20II 3rd I nternational Symposium & Exhibition in Sustainable Energy & Environment, 1-3 June 2011, Melaka, Malaysia

Energy Efficiency in Natural Gas Processing Plant

via Adoption of Complex Column (Petlyuk Column)
for Sustainable Environment
l 3 4
Rohani Mohd Zin , Ruzitah Salleh 2, Rozana Azrina Sazali and Norin Zamiah Kassim

1,2,3.4 Chemical Engineering Faculty, Universiti Teknologi MARA,

40450 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia

lrohanimz@salam.uitm.edu.my
2ruzitah@salam.uitm.edu.my
3rozana592@salam.uitm.edu.my
4norinzamiah@salam.uitm.edu.my

Abstract- Petlyuk column is complex unconventional column

that employed distributed distillation method through thermally
Fractionation Train
coupled technique which minimizes the lost work due mixing and
recycling of flnids within a column [1[. Conventional distillation
Separation of feed mixtures that contains various components
operation is energy extensive process that responsible for into individual component requires a sequence of distillation
immense amount of energy utilization with large capital cost columns to achieve the required duty. This sequence of
investment. It is reported that, heat utilizations for the distillation columns are known as separation or fractionation
conventional fractionation/separation train to carry out the train, A train or sequence of separators is required because it
desired duty involve enormous amount of heat, which is about is often impossible to produce more than two products with a
40-60 % of the overall plant. Hence for future generation, it is single piece of separation equipment. By proceeding from the
crucial to have a new arrangement of separation unit that have
lightest hydrocarbons to the heaviest, it is possible to separate
noble in energy efficiency, operating cost and wise capital
the different NGLs reasonably easily [21, The separation train
investment are desired in order to reduce the total energy
consumption for sustainable environment. In this research work,
can be consisted of simple conventional columns sequence or
the separation train in natural gas processing plant utilized the complex columns,
use of Petlyuk Column (complex column) and simulated in
HYSYS to ensure that the sequence generated practically can be Complex Column
achieved and meet the requirements particularly in product Employing complex column for separation process can
specifications. Economics analysis on capital cost and operatjing improves the energy efficiency and utilizations compared to
cost shows promising potential savings in all aspects of capital the direct sequence of simple columns. Such columns promote
cost, operating cost and energy consumptions of about 43.82%
interactions between the vapor and liquid streams by
46.03 % and 29.10% respectively.
introducing thermal coupling between different sections.
Interest and attention have been developed on the
Keywords- Distillation, separation train, Complex column,
operations of integrated distillation column designs (complex
Petlyuk column, HYSYS, simulation, heat utilization, reboiler
column designs), for example prefractionator, side stripper,
duty, condenser duty, operating cost.
side rectifier, Petlyuk column and dividing wall column
I. INTRODUCTION (DWC) [31, The main feature in the development of the
complex column is the aim to reduce the thermodynamic
Gas Processing Plant
losses due to the remixing of the middle components [41,
Currently in downstream sector of petroleum industry,
fractionation trains of natural gas processing plant employed a Petlyuk Column
series of conventional distillation columns to carry out the Figure 2 shows schematic diagram of Petlyuk Column also
separation process for the production of methane ethane, known as fully thermally coupled column. The uniqueness of
propane, butane and stabilized condensate (C5+), this configuration is the feature of additional thermal links
The separation process through these conventional
through interconnected liquid-vapour streams between the
distillation columns (Figure 1) involves highly intensive
prefractionator column and the main column where both
utilization amount of energy particularly in heating and
columns are directly linked without reboiler and condenser
cooling process due to the reboilers and condensers operation [51,[61 This thermal integrated configuration minimizes
duty, Typically in a natural gas gas processing plants these
separation losses in all columns sections due to improvement
columns are tagged as Demethanizer, Deethanizer,
in vapor-liquid interactions [71,
Depropanizer and Debutanizer column.

978-1-4577-0342-3/11/$26.00 © 2011 IEEE

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Fig 1: Conventional Fractionation Train of Natural Gas Processing Plant
Figure 3, shows the implementation of Petlyuk column in
the fractionation trains of a gas processing plant. In this
complex column arrangement, Petyluk column basically
replaced the Deethanizer and Depropanizer with lesser
number of reboilers and condensers. The essence of this
research study is to ensure all products' specifications are met
with industrial requirements.
Fig 2: Schematic Diagram of Petlyuk Column
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Fig 3: Implementation of Petlyuk Column in Fractionation Train of Natural
Gas Processing Plant
II. METHODOLOGY
In this research work, economic analysis on the
implementation of Petlyuk Column was studied based on
potential savings of Petlyuk Column thermal coupling
technique to perform the required separation compared to
conventional distillation column sequence.
Economic analysis was carried on the aspect of capital cost,
operating cost, energy consumptions and percentage savings.
Capital cost refers to the investment required for all the
equipments in the plant including installation and auxiliaries
that are needed for complete process operation. In this
research work, capital cost aspect involved sizing of detailed
column design (diameter and height of column) and heat
transfer equipments which are reboilers and condensers [8]. [91.
[101. The heat transfer equipments require determination of
flow rates, temperatures, pressures, and heat duties from the
simulation in order to determine the total costs required.
Factored-cost methods introduced by Guthrie are employed
for the calculation of capital cost which includes direct project
expense, indirect project expense, contingency and contractor
1.
fees [11
Operating cost aspects mainly consists of raw material cost,
labour cost and utilities cost for day-to-day operation of the
plant. However, raw material cost and labour cost are
relatively independent of conventional and Petlyuk design,
and hence only the utility cost is considered for the operating
cost. Two main types of utilities considered in this operating
cost study i. e process steam as the hot utility, and cooling air
or refrigerant as the cold utility. For each application, type of
the utility used can either be specified or based on the
temperature of the process streams to be heat exchanged.
Assuming a stream factor of 0.97 which indicates that the
37
plant is operating for 8500 hours per year, cost of the cold and Table 1 and 2 shows the physical data obtained from the
hot utilities can be calculated based on correlations available simulation results for both conventional column arrangement
[1 ]
from Ulrich (1984) 2 . and Petlyuk column arrangement.
Energy consumptions aspect is the most important variable
of the cost estimation in distillation processes. Comparison in
TABLE 3
term of energy requirement of different arrangements and the SUMMARY OF DESIGN FEATURES FOR CONVENTIONAL
possible factor influence on energy consumption. For the COLUMNS ARRANGEMENT AND PETLYUKCOLUMN
economic analysis on energy consumption the main ARRANGEMENT
parameters considered in this data analysis are the energy Design Features
heating and cooling duties by the reboilers and condensers
[10],[13],[13],[15] Column Total Total No. Total Total No.
operation . Arrangement No. of of No. of of
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Trays Columns Reboiler Condenser

Analysis comparison study on heat utilizations and capital Conventional

cost investment on fractionation trains employed conventional Columns 84 4 4 3
distillation columns and Petlyuk columns arrangement. Arrangement
Results tabulated in Table 1 and 2 show the design Petlyuk
specifications and operating parameters for fractionation Column 90 4 3 2
Arrangement
column with conventional distillation and Petlyuk column
respectively.
TABLE 1 Table 3 summarized the design features of equipments in
SIMULATION RESULTS OF CONVENTIONAL COLUMNS both types of arrangements. Clearly seen that the total number
ARRANGEMENT of reboiler and condenser for Petlyuk Column arrangement is
Columns lesser than the conventional column arrangement reducing in
Specificatio n

Demethanizer Deethanizer Depropanizer Debutanizer

number of those equipments is directly lowering the energy
requirement.
Number of
15 20 26 23
Stages
Heating
47880 9 186 845 1 5232
Duty(kW)
Cooling
0 6937 65277.78 42472.22
Duty(kW)
Heating
LP stearn LP stearn MP stearn MP stearn
Utility
Cooling
N/A Refrigerant Air Air
Utility
Overhead
Temperature -77.04 -5.0 1 1 54.16 83.37
('C)
Bottom
Temperature 59.27 106.3 149.6 18 1. 1
(0C)

TABLE 2
SIMULATION RESULTS OF CONVENTIONAL COLUMNS
ARRANGEMENT
Columns
Specification
Demetha- Main
Prefractionator Debutanizer
nizer Colunm
Number of
15 18 43 14
Stages
Heating Duty
47880 0 13520 64 16
(kW)
Cooling Duty Fig 4: Capital Cost of Conventional Column Arrangement and Petlyuk
0 0 8853 54805.56 Column Arrangement
(kW)
LP MP
Heating Utility N/A MP stearn
stearn stearn Figure 4 and 5 illustrated the comparison of individual cost
Refriger
Cooling Utility N/A N/A Air and capital cost between the conventional arrangement and
ant
Overhead Petlyuk arrangement. Condenser and reboiler costs for the
-77.04 45.77 -9.36 72.43
Temperature ('C) conventional arrangement are higher than Petlyuk column
Bottom arrangement however lower cost of the vessel for the
59.3 90.86 179.9 205. 1
Temperature ('C) conventional arrangement has been found. Further, it is
imperative to note that the Petlyuk column arrangement

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resulted in lower amount of annualized column capital cost
compared to conventional column. Hence, in average Petlyuk
configuration/arrangement with the lower total annualized
capital cost would be considered the best arrangement with
significant saving of 43%.
Fig 5: Capital Cost of Individual Equipment in Conventional Column
Arrangement and Petlyuk Column Arrangement
This scenario might be explained by considering the process
equipments itself which involved in each particular
arrangement. For example, the number of trays, columns,
reboilers, condenser or air cooled heat exchangers reflects to
the total amount of capital cost of the NGL fractionation train
which summarized and tabulated in Table 3.
Instead of comprising 4 reboilers and 2 condensers (air
cooled heat exchangers) in conventional arrangement, the
Petlyuk arrangements only require 3 reboilers and I condenser
(air cooled heat exchangers) for same NGL fractionation train.
Increase in number of these equipments contributes to the
significant increase in capital cost
Figure 6 illustrated comparison of annual operating cost
between the conventional arrangement and Petlyuk
arrangement. The annual operating cost for conventional and
Petlyuk arrangement is $345054955. 2/yr and
$186234561. 4/yr respectively. In this aspect, the Petlyuk
arrangement considered to be the best as it exhibit lower
operating cost compared to the conventional arrangement with
percentage of overall saving in annual operating cost of 46%.
For both arrangements, refrigerant and air are used for
cooling utility. However, the requirement and associated cost
for these utilities are different where the refrigerant is used for
cooling the Deethanizer overhead product in conventional
arrangement whereas in Petluk column arrangement
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Fig 6: Annual Operating Cost of Conventional Column Arrangement and
Petlyuk Column Arrangement
refrigerant is used to condense the main column overhead
product. Further, the higher refrigerant cost in Petlyuk
arrangement ($3216280.11/yr) compared to conventional one
($2482549.207/yr) is greatly affected by the duty of the heat
exchanger where higher duty significantly lead to high utility
cost. This scenario is proven based on the simulated results
where the duty of the main column overhead condensers is
higher than the required duty of Deethanizer condenser.
In aspect of the air cooling, 2 air cooled exchangers used
for cooling the Depropanizer and Debutanizer overhead
product in conventional instead of one air cooled heat
exchanger used for cooling the de-butanizer overhead product
in Petlyuk arrangement. Subsequently, the higher numbers of
cooling equipments also affect the operating cost whereby
conventional and Petlyuk arrangements consumed of
$317503032. 2/yr and $158751516.1/yr respectively for air
cooling utilities.
In aspect of heating utility cost, the Petlyuk arrangement
required less utility cost ($24266765. 23/yr) compared to
conventional column ($25069373.78/yr).
Operating cost is the major contributor of the total annual
cost. Increase in operating cost is interrelated with the increase
in fuel cost. With current scenario of increasing fuel price
factor Petlyuk arrangement is demonstrate an attractive
alternative to reduce annual operating cost of total plant
operating cost. In fact, it has been proven in this study and
consistent with the other previous study. The recent study of
Rangaiah and Premkumar (2009) [16] shows that operating cost
can be reduced by more than 30% by using a complex column
instead of a conventional column system in addition to some
reduction in capital cost for new plants of the six applications
studied.
39
 TABLE 3
SUMMARY OF POTENTIAL PERCENTAGE SAVINGS POTENTIAL
SAVINGS BY IMPLEMENTATION OF PETL YUKCOLUMN

Parameters Potential % Savings

Capital cost ($) 43.82

Operating cost ($/yr) 46.03

Heating duty (kw) 4.15

Cooling duty (kw) 44.49

Total Energy (kw) 29.10

Fig 7 : Heating and Cooling Duty of Conventional Column Arrangement
and Petlyuk Column Arrangement
Conventional arrangement consumes the higher amount of
both heating and cooling energy compared to the Petlyuk
arrangement as shown in Figure 7. The heating and cooling
requirement for conventional is 70749kW and 114686kW
respectively while Petlyuk arrangement requires 67816 kW
and 63658kW respectively. The percentage of overall saving
in energy consumption associated to the Petlyuk arrangement
is 29% . Yet again, the Petlyuk configuration would be
considered the best as it has lower energy consumption
compared to the conventional one.
In comparison with the Petlyuk arrangement, the
conventional configuration in is not thermally coupled thus
total energy consumption is likely to be higher as proven in
this study. Thermal coupling is one of the characteristic
features of the Petlyuk arrangement where the different
columns are connected by liquid and vapour countercurrent
streams. At certain ends of upstream distillation columns,
condensers or reboilers are eliminated and the liquid or vapour
flows needed as refluxes are side streams of downstream
columns of the distillation arrangement [171. Therefore, thermal
coupling implies recycling because it implies a stream going
back to upstream columns and this significantly contributes to
the energy saving in Petlyuk arrangement for same separation
process.
IV. CONCLUSION
Results of this study shows Petlyuk Column arrangement
offers significant potential annual cost saving in aspect of
energy consumption, operating and capital costs.
The key results and observations from the case study proven
potential saving of 29% in the annual energy consumption,
46% in the annual operating cost and 43% in annualized
capital cost. The study reveals that this proposed energy and
cost reduction alternatives (Petlyuk arrangement) is highly
attractive with saving in total annual cost of almost 46%. All
these results signified that Petlyuk Column undeniably is a
green technology for fractionation train.
This green technology alternative has proven to be more
profitable and economical compared with the conventional
sequence and should be pursued to be implement in real
industry. With increasing in energy cost and arising concerns
on global warming, Petlyuk arrangement definitely is an
attractive alternative to reduce the energy usage in real
chemical process industry which reflects that Petlyuk
configurations are more energy efficient for separation
process.
Thus, the implementation of Petlyuk Column
arrangement as fractionation train is highly recommended as a
new promising green technology in natural gas processing
plant in the near future.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Authors acknowledge all parties involved; UiTM for the
research funding granted for this research study, all personnel
who are directly and indirectly involved in this research and
all reviewers for their comments that help improve the
manuscript.
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