World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology

International Journal of Chemical and Molecular Engineering

Vol:5, No:3, 2011

Steady State Simulation and Experimental Study

of an Ethane Recovery Unit in an Iranian
Natural Gas Refinery
Arash Esmaeili, Omid Ghabouli

Abstract—The production and consumption of natural gas is on For Ethane recovery, the key components in separation
the rise throughout the world as a result of its wide availability, ease process are methane and ethane but for propane recovery, they
of transportation, use and clean-burning characteristics. The chief use are ethane and propane, thus primary need is de-methanizer
of ethane is in the chemical industry in the production of Ethene
and de-ethanizer respectively. Relative volatility (αij) of the
(ethylene) by steam cracking. In this simulation, obtained ethane
recovery percent based on Gas sub-cooled process (GSP) is 99.9 by ethane recovery is over twice that of the propane recovery
mole that is included 32.1% by using de-methanizer column and system which leads de-methanizer should be smaller than
67.8% by de-ethanizer tower. The outstanding feature of this process de-ethanizer in terms of equilibrium stages [1].
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is the novel split-vapor concept that employs to generate reflux for There are various refrigeration strategies in an Ethane
de-methanizer column. Remain amount of ethane in export gas cause recovery unit, the most economical process presently in wide
rise in gross heating value up to 36.66 MJ/Nm3 in order to use in
use employs turbo-expansion, and can recover over 90% of
industrial and household consumptions.
the ethane in natural gas by using de-methanizer and
Keywords—Ethane recovery, Hydrocarbon dew point, de-ethanizer columns. The processing costs for gas processor
Simulation, Water dew point can generally be divided into two parts: liquid recovery and
contaminant removal. In this process, chilled gas expands
I. INTRODUCTION through a turbine so that at low temperatures, gaseous
methane can be separated from the liquefied ethane and
A FTER methane, ethane is the second-largest component
of natural gas. Natural gas from different gas fields
varies in ethane content from less than 1% to over 6% by
heavier hydrocarbons (C2+) by distillation. Further distillation
then separates ethane from the propane and heavier
volume. Prior to the 1960s, ethane and larger molecules were hydrocarbons (C3+).
typically not separated from the methane component of Turbo-expander plants designed for high ethane recovery
natural gas, but simply burnt along with the methane as a fuel. will also recover a significant quantity of the carbon dioxide
Today, ethane is an important petrochemical feedstock, and it contained in the feed gas [2]. With typical natural gas liquid
is separated from the other components of natural gas in most product specification, this usually means treating either the
well-developed gas fields. Ethane can also be separated from feed gas or the NGL product to remove at least a portion of
petroleum gas, a mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons that arises carbon dioxide. In a liquid recovery section, there are both
as a byproduct of petroleum refining. Ethane is most operating cost and operating flexibility issues that directly
efficiently separated from methane by liquefying it at affect processing cost.
cryogenic temperatures. Recent paper will study an Iranian Ethane recovery unit as
Gas Sub-cooled Process (GSP) [3] in one of gas refineries in
South Pars Gas field which receives 2000 MMSCFD sour gas
(each train 500MMSCFD) as feed so that export (sales) gas
specification e.g. composition, hydrocarbon dew point, higher
heating value, Wobbe index, Hydrate formation condition and
also Ethane specification e.g. composition, CO2 content, CO2
freeze temperature and total sulfur will be investigated and
compared with specified targets after simulation by Aspen
Hysys software (ver.2006) based on Peng-Robinson equation
of state.

Arash Esmaeili is with Islamic Azad University, Tehran-South Branch, II. PROCESS DESCRIPTION
Chemical Engineering Department, Tehran, Iran (Phone: 98-912-5130090,
e-mail: arash.esmaeili2010@gmail.com) In this process, dry sweet feed (27.7ºC, 60.5 barg) after
Omid Ghabouli is with Catalysis Research and Technology Center, sweetening by amine and dehydration by molecular sieves
Research Institute of Oil Industry, Tehran, Iran (Phone: 98-936-2055883, with standard gas flow 478.5 MMSCFD is primarily cooled
e-mail: omid.ghabooli@yahoo.com)
by cold box up to -35ºC while a portion of feed gas is

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 World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology
International Journal of Chemical and Molecular Engineering
Vol:5, No:3, 2011

condensed which is included 4% by mole and separated by after separation of some liquid that express phase variations
expander suction drum and is entered to tower on 21st tray, based on composition changes. Comparison of these curves
remain gas from top of drum is divided to two parts so that indicates two phase area will be smaller and temperature,
71% mole flows to expander and rest of it after cooling by pressure zones are decreased after separation of liquid.
cold box and pressure drop by control valve decreases to -95ºC
that is introduced to de-methanizer (31 stages) column on top
as reflux stream. To recover ethane and heavier hydrocarbon,
energy must be consumed that is supplied by either expansion
or refrigeration or a combination of both. Expansion by using
an expander causes increased investment cost while cooling
by refrigeration raises both investment and operation costs
while in order to recover more ethane, the amount of external
power supplied to the gas must increase. Main stream is
expanded within expander to -67ºC and 29.1 barg and is
entered to tower as major feed on 23rd tray where column
diameter changes; these two streams are as hot streams inside
the cold box while cold box has five cold streams that are
followed as: Fig. 1 Phase envelope of inlet feed to ethane recovery unit
(feed in the right side of dew point curve)
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1. Top stream of de-methanizer column as Export gas

from -86ºC to 22ºC.
2. First side stream of de-methanizer column from 8th tray
to 7th that temperature changes from 12.5ºC to 16.2ºC.
3. Second side stream of de-methanizer column from 17th
tray to 16th so that temperature rises from -43ºC to
-14ºC.
4. Two propane streams from refrigeration unit as cooling
cycle.

In refrigeration cycle, liquid form accumulator flows

through an expansion valve where its pressure is reduced, its
temperature is lowered and the stream flows to the related heat
exchangers. In the exchangers, liquid refrigerant removes heat Fig. 2 Phase envelope of expander suction drum top stream
(-35.5ºC, 58.5 barg)
from gas. As the refrigerant removes heat, it boils. The vapors
flow out the top of the chiller back to the compressor and the As is illustrated in Fig.3, outlet propane from accumulator
cycle repeats. of refrigeration unit after being cooled by expansion valves
In fact, any fluid can act as a refrigerant but a suitable one and performing chilling in cold box and de-ethanizer
should have the following characteristics: condenser is introduced to first and second propane suction
drum in order to compress to the pressure (22.6barg) that is
1. It should boil in the chiller at a pressure above
condensed in ambient temperature. Export gas which is free of
atmosphere. This keeps the compressor from "pulling
Mercaptan with trace amount of H2S after heat transfer with
a vacuum" on the chiller. cold box and a gas/gas exchanger is compressed by a
2. It should condense at a reasonable pressure at ambient re-compressor to 32.19 barg which moves using produced
temperature. work of expander by isentropic process for energy recovery
3. It should be able to pick up a large amount of heat (3228 KW with adiabatic efficiency 83%). Produced export
from the fluid stream per volume unit of circulation. gas with standard gas flow 443 MMSCFD possesses 32.1%
4. It should be non-toxic and non-corrosive. by mole total ethane that is exported in 91.8 barg, rest of
5. It should be readily available and inexpensive. ethane is separated by de-ethanizer which has 67.8% mole
total inlet ethane to this unit (95% mole of ethane product)
The circulation rate of the refrigeration is determined by two and is exited form its top as petrochemical feedstock and 0.1%
factors: is accompanied with NGL in bottom side. Natural gas liquid
1. The total amount of heat to be removed from the gas (40.3ºC, 32.2 barg) is pumped to de-ethanizer column
2. The amount of heat that mass unit of refrigeration can (44stages) and distilled in order for separation of ethane from
pick up in the chiller. C3+ while require temperature to condense heavier components
than Ethane in operating pressure is almost 7.7ºC that needs
Fig.1 shows phase envelope of feed stream and Fig. 2 3640 KW energy which is provided by using Propane in
represents phase envelope of top of expander suction drum chiller as condenser, then ethane is transferred to treatment

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International Journal of Chemical and Molecular Engineering
Vol:5, No:3, 2011

unit after passing from Ethane heater (40ºC, 28.5barg) and is TABLE I
COMPARISON OF EXPORT GAS AND ETHANE PRODUCT SPECIFICATION WITH
treated to remove CO2 in order to rise heating value by DEA
SIMULATED VALUES
solution and being dried with molecular sieve before export to
petrochemical plants. CO2 is a particularly troublesome Export gas specification Ethane gas specification
contaminant often found in natural gas, including many of the Specified Simulated Specified Simulated
newly discovered oil and natural gas reservoirs. Components
value values value values

Min. 80% Max.

Methane 93.5% mol. 0.35% mol.
mol. 0.94% mol.
Max. 12% Min. 94%
Ethane 1.92% mol. 95% mol.
mol. mol.

Max. 4% Max. 0.6%

Propane 0.05% mol. 0.21% mol.
mol. mol.

Max. 1%
Butane 42 PPm mol.
mol. Max. 3PPm
Nil
Max. 0.5% < 0.02 % mol.
C5+
mol. mol.

Carbon Max. 1% Max. 4.4%

0.69% mol. 4.4% mol.
dioxide mol. mol.
Fig. 3 Simulated process of an Ethane recovery unit with
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refrigeration package Max. 6%

Nitrogen 3.82% mol. - Nil
mol.

III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION H2S

Max. 5
1PPm mol.
mg/Nm3 Max. 74
Generally, four major categories of ethane recovery 48 PPm mol.
Max. 15 PPm mol.
processes were found: Conventional, classic, residue recycle Mercaptans Nil
mg/Nm3
and reflux enhancement. The majority of ethane recovery
processes utilize a single tower of de-methanizer and provide
According to calculated data of Table1, they have good
reflux to this column by either direct flow from the expander
coincidence with average results of some laboratory analysis
(conventional), condensing a part of the inlet gas (classic)
so that not only all experimental data are in defined limit but
such as this unit, condensing recycled residue gas (residue
are similar to simulated values. For Ethane product,
recycle) and enhancing or purifying a portion of the inlet gas
summation of both Butane and C5+ and also H2S and
before condensing (reflux enhancement).
Mercaptan has been considered in one row. Fig.4 represents
Gas composition has an effect on the amount of
amount of light components mole fraction based on tray
compression horsepower required; richer gas generally
position from bottom to up so Ethane percent is rising toward
requires more horsepower to achieve the same recovery level
top of de-ethanizer column.
than a leaner gas because of having more heavy components.
Carbon dioxide falls between methane and ethane in terms
As inlet pressure decreases, more heat transfer area is required
of relative volatility but unfortunate consequence of this
to achieve the same recovery level inside the cold box; this is
matter is that high ethane recovery in a typical NGL recovery
largely due to the higher temperature driving force available at
plant often leads to high CO2 concentrations in the NGL
the higher pressure. More exchanger area is required for
product (C2+) thus this must be treated to remove CO2 as a
ethane recovery than for propane recovery due to the higher
result of purchaser's specifications.
amount of energy that must be transferred to cool the gas to
the required temperatures.
Obtained values from simulation by Aspen Hysys software
(ver.2006) were compared with specified values of
manufacturer as product specification, as Table1 shows most
calculated values are in good agreement with defined limit
except Hydrogen sulfide content in export gas, but whereas
this value is trace it's considered negligible. The
de-methanizer column bottom temperature is controlled to
provide a typical C1:C2 NGL product specification, while the
de-ethanizer column bottom temperature is set to provide a
typical C2:C3 LPG product specification thus operational
temperature for reboiler of each column in order to catch these
properties is 40ºC, 109ºC and according to LP steam condition Fig. 4 Light components mole fraction versus tray position in
de-ethanizer column
(155ºC, 3.5 barg) used steam values are almost 3855 kg/hr and
9971 kg/hr respectively.

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International Journal of Chemical and Molecular Engineering
Vol:5, No:3, 2011

In theory, heating value is simply the heat evolved on TABLE II

CALCULATED VALUES BY ASPEN HYSYS FOR SOME PROPERTIES OF
combustion but in practice the situation is complicated by the EXPORT AND ETHANE PRODUCT
use of many bases; higher (Gross) or lower (Net); wet or dry Properties Ethane after
[4]. Generally, heating value is defined as the extracted heat Product Export Gas Ethane
CO2 removal
when fuel is completely burned at some specified or standard Lower Heating
33.03 58.20 60.91
condition usually 15ºC and 1 atm. When fuels containing value (MJ/Nm3)
hydrogen are burned the condition of produced water (liquid Higher Heating
or vapor) by combustion must be specified. For higher heating 36.66 63.63 66.59
value (MJ/Nm3)
value (HHV) is assumed that all produced water by
Wobbe Index
combustion leaves system as condensate liquid so for lower (MJ/Nm3)
47.84 61.59 65.11
heating value (LHV) is assumed it's as vapor or steam thus
difference between them is water vaporization heat [5]. The Hydrocarbon dew
Wobbe Index (WI) or Wobbe number is an indicator of the point @ Export - 7.05 8.05
Pressure (ºC)
interchangeability of fuel gases such as natural gas, liquefied
Hydrate formation
petroleum gas, and Town Gas and is frequently defined in the temperature @ 15.3 14.78 14.6
specifications of gas supply and transport utilities. If HHV is Export Pressure (ºC)
the higher heating value, or calorific value, and Sp.Gr is the CO2 freeze
specific gravity, the Wobbe Index is defined as [6]: -131.3 -104.5 -
temperature (ºC)
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HHV (1) Fig.5 shows boiling point curves of simulated export gas
WI =
Sp.Gr product while Fig.6 indicates boiling point curve of ethane
stream accordance to different ASTM standards. ASTM D86
Table2 indicates heating values of each of Export gas and and D1160 distillations employ batch fractionation apparatus
Ethane products. but they are conducted using non-refluxed Engler flasks.
Although most gas transportation companies and gas ASTM D86 is used for light to medium petroleum fluids e.g.
consumers will accept Carbon dioxide concentration in less Methane and Ethane so ASTM D1160 is carried out at both
than one percent for natural gas streams, but many NGL vacuum and atmospheric conditions for heavier products.
recovery processes and petrochemical plants which receive
Ethane as feedstock require removal of CO2 to avoid troubles.
Since CO2 removal equipment can add significantly to both
the investment and operating costs of the contaminant removal
section of the gas processing facility, there is considerable
advantage to reduce the CO2 content in product leaving the
liquids recovery section of an NGL recovery facility. Carbon
dioxide freezing was estimated by calculating CO2 freezing
temperature approach ( ΔTCO 2 ). This temperature is calculated
based on composition and pressure. Negative value of
ΔTCO 2 indicates a CO2 freezing problem most likely will
occur.
Fig. 5 Boiling point curves of produced export gas based on ASTM
standards
ΔTCO 2 = Toper . − TCO 2 freeze (2)

In this unit, a portion of the ethane (1.92% by mole) is

introduced into the export gas stream before compression by
export compressor to pipeline; this allows to easily fix the
heating value of the sales gas (36.66 MJ/Nm3) to provide
pipeline quality gas at the most economical conditions.

Fig. 6 Boiling point curves of produced ethane gas based on ASTM

standards

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Vol:5, No:3, 2011

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors thank the gas refinery laboratory staff for
giving required data to investigate simulation results.

REFERENCES
[1] K.A. Pennybaker, S.E. Wolverton, "A comparative study of ethane
recovery processes", River city Engineering, Inc., Kansas.
[2] H.M. Hudson, J.D. Wilkinson, "Reducing treating requirements for
cryogenic NGL recovery plants", 80th annual convention of the Gas
processors association, Texas, USA, 2001.
[3] H.M. Hudson, J.D. Wilkinson, "Next generation processes for
NGL/LPG recovery", 77th annual convention the Gas processors
association, Texas, USA, 1998.
[4] D.Y. Peng, D.B. Robinson, A new two-constant equation of state, Ind.
Eng. Chem. Fundam. 15, 59-64, 1976.
[5] A. Esmaeili, Experimental study and steady state simulation of a NGL
fractionation unit in order to investigate qualified specification, 19th
International Congress of Chemical and Process Engineering
(Chisa2010), Prague, Czech Republic, 2010.
[6] A. Esmaeili, Experimental study and steady state simulation of a LPG
production unit to investigate specified properties, 13th Asian Pacific
confederation of chemical engineering congress, Taipei, Taiwan, 2010.
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