Some Economic Factors Affecting the Refrigeration
of Gas Streams for Greater Condensate Recoveryt
ABSTRACT
T h e conservation of oil and g a s by the u s e of
surface equipment h a s become of widespread inter-
e s t because it has provided s o u n d economics in
most instances. The use of refrigeration t o process
g a s streams has proved an important addition t o oil
absorption and other existing.- met hods. The advan-
tage becomes particularly m a r k e d in those c a s e s
. where only small quantities of g a s are available.
INTRODUCTION
The conservation of o i l and g a s by the u s e of
surface equipment has become of widespread inter-
e s t because i t h a s provided s o u n d econonlics in
most instances. Consequently, more inter-
e s t has been evidenced by producers in these meth-
ods. Because of the m a n y factors involved, it' i s
impossible to consider all in this discussion.
The u s e of refrigeration to process g a s streams
has proved an important addition to oil absorption
and other existing methods. Refrigeration i s not a
"cure-all" for all processing problems, but i t does
often offer economic advantage, particularly with
relatively rich gas streanis. T h e advantage becomes
particularly marked in those c a s e s where only small
quantities of g a s are available.
The chief application i s in those s i t u a t i o n s
where the quantity of g a s and/or the reserves do
not justify a gasoline plant. There are many such
c a s e s wh e r e the casing-head or well-stream gas
may be profitably processed to advantage.
l'he primary factors to be considered are:
1. Quantity of g a s
2. Reserves
3. Alarke t situation
4. Well-streani composition
5. Separation temperature and pressure
6. Amount of liquid recoverable
7. Gas s a l e s specifications:
a Water dew point
* ~ e ~ a r t m e noft Petroleum Engineering, University of Oklahoma,
Norman, Okla.
t Presented at the spring meeting of the Mid-Continent District,
D i v i s i o n of Production, Amarillo. T e x a s , March 1955.
Stock-tank liquid recovery and revenue are con-
sidered in this paper. Those high-pressure wells
w h e r e the necessary refrigeration i s produced by
expansion have been excluded, inasmuch as they
involve somewhat different economics.
Three types of refrigeration s y s t e m s are dis-
cussed, viz., compression refrigeration, ammonia ab-
sorption, and Servel-type.
b. Heating value
c. Amount of liquifiable hydrocarbons in
s a l e s gas.
The amount of gas processed on the l e a s e nornial-
ly varies from 1 to 5 O'lhlcf per day. When niore than
5 h,llllcf per day are available, niore complex, facili-
t i e s are usually justified; whereas a payout may
seldom be shown for l e s s than 1 MMcf per day. For
these quantities of gas i t i s imperative that invest-
ment andoperating c o s t s be held to a nlininium. Con-
sequently the high recovery efficiencies desirable
in gasoline-plant operation do not always offer fa-
vorable economics in l e a s e processing. ?'he cost of
equipment and storage necessary to recover s u b
stantial portions of the propane and butane i s often
out of proportion to their market value, especially
since the m a r k e t i n g of small quantities of LPG
components i s o f t e n uncertain. P a s t engineering
analyses, for example, have often shown that the
most favorable economics are offered by recovering
only liquid that may be held in atmospheric storage
and sold a s crude oil.
Reserves, of course, play an important part for
they limit the amount of time available to recover
the investment and yield a profit. In many instances
the rate of return per dollar of investment beconles
a far more important factor than the total revenue.
Designing to obtain additional gallonage i s often
not practical if the investment cost per gallon in-
creases sharply. Net payout time i s thus often more
important than total r e v e n u e here reserves are
critical.
L e a s e s with l e s s than four to s i x years reserves,
however, seldom show too much pronlise unless the
288 JOHN M. CAMPBELL
I
g a s in question i s relatively rich. After payment of F'or sinlplicity, only stock-tank liquid recovery and
overhead expenses, royalties, and income taxes the revenue are considered. Those high-pressure wells
net payout i s seldom l e s s than two years. Several where the necessary refrigeration i s produced by
additional years are necessary to provide an attrac- expansion have been excluded from t h i s discussion
tive return. A net payout of more than four years i s inasmuch a s they involve somewhat different eco-
seldom attractive to investment capital regardless nomics.
of the reserves. GENERAL DESIGN
l ' h e n e e d for a fast payout ordinarily requires A preliminary investigation has fixed the separa-
that the overhead be low, w h i c h in turn signifies tion pressure at 400 psia. It i s then necessary to
that the equipment must be a s simple a s possible determine the temperature desired. Fig. 1 s h o w s
in order to utilize existing field labor to the greatest both the amount of total separator fluid and stock-
extent. A s a result, process flexibility often has to tank fluid obtained a t various temperatures, the lat-
be sacrificed to preserve this simplicity. ter q u a n t i t y assuming that stabilization i s used.
In m o s t instances the optimum pressure i s be- The fornier increases rapidly with decreasing tem-
tween 400 and 600 psig. When the sales-line pres- perature because the quantity of propane and lighter
sure i s 600 psig and below, the separation pressure components increases rapidly. l h e c u r v e repre-
i s therefore at or slightly above the optimum. When senting the quantity of potential stock-tank fluid
the gas i s being compressed and the s a l e s line i s becomes rather flat a t lower temperatures because
a b o v e 600 psig, separation i s often carried out such liquid consists primarily of the pentanes plus
inter-stage. In any event separation at 1 e s s than and these are l e s s volatile at higher temperatures.
150 psig i s seldom advisable because of low re- Consequently this portion of the liquid i s condensed
coveries. to a greater degree a t higher temperatures and fur-
Experience h a s shown that i t i s seldom economi- ther temperature reduction shows l e s s benefit. The
cal to lower the separation pressure on flowing g a s anlount of liquid shown by the distance between the
wells below sales-line pressure thus requiring sub- curves represents lost g a s revenue and has no eco-
sequent recompression. The additional an~ount of nomic value when producing only stock-tank liquid.
liquid recovered will not ordinarily justify the con]-
The reason for the shape of these curves i s fur-
pression cost. An exception, though, might be offer-
ther clarified by F'ig. 2, which shows the effect of
ed in high-pressure gas-cycling systems.
temperature on the quantity of each component con-
A s a result of the foregoing considerations sepa-
densed. It may be seen that the slope of the curve
ration temperature and the method of handling the
liquids o b t a i n e d are the chief variables. The decreases with increasing molecular weight. From
choice, though, i s governed by the aforementioned this figure it i s evident that the large increase in
the total volume of s e p a r a t o r liquid i s largely
considerations and any gas s a l e s specifications
that might apply. If the separation temperature cho- caused by the methane, ethane,,propane, and bu-
sen i s above that needed to meet these specifica- tane. Below 8 0 F'. little additional recovery of hep-
tanes plus i s noted. Therefore, the g r e a t e r the
tions, auxiliary equipment, such as a dehydrator,
would then be required. Therefore, i t i s necessary
to compare this additional equipment . . cost with that
required to go to the necessary temperatures. At the
present time, though, ~ a l e s - ~ aspecifications
s are
a minor factor on many l e a s e s .
In order to illustrate these points l e t u s consider
a specific example. A g a s flow rate of 2 Mhlcf per
day has been used with the following gas analysis:
Con~ponent Mol Percent
Methane............... 71.18
Ethane.. . . . . . . . . . ; . . . . 15.03
Propane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.78
Isobutane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.04
n-butane............... 3.43
Isopentane . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.96
n-pentane.............. 1.14
Hexane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.92
Heptanes plus . . . . . . . . . . . 1.52 Fig. 1-Effect of Separation Temperature on
100 .oo Quantity of Liquid at 400 P s i a
 SOME ECONOlvllC FACTORS A F F E C T I N G T H E R E F R I G E R A T I O N O F GAS STREAMS 289

involves considerations beyond the scope of this

discussion.
The gas-to-gas h e a t exchanger i s included to
conserve refrigeration, the cold residue gas froni
the s e a r a't o r being used to pre-cool the well
stream. If the well stream was flowing under well
pressure rather than being conipressed, a free-water
knockout niight be needed ahead of this exchanger
if substantial quantities of reservoir water .were an-
ticipated.
The chiller i s normally a water-to-gas heat ex-
changer a t teriiperatures a b o v e 50 F., the water
being chilled by the refrigeration machine. Below
this temperature the cooling i s produced by evapo-
ration of the refrigerant in the chiller.
The separator nlay be of the s t a n d a r d oil-field

,o 30 30 40 -
TEMPERA TURE - -F
70 63 , ,+. ,=
type, except that i t i s best not to have the mist ex-
tractor. In many instances the separation tempera-
ture i s very close to the hydrate-formation tempera-
ture and sonie unconsolidated crystals are likely to
, , F i g . 2-Variation of,Separator F l u i d w i t h form. ?'he mist extractor merely provides surface
Temperature at 400 P s i a for these crystals to collect, with the ultimate pos-
aniount of heptanes plus present in the well stream, sibility of an ice bridge forming.
the l e s s effect lowering the temperature has on the Fig. 4 provides a nieans of estimating the tern-
amount of stocli-tank fluid. As a result, the optiniuni perature, at* a Liven pressure, at w h i c t i hydrates
separation temperature increases with increasing will forni. Below these temperatures sonie addition-
well-stream n~olecularweight. al provisions are necessary to prevent hydrate for-
l h e flow diagram in F'ig. 3 i s typical of the sys- mation. That shown by the dashed l i n e s in Fig. 3 i s
tenis used for sniall-lease use. No means of proc- for g l y c o 1 injection. T h i s particular system has
essing the liquid obtained i s shown, Lecause this been widely discussed in the literature.

WELLSTREAM -
a
.I
r

G
2

?'
5 3

: OIL TO
I
I REFRIGERANT PROCESSING AND/OR
I r---u STORAGE
I 1f I
I. I
I RESIDUE . I
1 GAS I AUXILIARY GLYCOL-INJECTION EQUIPMENT
I I 1. GAS-TO-GAS HEAT EXCHANGER
I T"T I 2. CHILLER
I
I
I
I I
I w-1 ,
lL=:
'
I 3. SEPARATOR
4. GLYCOL SURGE DRUM
5. GLYCOL REGENERATOR
I C - ~bJ I 4 6 . GLYCOL PUMP
I $----- ,I J
I
I,,, CF----- I
a=, 6
L1

Fig. 3-F low ~ i a ~ r a m - L o w - t e m p e r a t u r eSystem

290 JOHN M. CAMPBELL
-
I
Dry-desiccant dehydration h a s been used but i t s
high initial cost h a s limited the application. Glycol
dehydration i s therefore being used to a greater ex-
tent. Where.practica1, glycol dehydration i s preferred
by the author over glycol injection even though the
i n i t i a 1 investment i s comparable. The operating
cost i s norn~allyl e s s and certain operational p r o b
lems of the injection systems are eliminated. Fhen
the separation temperature i s l e s s than 10 F'. the
operation of the glycol dehydrator beconles more
critical to p r e v e n t freezing. In no event may a
standard glycol dehydrator be used with absolute
safety if the separator temperature i s below 0 F.

F i g . 4-Hydrate-formation Temperatures
(for Natural Gas)
Alternative systems use methanol injection or the
inclusion of a dehydrator ahead of the chiller. If in-
jection i s preferred, the use of glycol n o r m a l l y
shows advantage because of lower operating costs.
REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS
There are several types of refrigeration systems
that have been successfully adopted for oil-field
use.
C o n ~ ~ r e s s i oRefrigeration
n
?'his system i s shown in Fig. 5. The refrigerant
i s compressed to a b o u t 190 psig, p a s s e s through
the lube-oil scrubber, and i s condensed in the con-
denser. The liquid accun?ulator a c t s a s a surge ves-
sel by which the liquid-level control valve rnain-
tains the level of r e f r i g e r a n t in the chiller. The
temperature in the chiller i s maintained by the back-
pressure valve. Heat i s r e m o v e d from the well
stream or coolant by vaporizing the refrigerant, the
amount of heat removed b e i n g approxinlately the
latent heat of vaporization of the refrigerant times
the amount circulated.

>

GAS

1. COMPRESSOR 5. LIQUID-LEVEL CONTROL EXPANSION VALVE

2. OIL SEPARATOR 6. CHILLER
3. CONDENSER 7. BACK-PRESSURE VALVE
4. ACCUMULATOR

F i g . 5-Flow Diagram-Compression Refrigeration System

 SOME ECONOMIC FACTORS AFFECTING THE REFRIGERATION O F GAS STREAMS 291

E'ig. 6 provides a means of estimating compres-

sion-refrigeration investment c o s t s . A b o v e 5 0 E'.
the c o s t s shown are for high-speed Freon machines;
from 25 E'. to 5 0 F'., high-speed ammonia machines; -- - ..
. .. -- . ..
.

l\q
and below !25 E'. low-rpm heavy-duty machines. T h e
latter have application throughout the range but in-
volve a higher investment c o s t . BOD INCLUDESCONDENSER BUT NOCOOLING TOWER. .
FOR UNITS OF I5 TO 50 TONS.
CCWDENSING TEMPERATURE-05 F .
T h e choice of type depends somewhat upon the A B W E ta F. COSTS S t i m N ARE FOR FREON UNITS.
BELOW 50 F.. AUMCHIA M( PROPANE UNITS.
expected l i f e of t h e field. 'l'he high-speed machines, '7m .-
although l e s s expensive, will normally require a
yearlyoverhaulcostingfrom$300to$400.0nthe \
other hand, the low-speed machines will normally :.so0

run for 6 to 1 0 y e a r s without an overhaul with an

annual maintenance c o s t of about $100. l i e g a r d l e s s 3
of this, the high-speed machines may show advan- gsW
tage on small l e a s e s with low r e s e r v e s where only
moderate temperatures a r e desired. 4m
Ammonia-absorption System
T h e ammonia-absorption s y s t e m shown in F i g . 7
h a s an initial investment comparable to compres- 303 --

~ i o ns y s t e m s . T h e system proper i s l e s s expensive,

but t h i s i s a t l e a s t partially compensated for by the 200
I
additional cooling requirements.
With t h i s type there are really two c y c l e s in oper-
ation, viz., the absorption cycle and the refrigera- lwl -.lo -ro 0 +21 -40 .GO .w
tion cycle. T h e ammonia i s stripped from the water CHILLER T E M P E R A T ~ R E - ~ F .

solution in the stripper u s i n g h e a t from the genera-

tor. T h i s ammonia vapor i s condensed in the con- Fig. 6-Curve for Estimating the Cost of
denser, and expanded a c r o s s the pressure-reducing Compression Refrigeration

COOLING
WATER w
COOLING SOLUTION
TO AND FROM
\
-1 \ CHILLER
*
L
:2 /

---- S.S.
----
2 ----
\
\
, 6 COOLINGWATER
1
BURNER

w. s. WEAK AMMONIA soLu-r ION

S. S.
1.
STRONG AMMONIA SOLUTION
GENERATOR
5. EVAPORATOR
6.
7.
ABSORBER
PUMP
WL 7

2. STRIPPER 8. HEAT EXCHANGER

3. CONDENSER 9. RELIEF VALVE
4. EXPANSION VALVE
Fig. 7-Flow Diagram-Absorption Refrigeration System
2 92 JOHN hl. CAMPBELL
valve into the evaporator. The ammonia g a s i s with-
drawn from this latter v e s s e l at pressure P and dis-
solved in the weak ammonia solution in the absorb-
er, where the combined pressure of solvent and am-
nionia must be l e s s than P. A solution i s nec-
essary between the absorber and stripper becauGe
the latter operates at the higher pressure.
Sollie operators prefer the absorption system be-
cause i t eliminates the necessity of a compressor,
particularly w h e r e no gas-conlpression facilities
are necessary. Where other compression facilities
need to be maintained, however, this presents no
problem.
T h i s type of refrigeration system h a s the follow-
ing disadvantages:
1. It i s l e s s flexible and positive than conlpression
refrigeration.
2. Control i s more .critical to balance out the unit
and operate a t maximum economy.
3. Operating c o s t s tend to be slightly higher, par-
ticularly in areas where cooling towers are re-
quired and water i s scarce and expensive. .
4. Some corrosion e x i s t s unless the solution i s
properly buffered.
Servel-type Absorption System
T h i s i s a simple absorption system (Fig. 8) using
lithium broniide and water. Although relatively new
Fig. 8-Flow Diagram-Servel-type
for oil-field use, i t has application for separation
temperatures above 45 I.'. At the present time the
unit i s limited, practically speaking, to producing
a 40-E'. cooling solution for circulation to the well-
stream heat exchanger.
The riiotivatingstream enters the base of the gen-
erator steam chest (1) and i s condensed on the in-
ternal heat-transfer s u r f a c e s (2) a t atmospheric
pressure, the steam chest being open to the atnios-
phere a t the top th;ough a vent (3). In normal opera-
tion the s t e am will condense before reaching the
vent and condensate will drain from the b a s e of the
generator by gravity.
The system i s charged with lithium broniide and
water. Lithium bromide i s the absorbent and water
i s the refrigerant. T h i s solution i s contained within
the refrigeration generator (4). A s steam heat i s ap-
plied to the generator, a part of the refrigerant (wa-
ter) i s evaporated or boiled out of the solution. A s
this water vapor i s driven off, absorbent solution i s
raised by vapor-lift a c t i o n through the pump tube
(5) to the separating chamber. T h e refrigerant vapor
i s sbparated from the mixture in the chamber and
Rows from t h e r e into the condenser. Condensing
water flows through tubes (8). Simultaneously the
absorbent solution separated from the mixture flows
out of the separating chamber t h r o u g h a tube (9)
Absorption System
 SOME ECONOMIC FACTORS AFFECTING rIIE REFRIGERATION OF GAS STREAMS 293

through the h e a t exchanger, and thence to the ab- Table 1

sorber where i t i s distributed over the o u t s i d e sur- Summary of Refrigeration Requirements
f a c e of the absorber coil (11). Pressure: 400 psia Inlet Temperature: 100 F.
r
I he condensed refrigerant f 1 o w s from the con-
1
Refrigerant Condensing Temperature: 85 F .
d e n s e r through a tube (17) into a chamber where, by Total Cooling Load
flashing, i t i s cooled to evaporator temperature. T h e Separation A

Teniperatwe, Total Liquid, / Btu per ~efri~eration;

c o o 1 e d refrigerant then flows to the evaporator
Deg. E'. Gal per Hour Hour Tons
where i t i s distributed over the outside surface of
the water-chiller coil (13). l ' h e water to be cooled
flows through the internal p a s s a g e s of the coil and
g i v e s up h e a t which e v a p o r a t e s the refrigerant on
the outside.
Refrigerant entering the evaporator s e c t i o n vapor-
i z e s e a s i l y b e c a u s e of the lower absolute pressure
l'he foregoing i l l u s t r a t e s general considerations
(high vacuun~)which e x i s t s at tliat point. l'he high
when contemplating the u s e of mechanical refrigera-
vacuum w i t h i n the evaporator s e c t i o n lowers the tion. It i s difficult to formulate definite r u l e s or a
boiling teniperature of the refrigerant sufficiently to general "recipe9' to follow, however, for each such
produce the d e s i r e d refrigerating effect upon the installation must of n e c e s s i t y vary soniewhat.
chilled water circuit. On the b a s i s chosen, the i n s t a l l e d c o s t s h a v e
'I'he refrigerant vapor then flows to the absorber been estimated, a s given in 'l'able 2.
coil (11) and i s absorbed by the concentrated solu-
tion, the h e a t of absorption being removed by the Table 2
cooling water flowing through the internal p a s s a g e s Estimated Installed Costs
of the absorber coil. Compression Refrigeration
Lithium bromide, either dry or in solution form, Separation
h a s a very strong affinity for water vapor; and be- Temperature, Recovery,
c a u s e of this principle, refrigerant v a p o r i s ab- Deg. F'. Investment Cost Gal per Day
sorbed into solution again. T h e rate of absorption
i s i n c r e a s e d a t 1 o w e r temperatures, which i s the
reason for providing a cooling-water c o i l within the
absorber s e c t i o n .
r
I he resultant mixture of refrigerant and absorbent
1

drains from the absorber s e c t i o n through the s e c o n d

p a s s a g e of the h e a t exchanger, and then into the Using a n e t v a l u e of $ 2 p e r barrel for the product,
leveling chamber, which s e r v e s to maintain the tlie payout time i s shown in 'l'able 3.
solution level n e c e s s a r y for the generator to func-
tion p o p e r l y. Table 3
Payout T i m e
Solution flows from the leveling chamber through
a tube (15) back to the generator where it i s again Separation Percentage
Temperature, Increase
s e p a r a t e d into i t s two component parts by boiling
Deg. F. Payout Days Payout Time
action, to repeat the cycle.
At tlie p r e s e n t time the steam-fired Servel-type
unit i s a v a i l a b l e only in the 25-ton s i z e . F'or oil-
field u s e , the s t e a m i s normally supplied with a
s t a n d a r d gas-fired 15-psig working pressure s t e a m
generator.
b'or this particular c a s e , separation a t 0 E'. would
ECONOMICS obviously be chosen b e c a u s e of the low payout t i n ~ e
P r o c e s s calculations for the specific un- for all temperatures. T h e r e s u 1 t s a l s o show that
der consideration yield the r e s u l t s summarized in ' t h e payout time may b e relatively s h o r t when proc-
l ' a b l e 1. e s s i n g a rich g a s s u c h a s the one chosen for study.
 294 JOHN M . CAMPBELL
'
However, for general application, examination of
the results clearly shows the sharp increase in in-
vestment cost at temperatures below 5 0 k'. Most of
this increase i s the result of refrigeration and the
cost of hydrate-prevention equipment. In reality the
p a y o u t shown for the l a s t three temperatures i s
slightly low for, in the absence of a liquid stabi-
lizer (cost $4,000 to $6,000), the actual liquid re-
covery would be a t l e a s t 10 p e r c e n t l e s s than
shown.
When using a Servel-type absorption unit (50 F.)
the cost i s estimated to be $16,700. T h i s i s rough-
ly comparable to the cost when using the high-speed
Freon machine. Consequently, the final choice will
depend largely upon personal preference when both
are applicable.