Capacity expansion options for NGL fractionation
- Univ. of Missouri, Rolla, MO (United States)
Mixtures of liquid hydrocarbons recovered from natural gas are commercially separated in fractionator plants to produce higher value ethane, propane, isobutane, normal butane and gasoline products. Figure 1 shows a conventional fractionator with deethanizer, depropanizer, debutanizer and deisobutanizer columns. As demand for natural gas liquids grows, it may be cost effective to expand the capacity of an existing fractionator rather than building a new one. In this case, it may be difficult or expensive to add new distillation columns; and it is advantageous to find ways to increase the capacity of existing columns with as little disturbance of the surrounding infrastructure as possible. Distillation column capacity can sometimes be incrementally increased by replacing the existing column trays with more modern, higher capacity internals. However, when this is done the energy efficiency of the process is not improved, and large increases in capacity are generally precluded. It has been shown that fractionator energy consumption may be reduced by as much as 60% by using distributed distillation combined with careful heat integration. The present discussion shows how large increases in fractionator capacity may be achieved, while also significantly reducing energy consumption, by incorporating several new process improvements. The front end deethanizer shown in a figure is chosen as an example, but the same improvements may be used in the other columns to achieve increased capacity and reduced energy consumption.
- OSTI ID:
- 347885
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9803159-; TRN: IM9923%%423
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 77. annual meeting of the Gas Processors Association (GPA), Dallas, TX (United States), 16-18 Mar 1998; Other Information: PBD: [1998]; Related Information: Is Part Of Seventy-seventh annual convention Gas Processors Association: Proceedings; PB: 288 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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