Patent Application
20090113930
1. Technical Field of Invention
The present invention relates to the recovery of ethane and heavier components from hydrocarbon gas streams. More particularly, the present invention relates to recovery of ethane and heavier components from hydrocarbon streams utilizing multiple reflux streams.
2. Description of Prior Art
Valuable hydrocarbon components, such as ethane, ethylene, propane, propylene and heavier hydrocarbon components, are present in a variety of gas streams. Some of the gas streams are natural gas streams, refinery off gas streams, coal seam gas streams, and the like. In addition these components may also be present in other sources of hydrocarbons such as coal, tar sands, and crude oil to name a few. The amount of valuable hydrocarbons varies with the feed source. The present invention is concerned with the recovery of valuable hydrocarbon from a gas stream containing more than 50% methane and lighter components [i.e., nitrogen, carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen, etc.], ethane, and carbon dioxide (CO2). Propane, propylene and heavier hydrocarbon components generally make up a small amount of the overall feed. Due to the cost of natural gas, there is a need for processes that are capable of achieving high recovery rates of ethane, ethylene, and heavier components, while lowering operating and capital costs associated with such processes. Additionally, these processes need to be easy to operate and be efficient in order to maximize the revenue generated form the sale of NGL.
Several processes are available to recover hydrocarbon components from natural gas. These processes include refrigeration processes, lean oil processes, refrigerated lean oil processes, and cryogenic processes. Of late, cryogenic processes have largely been preferred over other processes due to better reliability, efficiency, and ease of operation. Depending of the hydrocarbon components to be recovered, i.e. ethane and heavier components or propane and heavier components, the cryogenic processes are different. Typically, ethane recovery processes employ a single tower with a reflux stream to increase recovery and make the process efficient such as illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,519,824 issued to Huebel (hereinafter referred to as “the '824 patent”); U.S. Pat. No. 4,278,457 issued to Campbell et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,157,904 issued to Campbell et al. Depending on the source of reflux, the maximum recovery possible from the scheme may be limited. For example, if the reflux stream is taken from the hydrocarbon gas feed stream or from the cold separator vapor stream, or first vapor stream, as in the '824 patent, the maximum recovery possible by the scheme is limited because the reflux stream contains ethane. If the reflux stream is taken from lean residue gas stream, then 99% ethane recovery is possible due to the lean composition of the reflux stream. However, this scheme is not very efficient due to the need to compress residue gas for reflux purposes.
A need exists for a process that is capable of achieving high ethane recovery, while maintaining its efficiency. It would be advantageous if the process could be simplified so as to minimize capital costs associated with additional equipment.
The present invention advantageously includes a process and apparatus to decrease the compression requirements for residue gas while maintaining a high recovery yield of ethane (“C2+”) components from a hydrocarbon gas stream by using multiple reflux streams.
First, a hydrocarbon feed stream is split into two streams, a first inlet stream and a second inlet stream. First inlet stream is cooled in an inlet gas exchanger, and second inlet stream is cooled in one or more demethanizer reboilers of a demethanizer tower. The two streams are then directed into a cold separator. When the hydrocarbon feed stream has an ethane content above 5%, a cold absorber can be used to recover more ethane. If a cold absorber is used, the colder stream of two streams is introduced at a top of the cold absorber and the warmer stream is sent to a bottom of the cold absorber. The cold absorber preferably includes at least one mass transfer zone.
Cold separator produces a separator overhead stream and a separator bottoms stream. Cold separator bottoms stream is directed to methanizer as a first demethanizer feed stream while cold separator overhead stream is split into two streams, a first cold separator overhead stream and a second cold separator overhead stream. First cold separator overhead stream is sent to an expander and then to demethanizer as a second demethanizer feed stream. Second cold separator overhead stream is cooled and then sent to a reflux separator.
In an alternate embodiment, inlet gas stream is split into three streams, wherein first and second streams continue to be directed to front end exchanger and demethanizer reboilers, respectively. A third stream is cooled in the inlet gas exchange and a reflux subcooler before being sent to reflux separator. Furthermore, in this embodiment, cold separator overhead stream is not split into two streams, but, instead, is maintained as a single stream. Cold separator overhead stream is expanded and then fed into demethanizer as a second demethanizer feed stream.
Similar to cold separator, reflux separator also produces a reflux separator overhead stream and a reflux separator bottoms stream. Reflux separator bottoms stream is directed to demethanizer as third demethanizer feed stream. After exiting reflux separator, reflux separator overhead stream is cooled, condensed, and sent to demethanizer as a fourth demethanizer feed stream.
The demethanizer tower is preferably a reboiled absorber that produces an NGL product containing a large portion of ethane, ethylene, propane, propylene and heavier components at the bottom and a demethanizer overhead stream, or cold residue gas stream, containing a substantial amount methane and lighter components at the top. Demethanizer overhead stream is warmed in the reflux exchanger and then in the inlet gas exchanger. This warmed residue gas stream is then boosted in pressure across the booster compressor, and then compressed to pipeline pressure to produce a residue gas stream. A portion of the high pressure residue gas stream is cooled, condensed, and sent to the demethanizer tower as a top feed stream, or a demethanizer reflux stream. Alternatively, demethanizer reflux stream is cooled in the inlet gas exchanger, combined with a portion of second cold separator overhead stream, partially condensed in reflux exchanger, and then fed into reflux separator.
In an additional alternate embodiment, wherein inlet gas stream is split into three streams, third inlet gas stream is combined with residue gas reflux stream. This combined inlet/recycle stream is cooled in both inlet gas exchanger and reflux subcooler. In this embodiment, cold separator overhead stream is not split into two streams, but instead is expanded and then fed into demethanizer as second demethanizer feed stream.
Demethanizer produces at least one reboiler stream that is warmed in demethanizer reboiler and redirected back to demethanizer as return streams to supply heat and recover refrigeration effects from demethanizer. In addition, demethanizer also produces a demethanizer overhead stream and a demethanizer bottoms stream wherein demethanizer bottoms stream contains major portion of recovered C2+ components. While the recovery of C2+ components is comparable to other C2+ recovery processes, the compression requirements are much lower.
So that the manner in which the features, advantages and objectives of the invention, as well as others that will become apparent, are attained and can be understood in detail, more particular description of the invention briefly summarized above may be had by reference to the embodiments thereof that are illustrated in the drawings, which drawings form a part of this specification. It is to be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate only preferred embodiments of the invention and are, therefore, not to be considered limiting of the invention's scope, for the invention may admit to other equally effective embodiments.
For simplification of the drawings, figure numbers are the same in
As used herein, the term “inlet gas” means a hydrocarbon gas, such gas is typically received from a high pressure gas line and is substantially comprised of methane, with the balance being ethane, ethylene, propane, propylene, and heavier components as well as carbon dioxide, nitrogen and other trace gases. The term “C2+ compounds” means all organic components having at least two carbon atoms, including aliphatic species such as alkanes, olefins, and alkynes, particularly, ethane, ethylene, acetylene and like.
In order to illustrate the improved performance that is achieved using the present invention, similar process conditions were simulated using prior art processes described herein and embodiments of the present invention. The composition, flowrates, temperatures, pressures, and other process conditions are for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope of the claims appended hereto. The examples can be used to compare the performances of the present invention and the prior art processes under similar conditions.
Separator overhead stream 54 is split into a first separator overhead stream 54a, which contains 66% of the flow, and a second separator overhead stream 54b, which contains the remainder of the flow. Consequently, first separator overhead stream 54a is isentropically expanded in expander 100 to 252 psia. Due to reduction in pressure and extraction of work from the stream, the resulting expanded stream 56 cools to −115° F., and is sent to demethanizer 70 as a lower middle tower feed stream 56.
Second separator overhead stream 54b is cooled to −85° F. and partially condensed in subcooler exchanger 90 by heat exchange with cold streams and supplied to reflux separator 60. Reflux separator 60 produces a reflux separator bottoms stream 62 that is expanded across valve 140 to 252 psia thereby cooling the stream to −150° F. This expanded stream is then sent to the demethanizer tower as third, or upper middle, tower feed stream 64. Reflux separator 60 also produces a reflux separator overhead stream 66. This vapor stream 66 is cooled to −156° F. in reflux exchanger 65 whereby it is fully condensed. This cooled stream 66 is then expanded across valve 150 to 252 psia whereby it is cooled to −166 F. This cold stream 68 is then sent to demethanizer 70 as a fourth tower feed stream 68.
The demethanizer tower 70 is a reboiled absorber that produces a tower bottoms stream, or C2+ product stream, 77 and a tower overhead stream, or lean residue stream, 78. The tower is provided with side reboilers that cool at least a portion of the inlet gas stream and make the process more efficient by providing cooling streams at lower temperatures. The lean residue gas stream 78 leaving the tower overhead at −164° F. is heated in reflux exchanger 65 to −106° F., then further heated to −53° F. in the subcooler 90, and then even further heated to 85° F. in inlet gas exchanger 22. This warmed low pressure gas is boosted in booster compressor 102, which operates off power generated by expander 100. Gas leaving the booster compressor 102 at 298 psia is then compressed in residue compressors 110 to 805 psia. Hoot residue gas is cooled in air cooler 112 and sent as product residue gas stream 114 for further processing. Results for the simulation are shown in Table 1.
One element of the present invention is detailed in
As can be seen in Table 1a, providing the warmer stream 20b at the bottom of the packed bed provides stripping vapors that strip components from the liquid descending down the bed. This step enriches the lighter components in separator overhead gas stream 54, and heavier components in separator bottoms stream 52. The 0.34% increase in ethane recovery is due to the enriched vapor separator overhead gas stream 54. A more pronounced effect can be observed if the temperature difference between streams 20a and 20b is larger.
Cold separator 50 produces a separator bottoms stream 52 and separator overhead stream 54′. Separator bottoms stream 52 is expanded through a first expansion valve 130 to 475 psia thereby cooling it to −84° F. This cooled and expanded stream is sent to demethanizer 70 as a first demethanizer, or tower, feed stream 53.
Separator overhead stream 54′ is essentially isentropically expanded in expander 100 to 465 psia. Due to reduction in pressure and extraction of work from the stream, the resulting expanded stream 56′ is cooled to −101° F. and sent to demethanizer 70, preferably, below a third tower feed stream 64″ as a second feed tower stream 56′. This work is later recovered in a booster compressor 102 driven by expander 100 to partially boost pressure of a demethanizer overhead stream 78.
Third inlet vapor stream 20c is cooled in inlet gas exchanger 30 to −55° F. and partially condensed. This stream is then further cooled in subcooler exchanger 90 to −70° F. by heat exchange contact with cold streams and supplied to reflux separator 60 as intermediate reflux stream 55′. Reflux separator 60 produces reflux separator bottoms stream 62″ and reflux separator overhead stream 66″ Reflux separator bottoms stream 62″ is expanded by a second expansion valve 140 and supplied to demethanizer 70, preferably, below fourth tower feed stream 68″ as third tower feed stream 64″ In addition, reflux separator overhead stream 66″ is cooled in reflux condenser 80 by heat exchange contact with cold streams, expanded by a third expansion valve 150 to 465 psia thereby cooling the stream to −133° F., and supplying it to demethanizer tower 70 as fourth tower feed stream 68″ below demethanizer reflux stream 126.
Demethanizer 70 is also supplied second tower feed stream 56′, third tower feed stream 64″ fourth tower feed stream 68″ and demethanizer reflux stream 126, thereby producing demethanizer overhead stream 78, demethanizer bottoms stream 77, and three reboiler side streams 71, 73, and 75.
In demethanizer 70, rising vapors in first tower feed stream 53 are at least partially condensed by intimate contact with falling liquids from second tower feed stream 56, third tower feed stream 64, fourth tower feed stream 68, and demethanizer reflux stream 126, thereby producing demethanizer overhead stream 78 that contains a substantial amount of the methane and lighter components from inlet feed gas stream 20. Condensed liquids descend down demethanizer 70 and are removed as demethanizer bottoms stream 77, which contains a major portion of ethane, ethylene, propane, propylene and heavier components from inlet feed gas stream 20.
Reboiler streams 71, 73, and 75 are preferably removed from demethanizer 70 in the lower half of vessel. Further, three reboiler streams 71, 73, and 75 are warmed in demethanizer reboiler 40 and returned to demethanizer as reboiler reflux streams 72, 74, and 76, respectively. The side reboiler design allows for the recovery of refrigeration from demethanizer 70.
Demethanizer overhead stream 78 is warmed in reflux condenser 80, reflux subcooler exchanger 90, and front end exchanger 30 to 90° F. After warming, demethanizer overhead stream 78 is compressed in booster compressor 102 to 493 psia by power generated by the expander. Intermediate pressure residue gas is then sent to residue compressor 110 where the pressure is raised above 800 psia or pipeline specifications to form residue gas stream 120. Next, to relieve heat generated during compression, compressor aftercooler 112 cools residue gas stream 120. Residue gas stream 120 is a pipeline sales gas that contains a substantial amount of the methane and lighter components from inlet feed gas stream 20, and a minor portion of the C2+ components and heavier components.
At least a portion of residue gas stream 120 is returned to the process to produce a residue gas reflux stream 122 at a flowrate of 291.44 MMSCFD. First, this residue gas reflux stream 122 is cooled in front end exchanger 30, reflux subcooler exchanger 90, and reflux condenser 80 to −131° F. by heat exchange contact with cold streams to substantially condense the stream. Next, this cooled residue gas reflux stream 124 is expanded through a fourth expansion valve 160 to 465 psia whereby it is cooled to −138° F., and sent to demethanizer 70 as a demethanizer reflux stream 126. Preferably, demethanizer reflux stream 126 is sent to demethanizer 70 above fourth tower feed stream 68″ as top feed stream to demethanizer 70. As indicated previously, the external propane refrigeration system is a two stage system, as understood by those of ordinary skill in the art, that was used for simulating both processes. Any other cooling medium can be used instead of propane, and is to be considered within the scope of the present invention. The results of the simulation based upon the process shown in
When comparing Tables 1 and 2, it can be seen that the new process illustrated in
An additional advantage or feature of the present invention is its ability to resist CO2 freezing. Since the demethanizer tower has a tendency to build up CO2 on the trays, the location that first experiences CO2 freeze calculation is the top section of the demethanizer tower. In the prior art process shown in
Using dual reflux streams for the present invention process embodiments has several advantages. The lower reflux, which is part of the feed gas stream or cold separator overhead stream, is richer in ethane and cannot produce ethane recoveries beyond the low to mid 90's. The top reflux, which is essentially residue gas, is lean in ethane and can be used to achieve high ethane recoveries in the mid to high 90's range. However, processes utilizing residue recycle streams can be expensive to operate because residue gas streams need to be compressed up to pressures where the streams can condense. Hence the size of this stream needs to be kept to a minimum. Optimizing the process by using a combination of these refluxes makes the process most efficient. During the life of a project there can be times when there is a need to process more gas through the plant at the expense of some ethane recovery. The process according to the present invention is advantageously flexible to allow for changes in the recovery requirements. For example, the top lean reflux stream can be reduced, thereby reducing the load on the residue compressors, which will in turn allow the plant to process more gas throughput. There can also be times during the life of the project where ethane needs to be rejected, while still maintaining high propane recovery. Manipulation of the dual reflux streams allows operating scheme adjustments to meet specific goals. The intermediate reflux stream can be reduced to lower ethane recovery, while the top reflux stream can be maintained to minimize propane loss.
As shown in
Tower feed stream 69 can be utilized in the processes illustrated in
As shown in
In yet another embodiment of the present invention,
In the embodiment shown in
In addition to the process embodiments, apparatus embodiments for the apparatus used to perform the processes described herein are also advantageously provided. As another embodiment of the present invention, an apparatus for separating a gas stream containing methane and ethane, ethylene, propane, propylene, and heavier components into a volatile gas fraction containing a substantial amount of the methane and lighter components and a less volatile fraction containing a large portion of ethane, ethylene, propane, propylene, and heavier components is advantageously provided. The apparatus preferably includes a first exchanger 30, a cold separator 50, a demethanizer 70, an expander 100, a second cooler 90, a reflux separator 60, a third cooler 80, a first heater 80, and a booster compressor 102.
First, or inlet, exchanger 30 is preferably used for cooling and at least partially condensing a hydrocarbon feed stream. Cold separator 50 is used for separating the hydrocarbon feed stream into a first vapor stream, or cold separator overhead stream, 54 and a first liquid stream, or cold separator bottoms stream, 52.
Demethanizer 70 is used for receiving the first liquid stream 52 as a first tower feed stream, an expanded first separator overhead stream 56 as a second tower feed stream, a reflux separator bottoms stream 62 as a third tower feed stream, and a reflux separator overhead stream 66 as a fourth tower feed stream. Demethanizer 70 produces a demethanizer overhead stream 78 containing a substantial amount of the methane and lighter components and a demethanizer bottoms stream 77 containing a major portion of recovered ethane, ethylene, propane, propylene, and heavier components.
Expander 100 is used to expand first separator overhead stream 54 to produce the expanded first separator overhead stream 56 for supplying to demethanizer 70. Second cooler, or reflux subcooler exchanger, 90 can be used for cooling and at least partially condensing second separator overhead stream 54b, as shown in
Reflux separator 60 is used for separating second separator overhead stream 54b into a reflux separator overhead stream 66 and a reflux separator bottoms stream 62, as shown in
Third cooler, or reflux condenser, 80 is used for cooling and substantially condensing reflux separator overhead stream 66. First heater 80 is used for warming demethanizer overhead stream 78. Third cooler and first heater 80 can be a common heat exchanger that is used to simultaneously provide cooling for reflux separator overhead stream 66 and to provide heating for demethanizer overhead stream 78. Booster compressor 102 is used for compressing demethanizer overhead stream 78 to produce a residue gas stream 120.
The apparatus embodiments of the present invention can also include a residue compressor 110 and a fourth cooler, or air cooler, 112. Residue compressor 110 is used to boost the pressure of the residue gas stream further, as described previously. Hot residue gas stream 120 is cooled in air cooler 112 and sent as product residue gas stream 114 for further processing.
The present invention can also include a first expansion valve 130, a second expansion valve 140, and a third expansion valve 150. Expansion valve 130 can be used to expand separator bottoms stream 52 to produce first, or bottom, tower feed stream 53. Expansion valve 140 can be used to expand reflux separator bottoms stream 62 to produce as third, or upper middle, tower feed stream 64. Expansion valve 150 can be used to expand reflux separator overhead stream 66 to produce fourth tower feed stream 68. A fourth expansion valve 160, as shown in
In all embodiments of the present invention, demethanizer 70 can be a reboiled absorber. In some embodiments of the present invention, cold separator 50 can be a cold absorber 50′, as shown in
As an example of the present invention, an untreated feed gas can be utilized that contains up to 5.5 times greater the amount of CO2 than suitable feed gases for prior art processes. Utilizing an untreated feed gas containing a greater amount of CO2 results in substantial operating and capital cost savings because of the elimination or substantial reduction in the CO2 removal costs associated with treating a feed gas stream.
As another advantage of the present invention, when compared with other prior art processes that utilize a residue gas recycle stream, the present invention is more economical to operate in that the process is optimized to take advantage of the properties associated with the residue recycle stream while simultaneously combining the stream with other reflux streams, such as a side stream of a feed gas stream. The size of the residue recycle stream is thereby reduced, but is able to take advantage of the desirable properties associated with such stream, i.e. the stream is lean and can be used to achieve high ethane recoveries.
While the invention has been shown or described in only some of its forms, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that it is not so limited, but is susceptible to various changes without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, expanding steps, preferably by isentropic expansion, may be effectuated with a turbo-expander, Joule-Thompson expansion valves, a liquid expander, a gas or vapor expander or like.
This patent application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/440,538 filed on Jan. 16, 2003, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60440538 | Jan 2003 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 10756196 | Jan 2004 | US |
| Child | 12345829 | US |
