Chapter 5 Gas Dehydration

Dr Che Hafizan
 Content
• 5.1 Water Content of Hydrocarbons
• 5.2 Gas Dehydration Processes - Absorption
Processes, Adsorption Processes, Desiccant Processes, Membrane
Processes
• 5.3 Safety and Environmental Considerations
Natural gas
dehydration
process
• The dehydration process for
natural gas, namely dry
processing, reduces the dew
point of the gas, and puts the gas
at the highest delivery pressure
and the lowest environmental
temperature it can be at while
not meeting the requirements of
the dew point of residual
moisture in the gas.
 Hydrates:
Problems/Issues
Solid hydrate can cause:
 Plugging in pipelines and process equipment
www.methanegashydrates.org
 Freezing of valves/relief valves
 Damage to piping due to solid material flowing at high velocities
 Contained energy, dangerous when they heat up and gas evaporates

Commonly found:
 Oil/gas applications
 Bottom of ocean
 Arctic climates under permafrost

Updated: January 4, 2019

4
Copyright © 2019 John Jechura (jjechura@mines.edu) www.pet.hw.ac.uk
dehydration is important in three areas

• Gas gathering
• Product dehydration
• Hydrocarbon recovery
5.1 Water Content of Hydrocarbons

• Water content is stated in a number of ways:

• Mass of water per volume of gas, lb/MMscf (mg/Sm3)

• Dew point temperature, °F (°C), which is the point that liquid
water, real or hypothetically subcooled, will condense out of the
hydrocarbon phase
• Concentration, parts per million by volume (ppmv)
• Concentration, parts per million by mass (ppmw)
5.2 Gas Dehydration Processes

a. Absorption Processes,
b. Adsorption Processes,
c. Desiccant Processes,
d. Membrane Processes
Gas Dehydration Methods
What are the most common dehydration methods used for natural
gas processing?

• There are at least three commercial methods of natural gas

dehydration, which are absorption, adsorption, and condensation.
Absorption is the most widely used industrial natural gas dehydration.
Absorption is usually performed by using TEG (triethylene glycol).
 Type 1
ABSORPTION
PROCESSES
• Water levels in natural gas can be reduced to the 10 pmmv range in a physical
absorption process in which the gas is contacted with a liquid that preferentially
absorbs the water vapor.

• The solvent used for the absorption should have the following properties:

1. A high affinity for water and a low affinity for hydrocarbons

2. A low volatility at the absorption temperature to reduce vaporization
losses
3. A low viscosity for ease of pumping and good contact between the gas and liquid
phases
4. A good thermal stability to prevent decomposition during regeneration
5. A low potential for corrosion
Solvents for Dehydration absorption
• ethylene glycol (EG)
• diethylene glycol (DEG)
• triethylene glycol (TEG)
• tetraethylene glycol (TREG)
• propylene glycol
• Mono ethylene glycol (MEG)
 What is TEG dehydration?
To take the water out of natural gas, producers use a liquid called
triethylene glycol, also known as TEG. When gas comes into contact
with triethylene glycol, the water vapors entrained in the gas are
absorbed in the TEG. In effect, the glycol "soaks up" the water.
Factors affecting absorption performance
1. Degree of dehydration required
2. the physical properties of the glycol solutions
3. The inlet pressure of the gas to the processing unit
 Type 2
Adsorption Process
• Adsorption (or solid bed) dehydration is the process where a solid desiccant is used for
the removal of water vapor from a gas stream. The solid desiccants commonly used for
gas dehydration are those that can be regenerated and, consequently, used for several
adsorption–desorption cycles

• The two types of adsorption are physical adsorption and chemisorption

three zones in an adsorbent bed:

1. The equilibrium zone, where the adsorbate on the adsorbent

is in equilibrium with the adsorbate in the inlet gas phase and
no additional adsorption occurs
2. The mass transfer zone (MTZ), the volume where mass
transfer and
adsorption take place
3. The active zone, where no adsorption has yet taken place
 When used as a purification process, adsorption has two major
disadvantages:

• It is a fixed-bed process that requires two or more adsorption beds for

continuous operation.
• It has limited capacity and is usually impractical for removing large
amounts of impurity.
 Properties of Industrial Adsorbents for
Dehydration
• Silica gel, which is made of pure SiO2
• Activated alumina, which is made of Al2O3
• Molecular sieves, which are made of alkali aluminosilicates and can
be altered to affect adsorption characteristics
Molecular sieves are crystalline metal
aluminosilicates
 5.3 SAFETY AND ENVIRONMENTAL
CONSIDERATIONS
1. Dehydration processes offer few safety considerations outside of having
hightemperature and high-pressure operations.
2. Probably the most unique safety consideration is when adsorbent beds are
being changed. The bed must be thoroughly purged, preferably with
nitrogen, to remove adsorbed hydrocarbons before the adsorbent is
dumped.
3. A potential exists for hydrocarbons on the adsorbent to ignite when
exposed to air because the adsorbent heats as it adsorbs moisture from the
air. Either a highly trained company expert or an adsorbent company
representative should be present to help ensure safe dumping and filling
operations.
4. The dumping process produces dust, and operators must wear protective
clothing and dust masks
 What is BTEX emission?

• BTEX refers to the chemicals benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and

xylene. Other natural sources of BTEX compounds include gas
emissions from volcanoes and forest fires. The primary man-made
releases of BTEX compounds are through emissions from motor
vehicles and aircrafts, and cigarette smoke.