OPTIMIZATION OF TRIETHYLENE GLYCOL (TEG) DEHYDRATION IN A NATURAL GAS PROCESSING PLANT

Nmegbu Chukwuma Godwin Jacob

Abstract: In optimizing glycol dehydration system for the natural gas processing, several critical parameters that can be varied to achieve specific dew point depression exist. From HYSYS simulation, a gas plant was placed under investigation with the aim of studying the effects of variation in glycol flow rates, number of stages (4, 8 and 12 trays) of the absorber, reboiler temperature ( 180oC, 190oC and 200oC) and stripping gas rate on the water content of the gas in a glycol dehydration unit in the Niger Delta. Results show that an increasing reboler temperature above 200 oC led to the thermal decomposition of glycol and introduction of stripping gas had a significant effect than increasing the reboiler temperature. Also, the design of the TEG system was adequate to achieve a dew point of about 5oC at 95bars. This study therefore seeks to proffer solutions for the optimization of the Niger Delta gas plant dehydration process using the HYSYS simulator.

Keywords: Dehydration, Glycol, Optimization TEG

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15623/ijret.2014.0306064