Cryogenic and Amine Plant Design and Fabrication Changes Over the Past 40 Years

NTGPA November 4th, 2010; Updated September 6th, 2011

Cryogenic and Amine Plant Design and Fabrication Changes Over the Past 40 Years

Thomas H. Russell, Thomas Russell Co., Tulsa OK

[EXCERPT]

Process Designs Available Today

American ingenuity and technology have produced many innovations to the early “industry standard single stage” (ISS) expander plant process. Author lists and describes a few that are available to the industry.

 Ortloff Engineers, LTD- Recycle Split Vapor(RSV), Gas Subcooled (GSP), Overhead Recycle (OHR), , Carbon Dioxide Control (CDC), Single Column Overhead Reflux (SCORE), and others

 Randall Gas Technologies- High Pressure Absorber (HPA), Super Hy-Pro TTC, NGLMAX, and NGL-PRO

 IPSI, LLC- Constrained Maximum Recovery (C-MAR)

Most turbo-expander plant process innovations have been developed to accomplish specific goals including:

 Lower residue gas compression horsepower

 Higher ethane recovery  Higher propane recovery with ethane rejection

 Higher carbon dioxide freeze tolerance

The Ortloff GSP process is now in public domain, and is probably the most commonly used process in the lower 48 states. The Ortloff SCORE process obtains a 99% propane recovery in the ethane rejection mode. This process is very popular overseas, in areas where there is no ethane market but a high margin on the propane product. Challenges with Rich Inlet Gas

Processing nominally lean gas in the 2 to 3 GPM ethane-plus range is ideal for the ISS or GSP process. Shale gas production typically runs richer and offers special challenges:

 Liquid condensation in the pipeline results in slugs which must be dealt with at the plant.

 Very rich gas is liable to condense liquid on the mol sieve bed. One foot of sacrificial material such as Sorbead on top of the bed is good insurance.

 Inlet gas with four GPM plus will definitely require refrigeration within the expander plant process.

 Inlet gas richer than six or seven GPM will probably require refrigeration upstream of the expander plant. 

Free Full Text Source: http://www.thomasrussellco.com/pdfs/trco_paper/TRCO_Changes_of_Cryogenic_Amine%20Plants_20110912.pdf