration unit depends on the actual process
design, operating conditions, and the composition and flow rate of
the raw natural gas. For a typical unit equipped with a flash sepa-
rator, the composition of the vented vapors may be expected to
vary as water, condensable hydrocarbons, and non-condensable
hydrocarbons. BTEX compounds are usually the most concen-
trated condensable hydrocarbons.
During the natural gas dehydration, the BTEX and VOC com-
pounds are absorbed by glycol, and subsequently during the glycol
regeneration process, they release to the atmosphere. The presence
of small amounts of BTEX in the natural gas stream can result in
very high concentrations in the vented stream. The molar con-
centration of BTEX at the outlet of the vent can easily be several
hundred times higher than in the raw natural gas.
According to the environmental considerations, decreasing the
emission of aromatic compounds is gaining importance in the gas
processing. So development and selection of process alternatives to
decrease the BTEX/VOCs emissions needs more attention during
the design phase. Choosing a proper dehydrating agent has a sig-
nificant effect on the BTEX absorption, so that BTEX solubility in
different solvents is as follows: triethyleneglycol
(TEG) > diethyleneglycol (DEG) > ethyleneglycol (EG) (Covington
et al., 1998).
In the natural gas dehydration process using TEG solvent, it is
necessary to develop an appropriate model which can correctly
calculate the circulation glycol flow rate, lean glycol purity, dry gas
water content and other operating parameters for the watereTEGe
methane system phase equilibrium. In 1972, Pearce et al.
33
investigated the gas dehydration process in which glycol as a
dehydrating agent regenerated subsequently with toluene (Drizo
Process) (Pearce et al., 1972a). Parrish et al. studied the phase
equilibrium of watereTEG system and confirmed the equilibrium
data that was reported by Herskowitz and Gottlieb (1984) and
Parrish et al. (1986). Also, a relation between water activity coeffi-
cient and binary mixture temperature was presented by them and
nowadays, this relation has industrial application (Parrish et al.,
1986). In 1993, a state equation for watereTEGemethane system
is presented (Cunningham et al., 1993) and in 2005, the state
equation that had provided previously for obtaining the water ac-
tivity coefficient in watereTEG mixture was modified by Twu et al.
(2005). Grizzle proposed an effective economic method for
reducing the emission of VOC via burning a mixture of condensable
and non-condensable gases as a fuel in the reboiler (Grizzle, 1993).
Peinemann and Stegger developed a gas permeation membrane
which was applicable in hydrocarbon recovery process such as
BTEX and propylene recovery process and gas conditioning pro-
cesses such as water vapor dew point adjustment, natural gas
drying and, etc. (Peinemann and Stegger, 2003). Darwish and Hilal
simulated a typical process for natural gas dehydration using TEG
as a desiccant via a steady state flow sheet simulator (Aspen Plus)
(Darwish and Hilal, 2008). Also vaporeliquid equilibrium data are
measured experimentally for watereTEG and watereTEGetoluene
systems, at 85 kPa and various temperatures by Khosravanipour
et al. (2009). Bahadori and Vuthaluru developed an estimation
model for prediction of the natural gas water dew point tempera-
ture in equilibrium with the TEG solution at various temperatures
and TEG concentrations (Bahadori and Vuthaluru, 2009a,b). In
another related work, Paymooni et al. proposed addition of volatile
hydrocarbon solvents such as toluene and iso-Octane to enhance
the glycol purity in the regeneration process. Their results indicated
that the liquid hydrocarbon solvent addition can considerably
enhance glycol purity and water volatility and remarkably reduce
glycol loss (Paymooni et al., 2011).
1.1. Natural gas dehydration process
A simple schematic diagram of natural gas dehydration unit is
represented in Fig. 1. As shown in this figure, TWR-100 is a bubble-
cap tray absorption tower with 4e10 trays (Bentley, 1991). The wet
gas and lean glycol streams enter from the bottom and top of the
absorption tower, respectively. Due to direct contact of the glycol
solution to the wet gas through this tower, the water in the vapor
phase is absorbed by glycol, and then, rich glycol and dry gas
streams exit from the bottom and top of the tower, respectively.
Amount of water in the rich glycol stream depends on the wet gas
composition and the gas dehydration unit design. The temperature
of the rich glycol stream increases in the heat exchangers (XCHG-
100 and XCHG-101) and then this stream enters the flash tank
(VSSL-100) in order to separate the insoluble gaseous hydrocarbons
which are used as a fuel gas. Also, the rich glycol stream with high
temperature is directed to the desorption tower (TWR-101). This
tower is a packed tower or a tray tower. In this tower, due to much
difference in water and TEG boiling point temperatures, TEG and
water are well separated, and the regenerated glycol (Lean glycol
stream) is returned to the absorption tower (TWR-100). By
applying this method, the glycol purity in the natural gas dehy-
dration units will be between 98.5 wt% to 99 wt%.
1.2. Glycol purity enhancement methods
There are several methods in order to enhance the glycol purity
in the desorption tower (TWR-101) of the gas dehydration unit
(Fig. 1). These methods are listed in Table 1. One method for glycol
34 M. Saidi et al. / Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering 19 (2014) 32e45
Fig. 1. Simple schematic diagram of the natural gas dehydration unit.
purity enhancement is the injection of dry natural gas or inert gas
as a stripping gas, directly to the reboiler of the desorption tower, in
order to improve the watereTEG separation in the desorption
tower and enhance the glycol purity by decreasing the water
effective partial pressure and increasing the water volatility in the
vapor phase. In 1991, Wieninger et al. reported that by applying this
method, glycol purity will increase above 99.5 wt% (Wieninger,
1991). In the Farashband natural gas dehydration units, this
method is used to improve the watereTEG separation efficiency.
Wasting injected gas into the atmosphere, imposition of additional
costs and environmental pollution are the major disadvantages of
this method.
In the glycol regeneration process under vacuum condition, the
glycol purity will enhance up to 99.9 wt%, but due to the high cost of
vacuum system, use of this method is limited. Cold finger is another
method for glycol purity enhancement that is presented by Reid in
1975 for the first time (Reid, 1975). The main principle of this
technology is to condense and collect water/hydrocarbons from the
vapor phase of reboiler and drain it away from the reboiler.
Rahimpour et al. reported that using cold finger technology in the
natural gas dehydration unit, the glycol purity will be 99.83 wt%
(Rahimpour et al., 2013a,b).
Another applicable method to enhance the efficiency of the
desorption tower in the gas dehydration process is the use of vol-
atile hydrocarbon compounds such as toluene, ISO-Octane, n-
Heptane and, etc. (Drizo process). These hydrocarbon compounds
are injected to the reboiler of desorption tower and act similar to
the stripping gas after vaporization. Adding these compounds im-
proves the efficiency of watereTEG separation and enhances the
glycol purity. In fact, the liquid hydrocarbon solvent increases the
water volatility in the water þ TEG solution because n-heptane,
isooctane and BTEX can form an azeotropic mixture with water and
act as a stripping gas after vaporization in the reboiler (Pearce et al.,
1972b; Paymooni et al., 2011). Pearce et al. (1972a) concluded that
the water content of glycol þ water solution could be decreased to
less than 1000 ppm by an azeotropic regeneration of glycol via
toluene. Also Fowler (1975) reported that the azeotropic regener-
ation process needed a remarkably lower energy consumption rate
with respect to other regeneration processes. In another related
work, Paymooni et al. (2011) showed that the liquid hydrocarbon
solvent addition can remarkably enhance TEG purity and water
volatility and considerably decreases TEG loss. Their results indi-
cated that isooctane performed better than toluene, and a higher
TEG concentration, lower water concentration, and duty of reboiler
were achieved with isooctane injection. In this process, the outlet
vapor stream from desorption tower is directed to a cooler at the
top of the tower, and next to the cooler, a triple-phase separator is
embedded in order to separate aqueous phase, vapor phase and
liquid hydrocarbon phase which contains BTEX. BTEX compounds
which are separated in the triple-phase separator can be used as a
solvent for the glycol regeneration. This method developed in 1970
by Dow chemical company and called Drizo process (Manning and
Thompson, 1991).
There are a lot of impurities such as mercaptans, carbon dioxide,
nitrogen and, etc. in the wet gas. Due to the harmful effect of BTEX
compounds on the human health, BTEX emission control in the
natural gas dehydration units is very important. The BTEX emission
in the natural gas dehydration unit depends on the amount of these
compounds in the input stream of the absorption tower, temper-
ature, pressure and also the glycol circulation flow rate. After
separating these impurities from TEG by injection of high tem-
perature stripping gas, a large part of these compounds are dis-
charged into the atmosphere, whereas in the Drizo process, a large
part of these impurities return to the desorption tower as a process
solvent. The Drizo process as an effective glycol-enhancement
technology results extremely high glycol purities. High glycol pu-
rity enables competition with other technology and reduces energy
requirements with respect to other common enhanced-glycol
processes. One of the most advantages of Drizo process is that
due to higher glycol purity, the required glycol flow rate decreases
and as a result, the BTEX emissions from the regenerator section
reduce. Application of a recoverable and vaporized liquid-
hydrocarbon solvent to contact the glycol is the most important
characteristics of Drizo process. The hydrocarbon solvent has a
relatively narrow boiling point range and vaporizes at high tem-
perature prior to contact with the semi-lean glycol leaving the
regenerator. As reported in Table 4, the glycol purity in the Drizo
process is more than other methods. Increasing the TEG purity
 M. Saidi et al. / Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering 19 (2014) 32e45 35

Table 1 Table 3
Glycol purity enhancement methods. Dalan reservoirs gas (wet gas) composition.

Methods TEG conc. (wt%) Water dew point Components Mass fraction (%) Components Mass fraction (%)
depression possible (
C)
CO2 1.91 i-Pentane 0.28
Stripping gas 99.2e99.98 37.78e65.56 N2 11.12 n-Pentane 0.24
Vacuum 99.2e99.9 37.78e65.56 H2O 0.07 n-Hexane 0.28
Cold finger 99.96 37.78e65.56 Methane 80.26 n-Heptane 0.33
Drizo 99.99þ 82.23e93.34 Ethane 2.58 Benzene 0.04
Propane 0.87 Toluene 0.05
i-Butane 0.04 Ethylbenzene 1.00
n-Butane 0.48 o-Xylene 0.45
decreases dry gas water dew point temperature, circulation glycol
flow rate and glycol loss flow rate, and as a result, the costs and
energy consumption of the gas dehydration unit will reduce. Also
compared with the present operating conditions of the Farashband
recycling a large part of BTEX compounds to desorption tower
gas processing plant. The dehydration process is simulated in both
decreases extremely the BTEX emissions to the environment.
summer and winter operating conditions. The operating conditions
Generally, Drizo is a compatible process with the environmental
and feed compositions are presented in Tables 2 and 3, respectively.
regulations. So applying this technology in order to improve the
Also the design parameters of desorption and absorption towers of
watereTEG separation in the natural gas dehydration units is more
the Farashband gas processing plant are reported in Table 4.
effective than the current method (stripping gas injection) in the
Farashband gas processing plant.
3. Process simulation and validation
2. Objective
3.1. Glycol regeneration using stripping gas injection simulation
The Farashband gas processing plant which is one of the oldest (case 1)
and main plants in the southern part of Iran has been designed to
purify and stabilize 1400 million standard cubic feet (MMscf) nat- A schematic diagram of gas dehydration unit of the Farashband
ural gas per day from the Dalan and Aghar gas reservoirs. The gas processing is shown in Fig. 2. As shown in this figure, the
refined gas directed to the national gas transmission line for gen- stripping gas (Stream no.6, mass flow rate ¼ 80 kg/h) is provided
eral consumption, and the condensates of the refinery (about from the produced dry gas in the absorption tower (TWR-100) and
15,000 barrels/day) transport to the Taheri harbor for exporting the flow rate of this stream is adjusted via the splitter (SPLT-100).
(Rahimpour and Jokar, 2012). This plant consists of six dehydration The stripping gas flow rate affects on the TEG regeneration process,
units operate using stripping gas injection. The focus of this study is but excessive increase in the stripping gas flow rate causes glycol
on the dehydration of Dalan reservoirs gas. In this work, the natural loss. In this simulation, instead of a packed tower, a distributor
gas dehydration units of the Farashband gas processing plant which tower (TWR-102) with two ideal trays is embedded. After
operates by injecting stripping gas is simulated using the steady increasing the temperature of the stripping gas from 4
C to 36
C
state process simulation software. The major challenges in this via the heat exchanger (XCHG-103), it enters the distributor tower
process are glycol purity and high emission of BTEX and other VOCs from the bottom of it and the glycol stream which exits from the
compounds to the atmosphere. So to overcome these limitations, reboiler (K-100) is directed to the tower with counter-current
natural gas dehydration by using volatile hydrocarbon solvents operation mode. In the distributor tower, the stripping gas ab-
(Drizo process) as an effective method is simulated and suggested sorbs water and BTEX compounds in the glycol stream. The lean
in this study. Drizo process regenerates the glycol by solvent glycol comes out from the bottom of the distributor tower (TWR-
stripping instead of the conventional gas stripping. Solvent strip- 102) and enters the absorption tower (TWR-100) after cooling in
ping allows to obtain much higher glycol purities than gas stripping the heat exchanger (XCHG-104). Due to the glycol loss in the ab-
and consequently allows to get much larger water dew point de- sorption and desorption towers, a TEG make up stream (Stream
pressions: up to 100
C (180
F) and even higher in some cases. The no.7) is considered in the gas dehydration unit.
solvent required by the Drizo process is usually obtained from the The desorption tower of Farashband gas processing plant is a
BTEX present in the natural gas itself and in most cases the process packed bed, but in this simulation, a tray tower (TWR-101) with
will even produce some liquid hydrocarbons. This work compares eight equilibrium stages is considered instead of a packed bed
vent emissions of both Drizo process versus stripping gas for tower where the pressure changes from 1 bar to 1.2 bar trough the
different operating conditions as well as summarized the opera- length of the tower. Also the absorption tower (TWR-100) is a tray
tional performance of Drizo process. tower with six trays and operates at high pressure. In this
Also for more investigation, economical and environmental
considerations are done and the proposed alternatives are
Table 4
Design parameters of the desorption and absorption towers of the Farashband gas
processing.
Table 2
Input and output streams characteristics of the absorption tower of the natural gas Design parameters Desorption tower Absorption tower
dehydration unit in the Farashband gas processing.
Tower diameter (in) 36 96.06
Streams Summer Winter Tray type e Valve tray
Number of trays e 6
Flow Temp. Pres. Flow Temp. Pres.
Tray space (m) 0.61 0.61
rate (kg/h) (
C) (bar) rate (kg/h) (
C) (bar)
Weir length (m) e 1.708
Input wet gas 248,418 51 127.80 246,749 33 127.48 Weir height (m) e 0.051
Input lean glycol 5540 60 127.48 5401 42 127.48 Packing height (m) 4 e
Output dry gas 248,105 53 126.86 246,600 34 126.86 Packing size (in) 2 e
Output rich glycol 5546 53 127.48 5546 34 127.48 Packing type Raschig Ring e
36 M. Saidi et al. / Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering 19 (2014) 32e45

Fig. 2. Schematic diagram of TEG regeneration using stripping gas injection.

simulation study, it supposed that the trays are ideal. The charac-
teristics and composition of the streams used in the simulation of
case 1 are reported in Tables 5 and 6, respectively for the summer
operating condition.
According to the simulation results, the water content of the wet
gas decreases from 0.07 wt% to 0.00 wt%. Also, the calculated water
dew point temperature in this case is about 25
C. The glycol
purity in the lean glycol stream (Stream no.8) which enters the
absorption tower is 99.63 wt%. This case is also simulated in the
winter operating condition. All streams and equipments are similar
to summer condition, but due to the low temperature of the wet gas
in the winter operating condition, the absorption process in winter
is more suitable than summer, so water dew point temperature,
glycol purity and other effective parameters in winter are more
desirable than summer. The most important challenge of the cur-
rent process (Case 1) is that the outlet stream of the desorption
tower (Stream no.4) has high content of BTEX compounds and it
releases into the atmosphere and causes environmental pollution.
Also, due to the high circulation rate of glycol, the amount of
required power in the reboiler (Q-4) of the desorption tower is
about 618.33 kW which is high.
3.2. Single Drizo process simulation (case 2)
A process schematic of the proposed single Drizo gas dehydra-
tion unit is illustrated in Fig. 3. The Drizo process is an appropriate
suggestion for controlling these environmental pollutants. In this
process, instead of stripping gas injection, a volatile hydrocarbon
solvent such as iso-Octane, n-Heptane, or BTEX compounds are
injected to the reboiler of the desorption tower. The Dalan reser-
voirs gas contains a lot of BTEX compounds, so these compounds
are used as the Drizo process solvent.
According to Fig. 3, the outlet stream from the top of the
desorption tower (Stream no.4) which is released into the atmo-
sphere in case 1, enters the triple-phase separator (VSSL-101) after
cooling in the heat exchanger (XCHG-103). The triple-phase sepa-
rator is used to prevent emission of BTEX compounds to the at-
mosphere and recycling of them to the glycol regeneration process
as a solvent. In the triple-phase separator to separate the two
immiscible liquids, the weirs are often used. Because of different
densities of the two liquids, the lightest liquid will after a certain
time float on top of the heavier liquid. By applying a weir to have a
height greater than the thickness of the heaviest liquid layer, the
only liquid allowed to overflow the weir is the lightest. A mixture of
water, BTEX and gas enter the triple-phase separator. In the triple-
phase separator, the levels of water, BTEX and pressure are
controlled independently and phases separate out due to differ-
ences in density. The operating conditions of the triple-phase
separator which is used in this simulation are 25
C and 1.20 bar.
Light vapor phase (Stream no.5) and aqueous phase (Stream no.6)
come out from the separator. A part of the BTEX stream (Stream
no.8) is returned to the reboiler (K-100) of the desorption tower
(TWR-101) to regenerate glycol and the other part of it (Stream
no.7) is sent to the Aghar gas dehydration units in order to use in

Table 5
Characteristics of streams in simulation of case 1 in summer operating condition for the Dalan gas.

Streams Temp. (
C) Pres. (bar) Vapor mol. (%) Liquid mol. (%) Mass flow rate (kg/h) Molecular weight (kg/kmol)

1 (Dry gas) 52 125 100 0 247,170 17.87

2 (Rich glycol) 52 127 0 100 6144 99.78
3 (Fuel gas) 105 6.52 100 0 61 21.03
4 125 1.05 100 0 1187 25.48
5 199 1.20 100 0 185 25.77
6 52 125 100 0 80 17.87
7 (TEG make up) 30 3.72 0 100 3 149.08
8 (Lean glycol) 62 127 0 100 5504 148.27
 M. Saidi et al. / Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering 19 (2014) 32e45 37

Table 6 Table 7
Composition (Mass fraction %) of streams in simulation of case 1 in summer oper- Characteristics of streams in simulation of case 2 in summer operating condition for
ating condition for the Dalan gas. the Dalan gas.

Streams CO2 N2 H2O Alkanes (C1eC7) BTEX compounds TEG Streams Temp. Pres. Vapor Liquid Mass flow Molecular
(
C) (bar) mol. (%) mol. (%) rate (kg/h) weight
1 (Dry gas) 1.91 11.14 0.00 85.50 1.45 0.00
(kg/kmol)
2 (Rich glycol) 0.12 0.03 5.82 0.83 3.80 89.40
3 (Fuel gas) 8.88 2.81 4.86 72.11 11.28 0.06 1 (Dry gas) 52 125.00 100 0 248,190 17.89
4 0.52 1.34 9.42 11.25 76.81 0.66 2 (Rich glycol) 52 127.00 0 100 5616 115.27
5 0.82 4.81 22.29 36.84 0.44 34.80 3 (Fuel gas) 75 6.52 100 0 48 19.87
6 1.91 11.14 0.00 85.50 1.45 0.00 4 136 1.70 100 0 943 55.71
7 (TEG make up) 0.00 0.00 0.10 0.00 0.00 99.90 5 25 1.20 100 0 6 27.62
8 (Lean glycol) 0.00 0.00 0.36 0.01 0.00 99.63 6 (Water drain) 25 1.20 0 100 166 18.46
7 (BTEX drain) 25 1.20 0 100 8 99.97
8 25 1.20 0 100 763 99.97
the Drizo process. The characteristics and compositions of the 9 200 1.22 100 0 5 83.77
streams in the summer operating condition for case 2 are reported 10 (TEG 46 1.07 0 100 3 150.17
in Tables 7 and 8, respectively. Based on the simulation result make up)
presented in Table 8, the mass fraction of BTEX compounds in the 11 (Lean glycol) 60 127.00 0 100 5437 144.95
purge gas (Stream no. 5) is about 6.05%, whereas it is about 92.68%
in the BTEX drain (Stream no. 7). Dalan reservoirs gas. In the Drizo loop for the single dehydration
The calculated water dew point temperature in this case is unit (Fig. 3), a triple-phase separator (VSSL-101), a pump (P-100)
about 29
C which is lower than the computed value in case 1 and and two heat exchangers (XCHG-103 and XCHG-104) are added to
the wet gas water content decreases from 0.07 wt% to 0.00 wt%. the common equipments of each dehydration unit which leads to
Another benefit of this case is that by applying volatile hydrocarbon higher capital cost. So application of one complex Drizo cycle
solvent (BTEX) instead of the stripping gas injection, the glycol instead of three separated single Drizo cycles for three dehydration
purity in the lean solution increases to 99.81 wt%. So, based on units is suggested. In this case, the desorption towers outlet of the
Tables 5 and 7, the lean glycol solution flow rate in case 2 decreases Dalan gas dehydration units are mixed in a mixer and after cooling
to 5437 kg/h with respect to case 1, which was 5504 kg/h and as a in a heat exchanger sent to the triple-phase separator.
result, the glycol loss (TEG makeup) will reduce. According to the The required BTEX solvent for the glycol regeneration process of
simulation results, by application of single Drizo process, the the dehydration units are provided from the BTEX drain of triple-
required power of the reboiler (Q-4) decreases from 618.33 kW to phase separator in the complex Drizo process. Another part of
457.24 kW, because the circulation glycol flow rate in the reboiler of BTEX drain is sent to the Aghar gas dehydration unit. The charac-
case 1 is more than the calculated value in case 2. teristics of desorption, absorption and distributor towers are the
same as case 2. The characteristics and compositions of the streams
3.3. Complex Drizo process simulation (case 3) in summer operating condition for case 3 are reported in Tables 9
and 10, respectively.
As mentioned in the previous sections, the Farashband gas According to the simulation results, the calculated dry gas water
processing plant contains three dehydration units for refining the dew point temperature is about 25
C and the wet gas water

Fig. 3. Schematic diagram of TEG regeneration using single Drizo process.

38 M. Saidi et al. / Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering 19 (2014) 32e45

Table 8 Table 10
Composition (Mass fraction %) of streams in simulation of case 2 in summer oper- Composition (Mass fraction %) of streams in simulation of case 3 in summer oper-
ating condition for the Dalan gas. ating condition for the Dalan gas.

Streams CO2 N2 H2O Alkanes BTEX TEG Streams CO2 N2 H2O Alkanes BTEX TEG
(C1eC7) compounds (C1eC7) compounds

1 (Dry gas) 1.91 11.13 0.00 85.40 1.56 0.00 1 (Dry gas) 1.91 11.13 0.00 85.40 1.56 0.00
2 (Rich glycol) 0.11 0.28 3.01 0.59 4.90 91.11 2 (Rich glycol) 0.11 0.03 2.98 0.84 4.90 91.14
3 (Fuel gas) 9.10 3.19 0.89 80.97 5.84 0.01 3 (Fuel gas) 9.10 3.19 0.89 78.88 7.93 0.01
4 0.30 0.00 17.15 6.28 75.80 0.47 4 0.29 0.00 17.29 6.21 75.73 0.48
5 31.13 0.46 1.72 60.64 6.05 0.00 5 (Unit2) 0.30 0.00 17.15 6.27 75.81 0.47
6 (Water drain) 0.03 0.00 97.26 0.00 0.04 2.67 6 (Unit3) 0.30 0.00 17.15 6.27 75.81 0.47
7 (BTEX drain) 0.11 0.00 0.04 7.17 92.68 0.00 7 27.04 0.37 3.15 59.09 10.35 0.00
8 0.11 0.00 0.04 7.17 92.68 0.00 8 (Water drain) 0.02 0.00 97.27 0.00 0.04 2.67
9 0.13 0.00 4.74 8.31 77.52 9.30 9 (BTEX drain) 0.08 0.00 0.05 7.05 92.81 0.01
10 (TEG make up) 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 100 10 (Unit2 solvent) 0.08 0.00 0.05 7.05 92.81 0.01
11 (Lean glycol) 0.00 0.00 0.01 0.04 0.14 99.81 11 (Unit3 solvent) 0.08 0.00 0.05 7.05 92.81 0.01
12 0.08 0.00 0.05 7.05 92.81 0.01
13 0.10 0.00 5.30 8.39 76.77 9.44
14 (TEG make up) 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 100
content reduces to 0.00 wt% in the outlet dry gas. Also the glycol 15 (Lean glycol) 0.00 0.00 0.10 0.04 0.14 99.72
purity in the lean solution (Stream no.15) is 99.72 wt% that is a little
lower than case 2. According to Tables 7 and 9, the lean glycol flow
rate in case 3 is a little higher than case 2 and as a result the glycol
(water þ TEG þ toluene) using Van Laar, quasichemical activity
loss (TEG makeup) for each dehydration unit increases from 2.5 kg/
coefficient (UNIQUAC), and nonrandom two liquid (NRTL) activity
h (case 2) to 2.65 kg/h (case 3), nevertheless the glycol loss in cases
coefficients models. Their obtained results showed good agree-
2 and 3 is lower than case 1. Based on the simulation results, by
ments for the water þ TEG system, but for the ternary system only
application of a complex Drizo process, the required power of
NRTL and UNIQUAC models were appropriate. In this simulation,
reboiler decreases to 463 kW with respect to case 1 (618.33 kW),
NRTL model is used to determine the VLE parameters.
because the circulation glycol flow rate in the reboiler (K-100) of
To confirm the simulation results, a comparison was made be-
case 1 is more than the calculated value in case 3. Due to higher
tween plant data and simulation results in summer and winter
circulation glycol flow rate in case 3, the value of reboiler required
operating conditions for case 1. A comparison of the water dew
power is a little higher than the calculated value in case 2.
point temperature in winter and summer operating conditions
Since the desorption tower outlets of the three Dalan gas
represents an average error about 3.6 wt% and 4.7 wt%, respectively.
dehydration units are mixed to one stream in the complex Drizo,
Also based on the simulation results, glycol purity in winter and
the required energies of two heat exchangers (XCHG-103 and
summer operating conditions are about 99.75% and 99.63%,
XCHG-104) and the solvent transmission pump (P-100) in case 3 are
respectively where the plant data are 99.6 wt% and 99.7 wt%,
more than the corresponding values in case 2 and also the size of
respectively. Table 11 indicates that the present simulation can
the triple-phase separator in this case are larger than case 2. So, in
accurately predict the operating parameters, such as the water dew
the complex Drizo process, a larger pump and two higher power
point temperature, glycol loss, circulation glycol and glycol purity
heat exchangers are used instead of three solvent transmission
with an appropriate average error.
pumps and six heat exchangers which were used in three single
Drizo process.
4. Results and discussion

3.4. Thermodynamic investigation and validation 4.1. Effect of operating variables on single Drizo process

For the basic design and operation of the natural gas dehydra- The performance of the single Drizo process (Case 2) using
tion process, thermodynamic investigation of the phase behavior of different solvents with different flow rates on the gas dehydration
materials is very important. Khosravanipour et al. (2009) investi- effective parameters are investigated in summer and winter con-
gated experimentally the binary (water þ TEG) and ternary systems ditions. As shown in Fig. 4, for different solvent (BTEX, n-Heptane,

Table 9
Characteristics of streams in simulation of case 3 in summer operating condition for the Dalan gas.

Streams Temp. (
C) Pres. (bar) Vapor mol. (%) Liquid mol. (%) Mass flow rate (kg/h) Molecular weight (kg/kmol)

1 (Dry gas) 52 125.00 100 0 234,725 17.89

2 (Rich glycol) 52 127.00 0 100 5696 115.47
3 (Fuel gas) 75 6.52 100 0 49 19.88
4 136 1.70 100 0 933 55.54
5 (Unit2) 136 1.70 100 0 943 55.71
6 (Unit3) 136 1.70 100 0 943 55.71
7 35 1.03 100 0 24 30.13
8 (Water drain) 35 1.06 0 100 496 18.46
9 (BTEX drain) 35 1.06 0 100 23 100.09
10 (Unit2 solvent) 137 1.66 23 77 5 100.09
11 (Unit3 solvent) 135 1.52 25 75 5 100.09
12 135 1.52 25 75 758 100.09
13 196 1.22 100 0 5 82.10
14 (TEG make up) 46 1.07 0 100 3 150.17
15 (Lean glycol) 60 127.00 0 100 5521 144.71
 M. Saidi et al. / Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering 19 (2014) 32e45 39

Table 11
The Farashband gas processing plant data and simulation results of case 1 in summer and winter operating conditions.

Effective parameters Summer Winter

Plant data Simulation result Error (%) Plant data Simulation result Error (%)


Water dew point temperature ( C) 23 24 4.35 28 29 3.57
Glycol loss (kg/h) 3.10 3.00 3.20 2.89 2.80 3.10
Circulation glycol (kg/h) 5540 5505 0.65 5401 5350 0.95
Glycol purity (wt%) 99.50 99.63 0.13 99.6 99.75 0.15

Iso-Octane, 50% n-Heptane and 50% Iso-Octane), the dry gas water
dew point temperature decreases with increasing the solvent flow
rate. Also, dry gas water dew point temperature values in the
winter operating condition are lower than the computed values in
summer. According to this figure, the minimum values for the dry
gas water dew point temperature in different flow rate of solvents
belong to n-Heptane, in both summer and winter operating
conditions.
Fig. 5 shows the effect of solvent flow rate on the glycol loss rate.
Based on this figure, the glycol loss flow rate reduces with
increasing the solvent flow rate. Also, the glycol loss rate values in
the winter operating condition are less than the computed values in
summer. The performance comparison of different solvents rep-
resents that the minimum value of the glycol loss rate can one
achieve using n-Heptane, in both summer and winter.
As shown in Table 12, the glycol purity in winter is more than the
glycol purity in summer operating condition for each solvent. Ac-
cording to this table, the maximum value for glycol purity belongs
to n-Heptane in both summer and winter (99.998 wt% in summer
and 99.999 wt% in winter).

4.2. Effect of operating variables on complex Drizo process

(a) The complex Drizo process performance in the presence of

various solvents is studied with two different mass flow rates of
solvent, 5 and 10 kg/h in both summer and winter conditions. As
shown in Fig. 6, in summer and winter operating conditions, for
each solvent, the dry gas water dew point temperature in the case
of 10 kg/h solvent rate is lower than the calculated value in the case
of 5 kg/h solvent rate, so dry gas water dew point temperature
decreases with increasing solvent flow rate. As mentioned in pre-
vious cases, dry gas water dew point temperature values in the
winter operating condition are lower than computed values in
summer operating condition. Also Fig. 7 represents the effect of
solvent flow rate on the glycol loss flow rate. As shown in this
figure, by increasing the solvent flow rate from 5 to 10 kg/h, the rate
of glycol loss decreases for the all solvents. Comparison of the glycol
purity in summer and winter operating conditions in Table 13 in-
dicates that the glycol purity in winter is more than summer. Ac-
cording to Figs. 6 and 7 and also Table 13, n-Heptane solvent has the
best performance among the different solvents. N-heptane can
enhance water volatility more effectively than other hydrocarbons
(b) solvent (Iso-Octane, BTEX and mixture of n-Heptane and iso-
octane) because it vaporizes rapidly in the reboiler and enhances
the water volatility which increases TEG concentration.

4.3. Comparison of different cases

4.3.1. Dry gas water dew point temperature

The performance of current dehydration unit of the Farashband
gas processing plant (Case 1) is compared with two proposed Drizo
processes (Cases 2 and 3). As shown in Fig. 8, by application of the
Drizo process, the dry gas water dew point temperature for cases 2
and 3 in summer operating condition improves to 29
C
and 25
C, respectively, whereas it is 25
C for the Farashband
gas processing plant. Also the dry gas water dew point temperature
for cases 1 to 3 in the winter operating condition is
about 29
C, 72
C and 67
C, respectively. So, the minimum
dry gas water dew point temperature belongs to the single Drizo
process, in both summer and winter.

4.3.2. Glycol loss

Fig. 4. Effect of the solvent flow rate on the dry gas water dew point temperature using Glycol loss is another important factor which is investigated in
different solvents (Case 2) (a) summer, (b) winter. Fig. 9. This figure shows that the glycol loss in summer operating
40 M. Saidi et al. / Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering 19 (2014) 32e45
(a)
(b)
Fig. 5. Effect of the solvent flow rate on the glycol loss rate using different solvents
(Case 2) (a) summer, (b) winter.
condition for cases 2 and 3 are 2.50 kg/h and 2.65 kg/h, respectively
however it is about 3 kg/h for case 1. Also the same manner is
observed in the winter operating condition, where the glycol loss is
about 2.8, 2.3 and 2.5 kg/h for cases 1 to 3, respectively. So the
application of Drizo process decreases the glycol loss through the
dehydration process and the minimum glycol loss achieves using
the single Drizo process (Case 2), in both summer and winter
conditions.
4.3.3. Glycol purity
According to Fig. 10, in summer operating condition, the glycol
purity in the lean glycol stream for cases 1 to 3 is 99.63 wt%,
99.81 wt% and 99.72 wt%, respectively. Also in winter, the
maximum glycol purity belongs to the single Drizo process (Case 2)
which is about 99.85 wt%. So the investigation of the different cases
indicates that case 2 has the best performance among them.
4.3.4. Effect of dehydrating agent on natural gas water content
Proper dehydrating agent is another effective factor on con-
trolling water content of natural gas and BTEX emissions. BTEX
compounds are less soluble in diethyleneglycol (DEG) than
triethyleneglycol (TEG) and considerably less soluble in ethyl-
eneglycol (EG) (Covington et al., 1998). To be able to choose the best
suited absorbent for the injection dehydration concept, the per-
formances of DEG and TEG in natural gas dehydrating during single
and complex Drizo processes are studied in Fig. 11. Investigation of
different cases shows that use of TEG as dehydrating agent has a
better performance with respect to DEG. Also it is concluded that
the single Drizo process is superior to the complex Drizo process.
4.3.5. Effect of reboiler temperature on natural gas water content
A pressurized reboiler is an effective factor in controlling water
content of natural gas and BTEX emissions from glycol gas-
dehydration systems. The operating temperature of the reboiler
should be as high as possible without exceeding 205
C to ensure
maximum reconcentration of the TEG and thereby suppress the
necessary glycol circulation rate. Higher temperatures will lead to
excessive glycol losses into the still column vent gas and possibly
thermal decomposition of the glycol. For investigating the effect of
reboiler temperature on natural gas water content through the
single and complex Drizo processes in summer operating condi-
tion, the performance of n-Heptane and a mixture of n-Hepta-
ne_BTEX as solvent are considered at different temperatures. As
represented in Fig. 12, the water content of natural gas reduces with
increasing the reboiler operating temperature from 180
C to
200
C. Also comparison of different cases indicates that when pure
n-Heptane is used as solvent in the single Drizo process (Fig. 12(a)),
the water content is at least.
4.4. Environmental considerations
Table 14 compares the BTEX emission rate in the gas dehydra-
tion unit, using the stripping gas injection (Case1) and the single
and complex Drizo process (Cases 2 and 3) with the BTEX com-
pounds and n-Heptane as the process solvent in the desorption
tower for summer and winter operating conditions. Since the
desorption tower overhead stream in the current gas dehydration
units of the Farashband gas processing plant which contains a lot of
BTEX compounds is released to the atmosphere directly, the BTEX
compounds emission rate in case 1 is very high as represented in
Table 14. According to this table, due to the separation of BTEX
compounds by the triple-phase separator in the Drizo process and
recycle of these compounds as a solvent to the desorption tower,
the emission rate reduces considerably using the single/complex
Drizo process. As reported in Table 14, due to better absorption
process in the low temperature operating condition, more BTEX
compounds are absorbed from the wet gas by glycol. So, in the
winter operating condition, due to the higher content of BTEX
compounds in the rich glycol solution, the emission rate of the
BTEX is more than summer operating condition for all cases.
Although n-Heptane as the Drizo process solvent has the best
effect on the gas dehydration unit effective parameters, but due to
the lower BTEX emission rate and more inexpensive accessibility
for BTEX compounds as the Drizo process solvent, these com-
pounds are suggested as a solvent in this study.
The main objective of dehydration process is reduction of nat-
ural gas water content, but due to environmental consideration,
decreasing the emission rate of BTEX compound is so crucial. As
discussed in the previous section, Drizo process is an effective
alternative to reach these goals. It is obvious that increasing the rate
of TEG decreases the water content of natural gas, but as repre-
sented in Fig. 13, the BTEX emission rate enhances with increasing
the glycol circulation rate. So an optimum rate of glycol circulation
should be determined. As demonstrated in Fig. 13, increasing the
TEG circulation rate more than 4 (gal TEG/lb water) has not sig-
nificant effect on the water content in both cases of single and
 M. Saidi et al. / Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering 19 (2014) 32e45 41

Table 12 to this figure, increasing the operating pressure of adsorption tower

Effects of different solvents on glycol purity, in summer and winter operating con- has significant effects on the reduction of BTEX and water content.
ditions, for case 2 (Solvent rate ¼ 5 kg/h).

Solvents Glycol purity Glycol purity

4.5. Economic evaluations
in summer (wt%) in winter (wt%)

n-Heptane 99.998
50% n-Heptanee50% Iso-Octane 99.990
Iso-Octane 99.980
BTEX compounds 99.810
complex Drizo processes, but it increases the emission rate of BTEX.
So based on the reported data in this figure and also economical
consideration, the optimum TEG circulation rate for both cases is
approximately 4 (gal TEG/lb Water). Therefore, the amount of water
content in the natural gas is controlled by glycol dehydrator rate.
However, since this rate also determines the amount of venting
emissions, it is important that the circulation rate not be set any
higher than is needed. Fig. 14 shows the effect of adsorption tower
pressure on the emission rate of BTEX and water content. According
99.999 In spite of different advantages of Drizo process, the important
99.995
99.991
drawbacks for this technology are that it requires additional
99.850 equipment both for the stripping column and the regeneration of
the liquid hydrocarbon solvent, and heat is required to vaporize and
superheat the solvent used for stripping. In this section, the in-
vestment decision is based on a comparison between the two
presented alternatives, the single and complex Drizo process. After
simulating two aforementioned processes via the steady state
process simulation software, an economic assessment of each
process is evaluated. The profitability of each process is analyzed
using the total capital investment (TCI) of each case. The TCI is
calculated as follows (Peters and Timmerhaus, 1991):
TCI ¼ FCIðfixed capital inversementÞ
þ WCIðworking capital inversementÞ (1)

(a) (a)

(b) (b)

Fig. 6. Effects of different solvents on the dry gas water dew point temperature in case Fig. 7. Effects of different solvents on the glycol loss rate in case 3 (a) summer, (b)
3 (a) summer, (b) winter. winter.
42 M. Saidi et al. / Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering 19 (2014) 32e45

Table 13
Effects of different solvents on glycol purity, in summer and winter operating con-
ditions, for case 3 (Solvent rate ¼ 5 kg/h).

Solvents Glycol purity Glycol purity in

in summer (wt%) winter (wt%)

n-Heptane 99.980 99.995

50% n-Heptanee50% 99.950 99.980
Iso-Octane
Iso-Octane 99.900 99.950
BTEX compounds 99.720 99.800

FCI ¼ Direct cost þ Indirect cost (2)

WCI ¼ 15% TCI (3)

In case 2, the Drizo process is applied for each Dalan gas dehy-
dration unit separately, so the calculated costs for the additional
equipments in case 2 should be multiplied by three. In case 3, a
complex Drizo process is extended for three Dalan gas dehydration
units, so the size of additional equipments is larger than case 2,
whereas the number of additional equipments for three gas
dehydration units is less than case 2. The additional equipments in
cases 2 and 3, and their purchased costs (PC) are represented in
Table 15. These calculations imply that the total purchased cost
(TPC) in the complex Drizo process for three Dalan gas dehydration
units is about 441.30 thousand$, whereas in the single Drizo pro-
cess for the three dehydration units is about 778.83 thousand$
(3  259.61 thousand$).
The direct and indirect costs resulting from applying the Drizo
process in the one Dalan gas dehydration unit are reported in
Table 16. The calculated FCI based on Eq. (2) is represented in this
table. TCI of the Drizo process for three Dalan gas dehydration units
is calculated from the previous equations and presented in Table 17.
The economic evaluation of these two methods (Cases 2 and 3)
is compared in Fig. 15. Although each method has its own advan-
tage owing to preventing the BTEX emission to the atmosphere and
consequent problems, a comparison is made to recognize the su-
perior method economically. The comparison of TPC, FCI and TCI for
the two methods is shown in Fig. 15. It can be seen that the total
costs for case 3 is less than case 2, so applying the complex Drizo
process for the three Dalan gas dehydration units is more economic
than applying three single Drizo processes.
Fig. 9. Comparison of the glycol loss rate for different cases.
5. Conclusion
The emission of BTEX compounds in the natural gas dehydration
unit is a major challenge in the gas processing industry. In order to
determine a suitable method for minimizing the BTEX emission in
the Farashband gas processing plant, two alternatives based on the
Drizo technology is proposed. For performance investigation of the
proposed alternatives, the process simulation and evaluations,
environmental considerations and economic evaluations are done
and compared with the plant data. Since the main goal of dehy-
dration process is reduction of water content of natural gas, it can
be improved by increasing the operating temperature of reboiler,
glycol circulation rate and operating pressure of absorption tower.
The simulation results demonstrated that, the glycol regeneration
process using the Drizo technology instead of the gas stripping
injection improves the important operating parameters such as dry
gas water dew point temperature, glycol loss and glycol purity in
the lean glycol stream and also reduces the BTEX emission signif-
icantly. Also data analysis shows that increasing the operating
pressure of adsorption tower reduces the emission rate of BTEX
compounds. Investigating the effect of various solvents in the Drizo

Fig. 8. Comparison of the dry gas water dew point temperature for different cases. Fig. 10. Comparison of the glycol purity for different cases.
Fig. 11. Effect of dehydrating agent on natural gas water content in summer condition: (a) Single Drizo process (Solvent: n-Heptane), (b) Single Drizo process (Solvent: 50% n-
Heptane and 50% BTEX), (c) Complex Drizo process (Solvent: n-Heptane), (d) Complex Drizo process (Solvent: 50% n-Heptane and 50% BTEX).

Fig. 12. Effect of reboiler temperature on natural gas water content in summer condition: (a) Single Drizo process (Solvent: n-Heptane), (b) Single Drizo process (Solvent: 50% n-
Heptane and 50% BTEX), (c) Complex Drizo process (Solvent: n-Heptane), (d) Complex Drizo process (Solvent: 50% n-Heptane and 50% BTEX).

Table 14
BTEX emission rate in cases 1 to 3.

Stripping gas (Case 1) Single Drizo process (Case 2) Complex Drizo process (Case 3)

BTEX ¼ 5 kg/h n-Heptane ¼ 5 kg/h BTEX ¼ 5 kg/h n-Heptane ¼ 5 kg/h

BTEX emission rate in summer (kg/h) 912 9.5 10.9 11.4 12.8
BTEX emission rate in winter (kg/h) 1023 10.3 12.4 12.8 14.5
44 M. Saidi et al. / Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering 19 (2014) 32e45

Fig. 14. Optimum adsorption tower pressure (a) Single Drizo process (Solvent: 50% n-
Heptane and 50% BTEX), (b) complex Drizo process (Solvent: 50% n-Heptane and 50%
BTEX).

rate of the returned investment using the Drizo process will rectify
the additional costs. Finally, Drizo process has proved to be one of
the best available glycol dehydration processes. This is not only
because of its higher dehydration efficiency, but it is also an

Table 15
Additional equipments purchased costs for the single and complex Drizo processes.
Fig. 13. Optimum TEG circulation rate (a) Single Drizo process (Solvent: 50% n-Hep- Equipment Specification Cost (Thousand$)
tane and 50% BTEX), (b) Complex Drizo process (Solvent: 50% n-Heptane and 50%
BTEX). Single Drizo Complex Single Complex
process Drizo process Drizo Drizo
process process

Heat Floating Fixed U-tube 62.91 53.40

process showed that although among the different solvents, n- exchanger-103 Duty ¼ 240 kW Duty ¼ 700 kW
Heptane has the best performance, use of recycled BTEX com- Heat Fixed U-tube Fixed U-tube 14.70 39.20
pounds as the Drizo process solvent, not only reduces the BTEX exchanger-104 Duty ¼ 68 kW Duty ¼ 170 kW
Pump Centrifugal Centrifugal 56.40 75
compounds emission extremely, it leads to cost saving. Economic No. of pump ¼ 1 No. of pump ¼ 1
evaluations represented that the application of a complex Drizo Splitter No. of splitter ¼ 1 No. of splitter ¼ 3 28 30
process instead of three single Drizo processes decreased the total Triple phase Volume ¼ 1.26 m3 Volume ¼ 2.18 m3 22.60 48.70
capital investment from 2.406 million$ to 1.365 million$. Although separator Diameter ¼ 0.76 m Diameter ¼ 0.91 m
Length ¼ 2.6 m Length ¼ 3.2 m
due to additional equipments purchased costs, the total capital
Absorption 60 ton. 240 ton. 75 195
investment for the three Dalan gas dehydration units using the chiller
single/complex Drizo process is higher than current technology in
Total purchased cost (TPC) 259.61 441.30
the Farashband gas processing plant (Gas stripping method), the
 M. Saidi et al. / Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering 19 (2014) 32e45 45

Table 16 necessary to incorporate various modifications and install some

Fixed capital investment for the single and complex Drizo processesa (Peters and new equipment.
Timmerhaus, 1991).

Item Evaluation price Cost (Thousand$)

Single Drizo Complex Drizo References

Direct cost (DC)
Purchased cost 40% FCI 259.61 441.30 Bahadori, A., 2007. New model predicts solubility in glycols. Oil Gas J. 105, 50e55.
Purchased cost installation 25% PC 64.90 110.32 Bahadori, A., Vuthaluru, H.B., 2009a. Rapid estimation of equilibrium water
Instrumentations & control 8% PC 20.77 35.30 dew point of natural gas in TEG dehydration systems. J. Nat. Gas Sci. Eng. 1,
Piping 30% PC 77.88 132.39 68e71.
Bahadori, A., Vuthaluru, H.B., 2009b. Simple methodology for sizing of absorbers for
Electrical 10% PC 25.96 44.13
TEG (triethylene glycol) gas dehydration systems. Energy 34, 1910e1916.
Building 0% PC 0 0
Bentley, M.T., 1991. The Basics of Operating Glycol Dehydration units. Presented at
Yard improvements 10% PC 25.96 44.13 the AIChE Spring National Meeting, April 1-1 1, Houston, TX.
Service facilities 30% PC 77.88 132.39 Bucklin, R.W., Won, K.W., 1987. HIGEE contactors for selective H2S removal and
Land 0% PC 0 0 super dehydration. In: Proc. Laurance Reid Gas Conditioning Con. University of
Oklahoma, Norman, OK (Section D).
Total direct cost 552.96 939.96
Covington, K., Lyddon, L., Ebeling, H., 1998. Reduce emissions and operating costs
Indirect cost
with appropriate glycol selection. In: Proceedings, Annual Convention-gas
Engineering & supervision 5% DC 27.65 47 Processors Association, pp. 42e48.
Construction 4% DC 22.12 37.60 Cunningham, J.R., Coon, J.E., Twu, C.H., 1993. Estimation of aromatic hydrocarbon
Contractors fee 2% DC 11.06 18.80 emissions from glycol dehydration units using process simulation. In: Pro-
Contingency 10% FCI 68.20 115.93 ceedings of the 72nd Annual Gas Processors Association, Convention, San
Antonio, TX, March, 15e17.
Total indirect cost 129.03 219.33
Darwish, N.A., Hilal, N., 2008. Sensitivity analysis and faults diagnosis using artificial
Fixed capital investment 681.99 1159.29 neural networks in natural gas TEG-dehydration plants. Chem. Eng. J. 137, 189e
a
In this table only the additional costs of applying the Drizo process are calcu- 197.
lated, building and land costs are considered in the base costs of the natural gas Faulkner, L.L., 2006. Fundamentals of Natural Gas Processing. Taylor & Francis
Group.
dehydration unit.
Fowler, A., 1975. Super-Drizo, the Dow dehydration process. In: Proceedings of the
Gas Conditioning Conference. University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK.
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