Solid Desiccant Dehydration Plant

Separator Section
► Wet Inlet gas is passed through an inlet separator where free liquids, mist, solid particlesare
removed.

► Free liquids can cause adsorption materials to break down.

Adsorption Cycle
► Wet gaswill flows downwards through the tower.

► The adsorbable components are adsorbed at rates dependent on their chemical nature, the size of
their molecules, and the size of the pores in the solid material.

► The water molecules are adsorbed first in the top layers of the desiccant bed.

► Dry hydrocarbon gases are adsorbed throughout the bed.

► As the upper layers of desiccant become saturated with water, the water in the wet gas stream
begins displacing the previously adsorbed hydrocarbons in the lower desiccant layers.
► Liquid hydrocarbons will also be absorbed and will fill pore spaces that would otherwise be available
for water molecules.

► For each component in the inlet gas stream, there will be a section of bed depth, from top to bottom,
where the desiccant is saturated with that component and where the desiccant below is just starting to
adsorb that component.

► As the flow of gas continues, the transfer zone moves downward through the bed and water
displaces the previously adsorbed gases until finally the entire bed is saturated with water vapor.

► If the entire bed becomes completely saturated with water vapor, the outlet gas may be wet as the
inlet gas. Obviously, the towers must be switched from the adsorption cycle to the regeneration cycle
(heating and cooling) before the desiccant bed is completely saturated with water.

Regeneration Cycle
► At any given time, at least one of the towers will be adsorbing while the other towers will be in the
process of being heated or cooled to regenerate the desiccant.

► When a tower is switched to the regeneration cycle, some wet gas is heated to temperatures of 450
to 600◦F in the high-temperature heater and routed to the tower to remove the previously adsorbed
water.

► As the temperature within the tower is increased, the water captured within the pores of the
desiccant turns to steam and is absorbed by the natural gas. This gas leaves the top of the tower and is
cooled by the regeneration gas cooler.

Regeneration and Cooling

► When the gas is cooled the saturation level of water vapor is lowered significantly and water is
condensed.

► The water is separated in the regeneration gas separator and the cool, saturated regeneration gas is
recycled to be dehydrated. This can be done by operating the dehydration tower at a lower pressure
than the tower being regenerated or by recompressing the regeneration gas.

► Once the bed has been “dried” in this manner, it is necessary to flow cool gas through the tower to
return it to normal operating temperatures (about 100 to 120◦F)before placing it back in service to
dehydrate gas. The cooling gas could either be wet gas or gas that has already been dehydrated. Ifwet
gas is used, it must be dehydrated after being used as cooling gas, where a hot tower will not sufficiently
dehydrate the gas.

Switching of Beds
► The switching of beds is controlled by a time controller that performs switching operations at
specified times in the cycle.

► The length of the different phases can vary considerably. Longer cycle times will require larger beds
and additional capital investment, but will increase the bed life.

► A typical two-bed cycle might have an 8-hour adsorption period with 6 hours of heating and 2 hours
of cooling for regeneration. The 16- hour adsorption time for an adsorption unit with three beds, two
beds in adsorption and one bed in regeneration, makes also a full cycle time of 24 hours, which gives a
good 3-year guarantee.

Desiccant Selection
► High adsorption capacity at equilibrium. This lowers the required adsorbent volume, allowing for the
use of smaller vesselswith reduced capital expenditures and reduced heat inputfor regeneration.

► High selectivity. Thisminimizes the undesirable removal of valuable components and reduces overall
operating expenses.

► Easy regeneration. The relatively low regeneration temperature minimizesoverall energy

requirements and operating expenses.

► Low pressure drop.

► Good mechanical properties (such as high crush strength, low attrition, low dust formation, and high
stability against aging). These factors lower overall maintenance requirements by reducing the
frequency of adsorbent change out and minimizing downtime-related losses in production.

► Inexpensive, noncorrosive, nontoxic, chemically inert, high bulk density and no significant volume
changes upon adsorption and desorption of water.

► The most common commercial desiccants used in dry bed dehydrators are silica gel (i.e., Sorbead),
molecular sieves, and activated alumina.