Cold-box design is key in helium recovery unit
A helium facility designed and built by M.W. Kellogg Co. processes up to 225 million cu ft/day of natural gas and has an annual design capacity of 150 million cu ft of crude helium and 67 million gal. Kellogg has integrated the new plant with a Kansas-Nebraska natural gasoline unit at the site. The latter company also supplies natural gas feed through 3 major pipelines. Crude product from the Scott City plant is carried by pipeline to an immense, newly built helium purification facility near Ulysses, Kan. There, pure helium containing less than 20 ppm of impurities is produced; natural gas liquids are pumped into an existing pipeline that conveys them to Hutchinson, Kans., for further processing. At the Scott City plant, feed is processed to separate propane and heavier hydrocarbons from the lighter components. The resultant liquid streams are sent to a deethanizer tower from which a liquid natural-gas product is withdrawn. Crude helium issued by the nitrogen fractionator is pipelined to the purification plant; most of the nitrogen obtained in the fractionator is vented to the atmosphere, but a small quantity is recovered as liquid product. The remainder of the feed-gas stream is returned to the pipeline as tail gas.
- OSTI ID:
- 5664710
- Journal Information:
- Chem. Eng. (N.Y.); (United States), Vol. 75:27
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
HELIUM
RECOVERY
LIQUEFIED NATURAL GAS
PRODUCTION
NATURAL GAS
PROCESSING
CAPACITY
DESIGN
ENGINEERING
ETHANE
INDUSTRIAL PLANTS
KANSAS
LIQUEFACTION
LOW TEMPERATURE
METHANE
NATURAL GAS LIQUIDS
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
PURIFICATION
REMOVAL
SEPARATION PROCESSES
TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE
ALKANES
ELEMENTS
ENERGY SOURCES
FLUIDS
FOSSIL FUELS
FUEL GAS
FUELS
GAS FUELS
GASES
HYDROCARBONS
LIQUEFIED GASES
LIQUIDS
MIDWEST REGION
NONMETALS
NORTH AMERICA
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
RARE GASES
THERMOCHEMICAL PROCESSES
USA
030300* - Natural Gas- Drilling
Production
& Processing