04-06 Ghasem Nasr paper.
ps - 4/26/2010 9:44 PM
Technical article
Dew Point Control Technologies
Abubakar Abbas Jibrin and Ghasem G. Nasr of the Spray Research
Group (SRG), School of Computing Science and Engineering (CSE),
University of Salford, UK, provided the below article on Dew Point
Control Technologies. This was developed from Abubakar’s entry in the
North West Section Young Persons Paper Competition.
s natural gas continues to gain wide
A range of acceptability as a source
of energy, due to reduction in emissions
and environmental benefits challenges
continue to trigger the development new
designs in gas processing at the same
time upgrading the former techniques in
order to meet the expanding market
requirements. One of the key quality
market parameter is dew point, and
several technologies are known to exist
in which most of them are fast-
improving. This article highlights the
trends in condensation technologies, as
the most developed method of dew
point control compared to absorption
and adsorption processes.
Condensation technologies operates
on the basis that temperature drop of a
gas stream results in condensation of
heavier hydrocarbons, this causes a
shift in the dew point line of the gas
stream phase envelope to a lower
temperature at a given pressure. Hence
the level of dew point suppression
required can determine the quantity of
heavier hydrocarbons to be extracted.
Dew point defined as the temperature
at the first drop of liquid hydrocarbons is
formed from the gaseous phase at a
given pressure. A typical value of –10°C
at 70bar, indicate that the first of drop
of liquid hydrocarbons is only allowed to
Figure 1: Technology historical trends(1).
4 gas international
Fig
ch
ex
en
re
Th
su
se
Fig
wh
co
pr
re
Figure 2: Mechanical refrigeration process flow diagrams(2). at
Ho
formed when the temperature drops to 1. Mechanical Refrigeration. m
–10°C at a pressure of 70barg. 2. Valve Expansion Refrigeration. ga
The dew point of hydrocarbon and 3. Turbo-Expander Refrigeration. cr
water are specifically controlled to 4. Supersonic Separation. ac
ensure safety of operations, security of The technology of NGL (Natural Gas de
supply and complying with contractual Liquid) recovery and dew point control gr
specifications including: has dated back in the early nineties, fe
(i) Efficient utilisation of line pack since then, several research and re
(ii) Recovery of natural gas liquids development were made that enhanced tre
(iii) Prevention of hydrates plugging the the technology to an updated existing 80
pipeline prototype of supersonic separation as re
(iv) Prevention liquid HC (Hydrocarbon) shown in Figure 1.
slugging in a pipeline 2.
1. Mechanical Refrigeration
(v) Minimisation of pressure drop and Fe
Figure 2 shows the typical arrangement of
(vi) Avoiding corrosion. Th
the mechanical refrigeration which uses
Fi
Overview of Current Technology an efficient refrigerant closed loop stream
and Types and it undergoes compression at the
Currently there are a number of compressor in achieving liquefaction and
available technologies that are utilised subsequent evaporation. The process of
for dew point control. These are: heat exchange takes place in a chiller,
thereby extracting the latent heat of
vaporisation from the hydrocarbon
stream, this energy extraction cause’s
condensation of the heavier hydrocarbon
in the gas stream. The process objective
of either dew pointing or NGL (Natural
Gas Liquid) recovery dictates the type of
refrigerants to be used and also its loop
operating condition. The gas stream
maintains constant pressure (isobaric)
during the process. Fig
 04-06 Ghasem Nasr paper.ps - 4/26/2010 9:44 PM
s
Figure 3: Mechanical refrigeration phase envelope(2).
The system operates by process
charging the feed gas to a gas-gas heat
exchanger for pre-cooling, which will then
enter the chiller and cooled by the
refrigerant stream usually in tube side.
The exit gas condensates are
subsequently removed in the NGL
separator as shown schematically in
Figure 2.
Figure 3 shows the phase envelope in
which the feed gas, before and after,
cooled by the refrigerant at constant
pressure as indicated by line A-B. This
results in the dew point of about –5°C
at 70barg and 0°C at all pressures.
However, the major limitation of the
mechanical refrigeration is that the feed
gas pressure must be below the
cricondobar and as such could not
achieve the required gas specification of
dew point if the operating pressure is
greater than the critical pressure of the
feed gas. Moreover, mechanical
refrigeration could not be efficient in
d treating any gas at a pressure range of
80-100bar, due to the effect of
retrograde region(2).
2. Valve-Expansion Refrigeration
Feed gas expansion across a J-T (Joule-
of
Thompson) valve operates based on the
First law of thermodynamics, in which it
m
d
n
e
Figure 5: Typical cross section of turbo-expander(2).
Figure 4: J-T valve refrigeration phase envelope(2).
operates at constant enthalpy, this
process was studied by Joule-Thompson.
J-T coefficient was thus introduced,
which can either be negative or positive
that corresponds to heating and cooling
after expansion respectively. Light
hydrocarbons cools on expansion up to
a pressure of about 586bar, after they
heat up upon expansion(2), the J-T co-
efficient, µ, is partial derivative as:
()
⭸P
µ = ⭸T
H
Where ⭸T, ⭸P are partial derivatives of
temperature (°C) and pressure (bar)
respectively, at constant enthalpy H
(kJ/kg).
The behaviour can be described better
on phase envelope as shown in Figure
4, in which the isenthalpic (constant
enthalpy) process takes place along the
line A-B, from the feed gas to the
residue gas, causing a pressure drop
and a corresponding temperature
drop.
The two major applications of J-T
valves are in the Low Temperature
Extraction (LTX) and Low Temperature
Separation (LTS).
3. Turbo-Expander Refrigeration
Figure 5 shows schematically a typical
Figure 6: Turbo-expander phase envelopes(2).
arrangement of the Turbo-expander
refrigeration which consists of an
assembly of an expander jointed to a
compressor by a coupling shaft in order
to re-use the expander energy lost by
the compressor. It uses the concept of
isentropically expanding a feed gas
stream to achieve condensation, the
effluent of the expander is usually
separated in LTS (Low Temperature
Separator), and then return to
the compressor section for
compression after pre-cooling the feed
gas.
The natural gas stream undergoes
pressure drop and subsequent
temperature fall in the expander section.
The lost energy as a result of the
expansion is then extracted using the
coupling section, which is used in
compressing the sales gas again.
Figure 6 shows the phase envelope
in which the feed gas expands
isentropically to achieve cooling and
subsequent condensation of NGL.
The isentropic line A-B, in Figure 6 in
which a pressure drop from around
70barg to 55barg, which causes a
temperature drop from about
47°C - 0°C.
Generally, the novelty of Turbo-
expander refrigeration is that:
www.igem.org.uk
Volume 50 Issue 4 May 2010
gas international 5
04-06 Ghasem Nasr paper.ps - 4/26/2010 9:44 PM
Figure 7: Typical Turbo-expander flow diagrams(2).
• For a given pressure drop, lower
temperature is achieve in turbo-
expander than in J-T valve,
• For a given temperature drop,
higher recovery pressure is
achieved in Turbo-expander than
in J-T valve(2).
4. Supersonic Separation
The invention of supersonic separation
technology in 1998 brought another
milestone in the hydrocarbon dew
pointing and NGL extraction, as it offers
solutions to certain limitations
encountered by the other technologies
previously described.
Figure 8 shows the profiles of the
Supersonic technology which uses
the concept that, feed gas passing
through a nozzle (restriction),
accelerates to supersonic speed, that
suffers a pressure and temperature
drop, the temperature drop causes
condensation of the heavier
hydrocarbons.
Figure 9 also shows the Twister
technology (Twister Mark-2) in which the
supersonic separation divides the
components into three parts as
follows:
(i) Expander Section: The feed gas
passes through a nozzle accelerates
to supersonic velocity resulting in a
Figure 8: Supersonic separation profiles (1).
6 gas international
(i) pressure drop, and
the temperature drops
by 60 - 80°C (1), this
causes heavier
hydrocarbons
condensates (Two-
phase flow).
(ii) The Cyclone
Separator: Centrifuge
causes a swirl effect
which results in gas
condensates
separation and
removal.
(iii) Compression Section: The gas is
then allowed to pass through a
diffuser region in order to regain
the pressure loss, at which an
estimate of 70-85% pressure
recovery(1).
The Twister technology introduced a
Twister-2 in which guide vanes are
introduced to achieve higher system
efficiency by lowering the dew point as a
result of increasing the swirl vorticity to
500,000g instead of 300,000 for
Twister-1.
Table-1 provides the gradual
improvement made in Twister
Technology since 1998.
Conclusion
The emergence of supersonic
technologies offers significant
advantages over conventional dew
pointing techniques such as J-T valve.
These include its ability to be used both
for NGL recovery and Hydrocarbon dew
Table 1: Twister technology historical improvement(1)
Parameter
Supersonic efficiency (%)
Dew Point Suppression (°C)
Pressure Loss (%)
Figure 9: Twister Mark-2 technologies (1).
pointing. Twister technology also
provides simplicity and reliability, with no
requirement for rotating parts.
Furthermore, it can be operated
unmanned, and there is no need for
chemical injection for hydrate
temperature suppression. Moreover, the
technology offers low capital and
operating cost, no environmental
emissions, ease of manufacturing, and
delivery to destinations compared to
other technologies.
As a results, more companies
patronises the Supersonic technology,
including Shell Petroleum Development
Company (SPDC) for an onshore
120mm scfd fuel gas conditioning
application at Okoloma new gas
processing facility in Nigeria. Another
project is the recent FEED (Front End
Engineering Design) contract award
from Nexus Energy Property Ltd, USA,
for condensate stripping recycle
project.
References
1. Offshore Engineer Publication, September,
2009 edition.
2. Baljit S.B. ‘Hydrocarbon dew pointing and
NGL recovery’ ExxonMobil Tutorials,
Nigeria, 2009.
3. http://www.twisterbv.com/
wp-content/uploads/2008/03/twister-
paper-gpa-march-2008.pdf (accessed as
at 14 March, 2009).
4. http://twisterbv.com/news/supersonic-
separator-gains-market-acceptance/
(accessed as at 14 March, 2009).
1998 2004 2010
85 98 98
15 30 35
30 25 20