Category Archives: Gas Processing

The best way to prevent hydrate formation (and corrosion) is to keep pipelines, tubing and equipment dry of liquid water. There are occasions, right or wrong, when the decision is made to operate a line or process containing liquid water. If this decision is made, and the process temperature is below the hydrate point, inhibition ofContinue Reading

Many materials may be added to water to depress the hydrate temperature. For many practical reasons, a thermodynamic hydrate inhibitor (THI) such as an alcohol or one of the glycols is injected, usually methanol, diethylene glycol (DEG) or monoethylene glycol (MEG). All may be recovered and recirculated, but the economics of methanol recovery may notContinue Reading

The best way to prevent hydrate formation (and corrosion) is to keep the pipelines, tubing and equipment dry of liquid water. There are occasions, right or wrong, when the decision is made to operate a line or process containing liquid water. If this decision is made, and the process temperature is below the hydrate point, inhibitionContinue Reading

In the February 2010 tip of the month (TOTM) we presented the distribution and concentration of sulfur-containing compounds in an NGL Fractionation (NF) plant using HYSYS [1] with the Peng-Robinson equation of state (PR EOS) [2]. In this TOTM we will present the distribution and concentration of the sulfur-containing compounds in the same NF plantContinue Reading

Because phase envelope generation and its impact on design and performance of gas processing plants is so important it has been the topic of several Tips Of The Month (TOTM). As emphasized by Rusten et al. [1], there are several challenges that have to be addressed in order to succeed with the phase envelope modeling ofContinue Reading

Natural gas liquids (NGLs) consist of the hydrocarbon components in a produced gas stream that can be extracted and sold. Common NGL products are ethane (C2H6), propane (C3H8), butanes (iC4H10 and nC4H10) and natural gasoline (C5+).  Ethane is the lightest NGL and its recovery can be justified in those areas where a ready petrochemical marketContinue Reading

In the last tip of the month (TOTM) we described the dense phase of a pure compound and how it impacted processes. We illustrated how thermophysical properties change in the dense phase as well as in the neighboring phases. The application of dense phase in the oil and gas industry was discussed briefly. In thisContinue Reading

In this tip of the month (TOTM) we will describe the dense phase of a pure compound, what it is, and how it impacts processes. We will illustrate how thermophysical properties change in the dense phase as well as in the neighboring phases. The application of dense phase in the oil and gas industry willContinue Reading

In the August 2009 Tip of the Month (TOTM), it was shown that pumping power requirement varies as the crude oil °API changes. Increasing °API or line average temperature reduces the crude oil viscosity. The viscosity reduction caused higher Reynolds number, lower friction factor and in effect lowered pumping power requirements. Since the objective ofContinue Reading

Process simulation computer programs are excellent tools for designing or evaluating gas processing plants, chemical plants, oil refineries or pipelines. In these simulation programs, most of the thermodynamic properties are calculated by an equation of state (EOS). The cubic equations of state can be regarded as the heart of these programs for generating the requiredContinue Reading