Professional Documents
Culture Documents
2010/2011
ABSORPTION DEHYDRATION
Water removal process from gas mixture stream by
contacting a gas stream with a liquid desiccant / absorbing
agent (e.g. glycol solution) which has a greater affinity for
water than gas
Contacting takes place at an elevated pressure (usually that
of gas pressure to be used/sold ~ 60-70 bar))
After contacting gas, water rich liquid desiccant /
absorbing agent is regenerated by heating (usually at
atmospheric temp.)
liquid desiccant / absorbing agent is then cooled and recirculated back to the contactor
Glycol dehydration is the most commonly applied method as it can lower the
dew point temperature by about 56 oC adequate to meet most requirement
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Contactor Tower
Glycol Cooler
Reboiler
Dry Gas
Outlet
Inlet Scrubber
Surge Tank
Condensate Outlet
Excess Separated
Gas Outlet
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High affinity for water (very much fall in love with water !!!)
Low cost
Non corrosiveness
Stability (non-reactive) towards gas components
Stability during regeneration (no/little thermal decomposition)
Ease of regeneration ( easily separated from water)
Low or moderate viscosity (less prone to foaming)
Low vapour pressure at contact temperature (exist in liquid
form)
Low solubility for natural gases and hydrocarbon liquids (hate
these H/C components !!!!)
Low Foaming or emulsifying tendencies (no mushy solution
interrupt flow dynamics in absorber / gas line)
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REGENERATION OF GLYCOL
Reboiler temperature
Glycol loss & thermal decomposition
EG, DEG less than 150-160 oC
Lean glycol concentration
~ 204 oC at atmospheric pressure for 98.4-98.7 w/w % TEG
Reboiler pressure
.amount of water in lean glycol (influence partial pressure of
water vapor), e.g. ~ 204 oC at atmospheric pressure for 98.4-98.7
w/w % TEG
Purity of lean glycol can be increased by
- lowering reboiler pressure (lower reboiler temp.)
- using stripping gas (dry, low pressure gas, insoluble with water &
thermally stable such as methane)
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- azeotropic agent such as liquid iso-octane
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OPERATING PROBLEMS
Glycol loss
Foaming
H/C (aromatic) contamination
Corrosion
glycol oxidation
accelerated by present sulphur
salt contamination
Erosion
Sludge
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Glycol inhibition
Injecting glycol solution in gas line to depress hydrate point
Recover lean glycol solution through separation of water from waterrich glycol in regeneration system
Lean glycol solution concentration ~ 90-95 w/w %
Concentration of glycol to be injected depends on oC depression of
hydrate point
Glycol dehydration
Removal of water from gas stream by contacting water-rich gas stream
with absorbent (glycol solution) in an absorber
High pressure
Recover lean glycol solution through separation of water from waterrich glycol in regeneration system
Lean glycol solution concentration > 98.5 w/w %
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INJECTION
ABSORPTION
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ADSORPTION DEHYDRATION
Water removal process from gas mixture stream
by contacting a gas stream with a solid desiccant /
adsorbing agent
Two main sections
Adsorption
Regeneration
Heating cycle
Cooling cycle
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ADSORPTION SYSTEM
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ADSORPTION
TOWER
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ADSORPTION SECTION
Wet gas contact dry solid desiccant (in horizontal or
vertical (most common) bed) and consequently water
vapor held on its surface
gas should enter from top of the column and flows
downward at above its hydrate point
Temperatures < 50 oC & high pressure (e.g. 60-70 bar), no effective pressure limitation
Batch / semi-batch operation for 8 hour cycle (most
common) can be 6, 12 & 24 hrs
Low dew point dehydrated gas (e.g. 34 oC)
Desiccant life ~ 1-3 yrs (in absence of poisoning)
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REGENERATION SECTION
(Heating Cycle)
Water is removed from water rich solid desiccant by
heating at bed temperatures between 175-230 oC
Heat requirement = heat of desorption of water (i.e. latent
heat of water) + sensible heat to bring water vapor
Heating medium can be carrier hot gas (~ 200 260oC)
such portion of main gas stream(5-15%), or superheated
steam, usually counter-current to main flow in vertical
tower
Water driven off at 116-120 oC
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REGENERATION SECTION
(Cooling Cycle)
Once desired bed temperature is achieved, the bed will be
cooled (to ~ 50-55 oC) by flowing unheated/cool gas
through the bed
Cooling less than 50-55 oC will result in water presaturation of the bed (from wet gas stream) & hence
reduction next cycle adsorption efficiency
Water vapor leaving the bed will be condensed and
separated from the regenerated/ cool gas
For normal 8 hour regeneration cycle
6 hours for heating
2 hours for cooling
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ADSORPTION PROCESS
Equilibrium zone desiccant
is saturated with water (last
zone to form)
MTZ zone concentration
gradient exists and when the
leading MTZ reaches the end
of the bed, breakthrough
occurs
Active zone desiccant has
its full capacity of water
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ADSORPTION DEHYDRATION
& HYDROCARBON ADSORPTION
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Wet gas
Dry gas
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SOLID DESICCANT
Large surface area for the high capacity (i.e. 500-800
m2/gram)
Possess "activity" for the components to be removed
Mass transfer rate is high
Easily and economically regenerated (reversability of
adsorption and ease of regeneration)
Good activity retention with time
Small resistance to gas flow
High mechanical strength
Fairly cheap, non-corrosive, non-toxic, chemically inert
and possess high bulk density
No appreciable change in volume during adsorption and
desorption
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Bauxite (Al2O3 )
~ outlet dew point - 73oC
4-6 kg water per 100 kg of desiccant
most
expensive
Alumina
least
expensive
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FEED GAS
TREATED
GAS
P ~ 70 bara
T=30oC
~ 0.076 mol
% H2O
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