Petroleum

properties

Dr. Hanoon H. Mashkoor &

Asst. Lect. Maryam J. Jaafar
• Dehydration
Sometimes the drying process of the liquid gas product is
carried out in order to get rid of the quantities of water that
may cause blockages in the pipes. Drying may be done using
liquid dryers and in this method, liquid materials are used to
absorb water vapor from natural gas or liquid gas, and the
most important sources of water in the gas are from water in
the amine solution, as well as from the process of washing
gas from the residues of the amine solution.
• These liquids have advantages, the most important of
which are:
1- They have the ability to absorb water.
2- They are of low cost and availability.
3- It does not lead to corrosion phenomenon.
4- Stability against gas components.
5- Stability in the activation process (re-activity).
6- It can be re-effective.
7- Low or medium viscosity.
8- Low solubility in natural gas or liquid gas.
9- Low vapor pressure at a certain temperature.
10- This does not lead to foaming or emulsification.
• Glycol drying unit
The drying method is the absorption process and using a dried
liquid, which is glycol, one of the best and most common
methods used, especially for gaseous compounds, and when
there is no need to go down the dew point to a very low
degree, and usually the drop in the dew point is about (60-
120) degrees Fahrenheit. The advantages of glycol are:‫۔‬
1- High ability to absorb water vapor.
2- It is not affected by high temperature.
3 - Its vapor pressure is low.
4- Available at an affordable price.
• The most popular types of glycol are as follows:
1.Monoethylene glycol MEG has the advantage of having a
high vapor pressure, which causes it to lose part of it with
the outlet gas.
2.Diethylene glycol DEG also has a high vapor pressure,
which leads to the loss of part of it with the liquid gas, and
the degree of its decomposition is low, which reduces the
purity of the liquid and gas.
3. Tri-Amine glycol TAG is the most common and widely
used glycol because it has a low vapor pressure and can be
reused by removing water from it at a temperature of 340-
400 Fahrenheit.
• The next figure shows the parts of the main unit, and the
operational unit consists of two parts:
1- The absorption part.
2- The reactivation part.
Where the gas saturated with water vapor passes through a
separator vessel to remove the impurities suspended in the gas such
as water, hydrocarbons, and salts, in order to reduce the loss of
glycol, and then the moist gases enter the Absorber at the bottom of
it and it rises to the top by a current opposite to the direction of the
glycol descending from the top of the tower. Water and gas, and
then the gas comes out without water from the top of the absorption
tower, while the glycol saturated with water vapor goes down and
passes through a heat exchange (pure glycol/glycol saturated with
water vapor) and from there to the second part of the unit, that is,
the re-activity portion of the glycol consisting of the stripping
tower and the reboiler.
• The glycol, rich in water vapor, enters the stripping tower or
the activation tower from below it, and the water vapor is
separated from the glycol by heating, that is making use of the
large oven to boil it and thus the water comes out from the top
of the stripping tower and passes on a reflux condenser and
then to the separation vessel (Accumulator) Part of the water
is returned to the top of the reflux removal tower by a special
pump to regulate the temperature at the top of the stripping
tower (usually around 100 degrees Fahrenheit). The pure
glycol without water is withdrawn from the bottom of the
stripping tower by a special pump after passing through the
heat exchange (pure glycol/glycol saturated with steam).
Water) to warm up the material entering the stripping tower
and then into a glycol water cooler, and it enters the
absorption tower from the upper part. To regulate the
temperature of the lower part of the stripping tower, a portion
of pure glycol is taken and heated in a boiler and returned
again to the stripping tower. In this tower, as for TEG, the
process efficiency gives pure glycol (98 -99%)
• And there are units for the same purpose, but with a little
difference
• When comparing this figure with the scheme of the
previous unit, we note that the refrigerant E3 was
replaced in the refrigerant fluid, which is the gas coming
out of the absorption tower, and the condensation in the
exchange E4 was replaced by cooling with the air fan, as
for the towers, the concentration tower for steam
saturated glycol the packed was used in it instead of trays,
Such units are usually used in areas with moderate
temperatures, especially in the summer.
• Note : Usually the liquid gas LPG is dried, especially
propane, and the adsorption process is carried out using
solid materials, the most important of which are sieve
particles, which are the crystals of sodium, potassium, and
calcium for alumina silicate, activated alumina, silica gel,
bauxite, or activated carbon in the case of water in a small
proportion.
• Reasons for drying
1- To prevent the formation of the hydrate
which is a solid crystalline substance for the propane compound,
and to be formed in the presence of water and at a normal air
temperature, and it can occur at 42 ° C. This hydrate causes
clogging of pipes, valves, operating units, and crossed places,
causing and accelerating the phenomenon of erosion. Chemicals
are used to prevent this phenomenon, the most important of which
is methyl alcohol.
2- Avoid the occurrence of liquid gas freezing while it is being
cooled.
3- Avoid corrosion of copper and steel pipes.
4- Reducing the degree of dew.
5- The calorific value of dry liquid gas is higher than the calorific
value of liquid gas containing water vapor
• Additives for liquid gas
Distinct unpleasant odors are added to the liquid gas to
easily detect liquid gas when any leakage occurs and to
know the presence of gas in the air at a concentration of no
more than 1/5 (less than five times) of the minimum
flammability limit according to the instructions of the
American National Fire Protection Association, one pound
of thiophene C4H4.5 or methyl mercaptans C2H5.SH is
added to it for every ten thousand gallons of liquid gas or the
equivalent of 20 parts per million, and the advantages of
these materials are that they are harmless and have a
pungent odor, not sharp, easy to volatilize, weakly soluble,
and available. These materials are added to the liquid gas
with special devices.
• Liquid gas filling
It is filled with metal cylinders of different capacities, including
1- Small cylinders with a capacity (2 kg) of liquid gas.
2- Standard cylinders with a capacity (12,5 kg) of liquid gas.
3- Large cylinders of capacity (45 kg) of liquid gas.
In the form of large quantities (Bulk), tank cars, railroad cars, or
ships, where special tanks are designed in each of them with
different capacities and provided with all the requirements that
must be provided for the safety of storage, transportation,
loading, and unloading. The cylinders are similar in terms of
basic design, but they differ in size and external shape. The
standard cylinder is the most commonly used as its empty weight
is 16-17 kg, the weight of gas in it is 12.1 kg, and the weight of
the filled cylinder is about 29 kg.
• Liquid gas storage
The most important characteristic that controls the design of liquid gas
tanks is the relationship between steam pressure and temperature, as the
vapor pressure rises with the increase in temperature, and it also changes
according to the ratio of the mixture components of ground, propane,
butane, and others. The choice of storage quality is also affected by the
required storage conditions and the nature of work.
These tanks of whatever type are provided with the following
1-Pipes for entry and exit of the material
2- Pipes for transferring the liquid gas and circulating it inside the tank.
3- The vent nozzle tube at the top of the tank.
4- The waste pipe at the base of the tank. (Drain line).
5- Safety Valve.
6- Transfer tube of the fuel grid or to the ignition.
7- Gauging liquid level meter.
8- Pipe to take Sampling line.
9-fire fighting system.
10 - Substance drawing pumps with liquid volume gauge.
• The most important storage methods are
1. Storage under pressure using cylindrical tanks
(horizontal, vertical or spherical): This type of storage is the
most common and used and applied since the inception of
the oil industry and the sizes of these tanks vary from very
small with a capacity of 2 kg to very large with a capacity
of 1500 tons, and the tanks that are Metal tanks bear high
pressure, either of a cylindrical shape (horizontal) and these
are usually long in relation to their diameter, or they may be
spherical and the latter is the most common and used of the
horizontal cylinder.
• On all these tanks there are tubes and devices, and
according to what was previously mentioned, these tanks
work to withstand the hydrostatic pressure caused by the
rise of the liquid in the tank and the pressure resulting from
the vapors rising from the liquid. And when the diameter
of the tank and the internal pressure are similar to the
cylindrical and spherical tanks, the thickness required in
the wall of the spherical tanks reaches half the wall
thickness required for the horizontal cylindrical tanks, and
for this reason, spherical tanks are preferred because they
are more economical, especially when storing a liquid with
a volume of five thousand cubic meters or more.
• To use the appropriate type of storage, consideration must be
given to the required storage capacity, the nature of the storage
site, the climatic conditions, and the required rate of filling and
emptying during operation.

2- Chilled Storing: This type of storage is characterized by the fact

that the energy required for storage is very high and the periods of
discharging and loading are few. Thermal insulation of the walls of
the tank is used with a large thickness and multiple layers of
insulating materials to avoid the evaporation of the cooled liquids
inside the tank. The reservoir is constantly cooled, compressed, and
returned to the bottom of the tank after converting it to a liquid state,
and these cooled tanks are metallic if they are above the surface of
the ground, and concrete if they are under the surface of the earth,
and minerals are of the type containing expensive alloys and resist
low temperatures. And this type of mineral tank is also used in
marine tankers of liquid gas that require high storage capacities.
• Refrigeration Unit
This unit is important, especially when the climate is hot
(in summer) and the most important duty of this unit is to
get rid of the heat produced in these tanks that lead to high
pressure and the exit of vapors from the safety valves and
the high temperature in the tank due to the sun radiation
and to the temperature of the LPG entering the tank. This
unit operates on the basis of a Thermodynamic
Refrigeration Cycle and uses propane fluid for cooling
(thermodynamic cooling system). Such tanks are used to
store large quantities with continuous loading and
emptying operations. So the refrigeration is important for
the purpose of preserving the properties and quantity of gas
from evaporation due to high pressure.
 3- Storage in caves.
4- Underground storage.
Regarding these two methods, they are not widely used in
Iraq and are used by some non-gas producing countries as a
strategic reserve of gas, usually used in crises, preferring
saline lands that work to bridge the cracks and in the soil
with saline deposits.
• Liquid gas transfer
The liquid gas is transferred under a pressure higher than the
atmospheric pressure (50 atm) and higher than the vapor pressure of
the mixture in order to remain in its liquid state. Transportation is
done by using:
A- Liquefied gas cylinders are transported after filling them by cars
and rails after they are placed in cages that can accommodate a certain
number of cylinders.
B- Tank cars: Tank cars are used to transport liquid gas for local
distribution and their load ranges between (750-11000 US gallons).
C- Pipes: to transport large quantities of liquid gas, pipelines are used
and they are the most common and used because it is economical to
transfer liquid gas from production sources to large storage
warehouses in preparation for local distribution or export.
D-Railway cars special pressure tanks carried by railway cars with a
capacity of 10,000 to 30,000 US gallons. This method is considered
economical to transport large quantities of liquid gas over long
distances