Dehydration is important for gas gathering, product dehydration, and hydrocarbon recovery. The two main processes for gas dehydration are absorption and adsorption. Absorption uses solvents like glycols that have a high affinity for water and low affinity for hydrocarbons, allowing water levels to be reduced to 10 ppmv. Adsorption uses desiccants like silica gel, activated alumina, and molecular sieves in fixed beds to remove water through physical adsorption in an equilibrium process similar to vapor-liquid equilibria. Common dehydration units use glycol absorbers or two-bed adsorption systems for continuous operation.
Dehydration is important for gas gathering, product dehydration, and hydrocarbon recovery. The two main processes for gas dehydration are absorption and adsorption. Absorption uses solvents like glycols that have a high affinity for water and low affinity for hydrocarbons, allowing water levels to be reduced to 10 ppmv. Adsorption uses desiccants like silica gel, activated alumina, and molecular sieves in fixed beds to remove water through physical adsorption in an equilibrium process similar to vapor-liquid equilibria. Common dehydration units use glycol absorbers or two-bed adsorption systems for continuous operation.
Dehydration is important for gas gathering, product dehydration, and hydrocarbon recovery. The two main processes for gas dehydration are absorption and adsorption. Absorption uses solvents like glycols that have a high affinity for water and low affinity for hydrocarbons, allowing water levels to be reduced to 10 ppmv. Adsorption uses desiccants like silica gel, activated alumina, and molecular sieves in fixed beds to remove water through physical adsorption in an equilibrium process similar to vapor-liquid equilibria. Common dehydration units use glycol absorbers or two-bed adsorption systems for continuous operation.
Dehydration is important for gas gathering, product dehydration, and hydrocarbon recovery. The two main processes for gas dehydration are absorption and adsorption. Absorption uses solvents like glycols that have a high affinity for water and low affinity for hydrocarbons, allowing water levels to be reduced to 10 ppmv. Adsorption uses desiccants like silica gel, activated alumina, and molecular sieves in fixed beds to remove water through physical adsorption in an equilibrium process similar to vapor-liquid equilibria. Common dehydration units use glycol absorbers or two-bed adsorption systems for continuous operation.
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Gas Dehydration
Dehydration is important in three areas:
Gas gathering
Product dehydration: Maximum water in sales gas at 4 to 7 lb/MMscf For liquids, the water content is 10 to 20 ppmw
Hydrocarbon recovery
Water content is stated in a number of ways:
Mass of water per volume of gas, lb/MMscf Concentration, parts per million by volume (ppmv)
Water Content Of Hydrocarbon Gases as a
Function of Temperature and Pressure
Water Content Of Hydrocarbons
Calculate the water content of the sweet natural gas shown in the following table at 300 psia and 80F
Solution
Gas Dehydration Processes
Two processes, absorption and adsorption, are the most common
ABSORPTION PROCESSES:
Water levels in natural gas can be reduced to the 10 pmmv range in a
physical absorption process.
The solvent used for the absorption should have the following properties:
A high affinity for water and a low affinity for hydrocarbons
A low viscosity for ease of pumping and good contact between the gas and liquid phases
A low potential for corrosion
Glycol Dehydrator Unit
Adsorption Processes The two types of adsorption are physical adsorption and chemisorption.
Physical adsorption is vaporliquid equilibria
Two steps are
component.
The first step is to have the component contact the
surface The second step is to have it travel through the pathways inside the adsorbent
involved
an
in
equilibrium
adsorbing
process
trace
like
gas
Vapor-phase Concentration Profile Of An
Adsorbate In The Three Zones Of An Adsorption Bed
The equilibrium zone, where the adsorbate on the
adsorbent is in equilibrium with the adsorbate in the inlet gas phase and no additional adsorption occurs The mass transfer zone (MTZ), the volume where mass transfer and adsorption take place The active zone, where no adsorption has yet taken place In the mass transfer zone (MTZ), the concentration drops from the inlet value, Yin, to the outlet value, Yout, in a smooth S-shaped curve
When used as a purification process,
adsorption has two major disadvantages: o
It is a fixed-bed process that requires two or
more adsorption beds for continuous operation. It has limited capacity and is usually impractical for removing large amounts of impurity.
Three types of commercial adsorbents are in
common use in gas processing plants: Silica
gel, which is made of pure SiO2
Activated
alumina, which is made of Al2O3
Molecular
sieves
Two-bed Adsorption Unit
Other Processes
Desiccant Processes: Can reduce the water content down to 20 ppmv
