OTC-27746-MS

cMIST™: Novel, Compact Dehydration System for Reducing Size and Weight

Shwetha Ramkumar and Edward J Grave, ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company; Per-Reidar Larnholm and
Danny Thierens, Sulzer, Arnhem

Copyright 2017, Offshore Technology Conference

This paper was prepared for presentation at the Offshore Technology Conference held in Houston, Texas, USA, 1–4 May 2017.

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Abstract
The natural gas industry is increasingly pursuing compact and lower weight processing technology for
offshore, onshore, remote, and challenged gas processing. Increased modularity of process equipment and
process intensification require innovative solutions. ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company (EMURC)
has developed and qualified a new inline dehydration technology meant to replace conventional TEG tower
and associated separator vessels to meet pipeline dewpoint specifications. Compact Mass transfer and Inline
Separation Technology (cMIST™) achieves this goal with significant reductions in weight and footprint.
The cMIST™ dehydration system relies on state-of-the-art technological advances in contacting and
inline separation to achieve pipeline specification dry gas and/or prevent hydrate formation. It includes a
novel droplet generator which creates small, well-dispersed droplets with a high surface area for absorption
followed by an inline separator. EMURC has completed the technical qualification for the cMIST™
dehydration system and effective December 1st 2016, this system has been exclusively licensed to Sulzer
for global deployment in offshore and onshore facilities.
The cMIST™ dehydration system was demonstrated using a skid-mounted test unit in the Woodford
trend area of Oklahoma, USA at an XTO Energy production facility. It was tested under a range of field
conditions to examine the dehydration capacity, operability, and reliability of the technology and it achieved
pipeline specification over a range of process conditions and during sustained operation.
The cMIST™ dehydration system enables 50% dehydration system weight reduction and 50 - 80%
absorber footprint reduction along with significant capital cost savings. The technology is highly modular to
allow for simple transportation into remote, challenged, or offshore environments and provide installation
configuration flexibility.

Introduction
To satisfy the growing demand for natural gas, new resources will be developed, a significant portion
of which will be from unconventional reservoirs such as deep water, arctic, remote and challenged gas1.
These will bring technical and economic challenges, and to drive capital efficiency, process intensification
efforts in designing facilities (onshore, offshore, floating, arctic and/or subsea) to reduce number, size,
weight, footprint and complexity will be key. The cMIST gas treating system, a platform of proprietary
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compact inline gas treating technologies, is one that achieves this goal with significant reduction in cost
compared to conventional technology. It can be applied to dehydration, low level H2S and/or low level CO2
removal. This paper describes the proprietary inline dehydration system which is the first to be qualified
and commercialized within the platform.

Natural Gas Dehydration

Natural gas is typically saturated with water at wellhead conditions. Water vapor could also be introduced
during gas treating by process steps such as CO2 and H2S removal using amine solvents. Removal of water
vapor is required to prevent condensation of water during transmission due to changes in temperature and
pressure leading to hydrate formation and corrosion. It ensures the safe, efficient transport of gas through
supply infrastructure and ultimately to consumers. Gas is typically dehydrated to 4-7 lb/MMSCF for US
and Canadian systems and a lower level of 1-2 lb/MMSCF for colder environments3.
Conventional dehydration with glycol uses two or sometimes three large and heavy, high pressure vessels
namely the inlet separator, contactor and overhead knock out drum as shown in Figure 1. Dehydration
is achieved in the contactor, where the gas enters the bottom of the contactor and lean glycol flows
countercurrent to the gas, and gas-liquid contact occurs on trays or structured packing. The rich glycol
from the bottom of the contactor is sent to the regeneration skid and recycled back. The performance of
the contactor depends on the trays or packing to provide surface area for gas-liquid contact. In addition to
this, vapor flow is limited to prevent glycol loses due to entrainment. Due to these reasons, the contactor is
usually a large diameter, high pressure vessel. Furthermore, it is sensitive to maldistribution and hence for
floating applications, either the solvent circulation rate or the size of the contactor is increased to compensate
for the inefficiencies caused by motion.

Figure 1—Conventional gas dehydration using glycol

Frequent issues encountered during operation include foaming or fouling in the contactor due to carryover
of condensate and/or contaminants from the inlet separator. Hence good inlet separation to remove water,
liquid hydrocarbons, solids, salts and inhibitors, upstream of the contactor, is critical to maintain solvent
quality and contactor performance. Often, a knock out drum is added downstream of the contactor to reduce
solvent losses.
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Proprietary Inline Dehydration System

The proprietary inline dehydration system can replace large glycol contactors and associated separators
(inlet filter separator and overhead knock out drum) with novel mixing technology followed by inline
separation as shown in Figure 2. It works in conjunction with conventional glycol regeneration.
1. Mixing: A droplet generator creates well dispersed, fine droplets of glycol in the gas with high surface
area for absorption of water. Figure 3 shows a model of the droplet generator which is built in a flange
and is attached to the inlet pipe. The lean glycol is fed to the droplet generator and sprayed upstream
into the feed gas. The gas carrying the solvent droplets changes direction multiple times as it flows
through the droplet generator and creates turbulence, that shears the solvent droplets into a fine mist.
2. Mass Transfer Section: An empty pipe provides time for development of the flow and removal of
water from the gas by the solvent.
3. Inline Separator: Commercial and qualified compact inline technology is used here for the removal
of glycol from gas.
The number of stages is dependent on the application – the composition and conditions of the feed gas, the
product specification and the purity of glycol (basic regeneration, with stripping gas or solvent stripping).
The advantages of the proprietary inline dehydration system include:
1. Lower size, footprint, weight and CAPEX compared to a conventional contactor
2. Built to pipe specification
3. Not sensitive to foaming in the presence of hydrocarbons and hence obviates the need for an inlet
gas filter separator
4. Modular/skid mounted and can be built as part of the regeneration skid
5. Scalable by adding units in parallel
6. Flexible layout and can be used in the horizontal and vertical orientation
7. Not affected by tower motion so advantageous for floating applications
8. Inherently safer as it eliminates the need for inspection by vessel entry and has a lower hydrocarbon
inventory due to its small size compared to a conventional contactor

Figure 2—Proprietary inline dehydration system

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Figure 3—Droplet generator

Potential applications and incentives

The proprietary inline dehydration system is broadly applicable to onshore, offshore, subsea, floating,
remote and urban applications and is especially advantageous for facilities where space is limited. It has
been shown to have strong incentives compared to a conventional contactor for several applications.
For a greenfield offshore application in Asia, processing 700 MMSCFD of gas at ~1000 psig, the
proprietary inline dehydration system provides an absorption footprint reduction of 80% as shown in Figure
4 (eliminates the inlet gas filter separator) and system weight (absorption and regeneration) reduction of
50%.
For another greenfield offshore application on an unmanned platform, processing 600 MMSCFD at 1000
to 1500 psia, it provides an absorber weight reduction of 70% and a total topsides and jacket cost reduction
of 22 – 27%.
In a study to dehydrate 100 MMSCFD of gas at an onshore facility in the US, the proprietary inline
dehydration system provided a cost reduction of 20%. The low profile of the system was also advantageous
as the facility was located in a populated area.
It can also be applied for capacity enhancement and debottlenecking applications.
Overall, the proprietary inline dehydration system has a significant advantage over conventional
dehydration for a range of applications.

Figure 4—Incentives of the proprietary inline dehydration system for offshore application
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Technology Development and Commercialization

The development of the proprietary inline dehydration system began in 2008 when feasibility was confirmed
and studies showed significant incentives compared to conventional absorbers for gas treating applications.
Proof of concept tests with short contact devices and inline cyclonic separators showed that further
development was required to improve mass transfer in the mixing stage. The droplet generator was created
and optimized using CFD simulations and extensive cold flow testing. At this stage, the technology was
deemed to be at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 3. In 2012, as part of TRL 4 development, a single
stage of the proprietary inline dehydration system was tested in a high pressure loop with clean wet methane
gas and once through TEG solvent. This was followed by TRL 5 and 6 development, when a two-stage
field demonstration unit of the same size (15 MMSCFD feed gas capacity at 1000 psig) as used in the high
pressure loop test was operated at a producing facility in Oklahoma. A process model has been developed
and validated with data from the high pressure loop test and the field demonstration. Further, scale up testing
and modeling have been completed to design and operate units with a capacity of up to 250 to 300 MMSCFD
(at ~1000 psig).

Field Demonstration Unit

The proprietary inline dehydration system field demonstration was conducted at an unmanned XTO
operating facility in Ardmore, OK for a year from 2015 to 2016. An extensive test program was executed to
obtain performance data for system design and optimization and to demonstrate operability and reliability.
The XTO facility obtains gas from wells in the Woodford Trend shale and delivers it to gas transmission
or process companies. As shown in Figure 5, the gas is separated from produced fluids and compressed to
~1000 psig. The high pressure gas is sent to a coalescing filter followed by a conventional TEG contactor
and scrubber to dehydrate it to <7 lb/MMSCF. Two sources of feed gas were used for the field demonstration
unit test program. A portion of the gas from a pipe downstream of the coalescing filter was used for most
of the runs. A few runs were conducted with feed gas from the pipe upstream of the filter coalescer, to test
reliability and impact of contaminants. The product gas from the field demonstration unit was fed upstream
of the TEG contactor to minimize impact on the host facility. A standard TEG regeneration skid with no
stripping gas was used to regenerate the rich TEG from the field demonstration unit. The following sections
will discuss results and operating experience gained from the field demonstration unit.

Figure 5—BFD of XTO operating facility with the proprietary inline field demonstration unit

Figure 6 shows a picture of the field demonstration unit which included two stages followed by a polishing
unit (demisting cyclone) to reduce the losses of TEG. Each stage consisted of a droplet generator and a
commercial and qualified compact inline separator as shown in Figure 7. Three tunable diode laser based
moisture analyzers were used to determine the water content of feed, product and inter-stage streams.
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Coriolis meters were used to measure the flow rate of the outlet gas and rich TEG streams from the inline
separators in both stages, polishing unit and flash tank. Pressure drop was determined across each stage
and the polishing unit.

Figure 6—Proprietary inline field demonstration unit

Figure 7—Droplet generator and inline separator in field demonstration unit

The skid shown in Figure 6 was highly instrumented with a lot of space to make changes during the test
program. A commercial skid will be much simpler with a more compact layout. Table 1 summarizes the
process conditions used for the field demonstration program.

Table 1—Process conditions for the field demonstration unit

Feed Gas composition (Dry Basis) C1: 82%, C2+: 15.5%, CO2: 0.9%, N2: 1.6%

Feed Gas Flow Rate 6 – 30 MMSCFD

Feed Gas Temperature ~60 – 130 F

Feed Gas Pressure ~1000 psig

TEG Temperature ~60 – 130 F

OTC-27746-MS 7

The unit was operated in the parallel configuration with equal rates of lean TEG sent to both stages and
in the counter flow configuration with lean TEG sent to stage 2 and semi lean from stage 2 to 1, as shown
in Figure 8 and Figure 9. A pump was added to boost the pressure of the TEG between the two stages in
the counter flow configuration.

Figure 8—Parallel configuration

Figure 9—Counter flow configuration

Figure 10 shows typical data obtained during the operation of the field unit. For this specific run,
conducted in the parallel configuration, during a span of 2 days, the gas flow rate was set at 15 MMSCFD
and TEG rate at 2.5 gpm. The liquid levels in the inline separators, show steady operation in Figure 10
(a). Figure 10 (b) shows a feed gas temperature of ~100F. At these conditions, the field demonstration unit
reduces the water content from ~60 lb/MMSCF to ~5 lb/MMSCF.
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Figure 10 (a) and (b)—Typical data obtained from the field demonstration unit

Results
Efficiency of Absorption
Efficiency of absorption (Ea) is defined as the actual water removed to the theoretical water removal
achievable when the water is in equilibrium with the TEG solvent. Figure 11 shows Ea for the field
demonstration data as a function of L/G Ratio which is expressed as (QL/Qv) *V, where QL is the flow rate
of the TEG, Qv is the flow rate of the gas and V is the volume of the contactor. The field demonstration
unit data, based on two stages of contact and high gas rates of 10 to 30 MMSCFD essentially operated very
close to theoretical removal acheivable for the range of TEG and gas flow rates tested.
OTC-27746-MS 9

Figure 11—Efficiency of absorption

Dehydration Performance
The field demonstration unit effectively dehydrated upto 30 MMSCFD of feed gas which is twice the design
capacity of the unit and reduced the water content to pipeline specification (<7 lbs/MMSCF). The unit
was operated at a range of gas flow rates from 10 to 30 MMSCFD and a range of TEG flow rates in the
parallel and counter flow configurations as shown in Figures 8 and 9. Figure 12 shows the outlet water
content and water removal efficiencies for both configurations as a function of solvent circulation ratio for
two stages of contact. The solvent circulation rate required to achieve a product specification for counter
flow is lower relative to the parallel configuration and comparable to a conventional TEG contactor. The
parallel configuration is simpler as it eliminates the interstage TEG solvent pump and may be preferred for
applications with low maintenance requirements like unmanned platforms.

Figure 12—Parallel and Counter flow Configurations

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Inline Separator Performance

The inline separation technology4, as used in the proprietary inline gas dehydration system, consists of a
suite of designs, catering to a wide operating envelope of feed stream compositions and flow regimes, as
shown in the below Figure 13. The monoline and inline demisting cyclones were selected for the inline
dehydration application due to their high collection efficiency at low LVF.

Figure 13—Flow map of inline separation technology

These designs have been thoroughly tested and qualified over a varying range of operating conditions,
as is summarized in Figure 14.

Figure 14—Qualification summary for the inline separation technology

Operating experience was gained with this advanced separation technology on the Hadrian South field,
which is operated through a deepwater tie-back to Anadarko's Lucius platform in the Gulf of Mexico. Figure
15 shows the inline separator installed upstream of a separator (hybrid configuration) which is limited in
size to fit within the constraints of the available deck space, in order to boost the overall system efficiency.
The 12" diameter unit is processing 300 MMSCFD gas at 190 to 206 barg operating pressure and −1 to 10 °C
OTC-27746-MS 11

temperature, resulting in a very challenging separation with very low liquid surface tension (3 to 12 dyne/cm
predicted, 6 dyne/cm actual). Operations started in March 2015 and the performance has been as expected.

Figure 15—Inline separator in hybrid configuration on Hadrian South

Figure 16 shows the TEG separation efficiency of each inline separator in the proprietary inline
dehydration field demonstration unit as a function of pressure drop across the separator. In the intended
range of operation, the efficiency of the inline separators is high. At very low gas flow rates, and low pressure
drops, the performance of the separators drops significantly. Hence the use of the demisting cyclone is
essential as it removes almost all of the remaining TEG from the gas. Overall TEG losses were similar to
the conventional contactor throughout the duration of the field trial, even under turndown conditions.

Figure 16—TEG separation performance of each inline separator

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Pressure Drop
The total pressure drop across each field demonstration unit stage is the sum of the pressure drop across the
droplet generator and mass transfer pipe, and the inline separator. Figure 17 shows the pressure drop across
two stages and a demisting cyclone for a range of gas flow rates tested in the field demonstration unit, in the
parallel and counter flow mode, and with feed gas from upstream of the gas filter separator. At the design
flow rate of the unit (15 MMSCFD), the total pressure drop is ~10 – 13 psig.

Figure 17—Pressure drop across field demonstration unit

Robustness Testing
The field demonstration unit was started up and left to run at the same conditions for an extended period of
time to understand the stability and robustness of the system. During this time, as shown in Figure 18, the
unit was exposed to several unplanned upsets which are listed below, and the unit responded in a controlled
manner while maintaining dehydration performance.
1. Loss of facility power – All operations in the Ardmore area suffered a loss of power for a few
hours due to inclement weather conditions. The unit was automatically shut down by the established
controls, due to loss of power to the solvent pumps and on start up, when power was restored, almost
immediately dehydrated the gas to well below the required product specification of 7 lb/MMSCF.
2. Carry over of condensate from the filter separator into the field demonstration unit- The condensate
was removed in the first inline separator and the unit operated with no impact on dehydration
performance.
3. Feed gas flow rate surges – This was due to continuous changes made to the compressors but it did
not impact the operation of the field demonstration unit.
4. Feed gas temperature surges – This occured due to issues with the compressor after coolers at the
facility. The field demonstration unit responded similar to the conventional TEG contactor at the
facility. With significantly more water in the inlet gas than expected, and the same TEG circulation
rates, the water content in the outlet increased above usual levels due peak temperatures.
5. Transient testing – The unit was shut down and started up similar to commercial operations, where
the liquid was circulated through the unit before feeding the gas and no break throught of offspec
gas was observed.
6. Turndown – The feed gas flow rate through the unit was reduced from 15 MMSCFD to 6 MMSCFD
and there was no impact on dehydration performance. The separation efficiency of the inline
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separators suffered as explained in the next section of the paper, however the demisting cyclone
reduced the losses of TEG.

Figure 18—Extended length run to test stability and robustness

The field demonstration unit was also tested with feed gas from upstream of the filter separator to
understand the impact of hydrocarbons and other contaminants. No significant difference was observed in
operation of the unit.

Process Model Development and Validation

A process model was developed for the proprietary inline dehydration contactor from fundamentals and
validated with data from the SwRI high pressure loop and the XTO field demonstration unit operation.
Figure 19 shows the measured water content of the product gas from the 2-stage field demonstration unit
and the predicted water content from the process model. The model fits both, dehydration performance and
inline separation, data well.

Figure 19—Parity plot showing predicted and measured outlet water content of product gas
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Conclusions
The proprietary inline dehydration system, invented, developed and extensively tested by ExxonMobil, is
meant to replace conventional TEG towers and associated separator vessels to meet pipeline dew point
specifications. It reduces the absorption footprint by ~50-80%, dehydration system weight (absorption and
regeneration unit) by ~50% and cost by ~20 – 27%. It is broadly applicable and is especially advantageous
for offshore, floating, remote and subsea applications.
The field demonstration unit has shown effective and reliable dehydration performance for a range of
process and field conditions and in conjunction with scale up testing and modeling has provided information
to qualify the technology for commercial application.

References
1. The Outlook for Energy: A View to 2040. ExxonMobil Corporation
2. Sulzer News Release: http://www.sulzer.com/en/Newsroom/Business-News/2017/170119-
ExxonMobil-Licenses-Compact-Gas-Dehydration-Technology-to-Sulzer
3. Gas Processors and Suppliers Association, "Engineering Data Book," 13th ed., GPSA, Tulsa, OK
(2012)
4. Schook, R, Thierens, D, "De-bottlenecking of mature field production through the use of very
compact and efficiency separation equipment, topside or subsea, OTC-21617-PP, OTC 2011,
Houston, USA

Bibliography
1. Ramkumar, S, Grave, E.J, "cMIST™: Novel, Compact Gas Treating System," 8th AIChE
Southwest Process Technology Conference, October 6 – 7, 2016, Galveston, USA
2. Grave, E.J, Ramkumar, S, Larnholm, P.R, "Qualification and Application of Inline Separators
at Low and High Pressure Services," TEKNA Separation Technology 2016, September 28 - 29,
2016, Stavanger, Norway
3. Ramkumar, S, Grave, E.J, Yeh, N, Northrop, P.S, "cMIST™: Novel, Compact Gas Treating
System," AIChE Spring Meeting, April 10 – 14, 2016, Houston, USA
4. Ramkumar, S, Grave, E.J, Yeh, N.K, Freeman, S.A, "Qualification of a Novel, Compact, Low-
Weight Dehydration Technology," International Petroleum Technology Conference 2015,
December 6 – 9, 2015, Doha, Qatar
5. Ramkumar, S, Grave, E.J, Yeh, N.K, Freeman, S.A, "cMIST™: Novel, Compact, Gas Treating
System," TEKNA Separation Technology 2015, September, 2015, Stavanger, Norway