NATURAL GAS

DEHYDRATION
UNIT – III : Natural Gas Processing
Reasons for Removal of water vapor

 Natural gas can combine with liquid or free water to form

the solid gas hydrates that can plug the pipelines or valve
fittings.
 Water can condense in the pipeline, which can cause
corrosion.
 Water vapor increases the volume and decreases the
heating value of the gas.
 The maximum water content is 7 lb H2O / MMscf.
 There are several methods of dehydrating natural gas.
The most common of these are liquid desiccant (glycol)
dehydration, solid desiccant dehydration, and
refrigeration (i.e., cooling the gas).
Water Content Determination
Solid Desiccant Dehydration Plant
Separator Section

 Wet Inlet gas is passed through an inlet separator

where free liquids, mist, solid particles are
removed.
 Free liquids can cause adsorption materials to
break down.
 Adsorption Cycle
 Wet gas will flows downwards through the tower.
 The adsorbable components are adsorbed at rates dependent on their chemical nature,
the size of their molecules, and the size of the pores in the solid material.
 The water molecules are adsorbed first in the top layers of the desiccant bed.
 Dry hydrocarbon gases are adsorbed throughout the bed.
 As the upper layers of desiccant become saturated with water, the water in the wet gas
stream begins displacing the previously adsorbed hydrocarbons in the lower desiccant
layers.
 Liquid hydrocarbons will also be absorbed and will fill pore spaces that would
otherwise be available for water molecules.
 For each component in the inlet gas stream, there will be a section of bed depth, from
top to bottom, where the desiccant is saturated with that component and where the
desiccant below is just starting to adsorb that component.
 As the flow of gas continues, the transfer zone moves downward through the bed and
water displaces the previously adsorbed gases until finally the entire bed is saturated
with water vapor.
 If the entire bed becomes completely saturated with water vapor, the outlet gas may be
wet as the inlet gas. Obviously, the towers must be switched from the adsorption cycle to
the regeneration cycle (heating and cooling) before the desiccant bed is completely
saturated with water.
Regeneration Cycle

 At any given time, at least one of the towers will be adsorbing while the
other towers will be in the process of being heated or cooled to
regenerate the desiccant.
 When a tower is switched to the regeneration cycle, some wet gas is
heated to temperatures of 450 to 600◦F in the high-temperature
heater and routed to the tower to remove the previously adsorbed
water.
 As the temperature within the tower is increased, the water captured
within the pores of the desiccant turns to steam and is absorbed by the
natural gas. This gas leaves the top of the tower and is cooled by the
regeneration gas cooler.
 Regeneration and Cooling
 When the gas is cooled the saturation level of water vapor is lowered
significantly and water is condensed.
 The water is separated in the regeneration gas separator and the cool,
saturated regeneration gas is recycled to be dehydrated. This can be
done by operating the dehydration tower at a lower pressure than the
tower being regenerated or by recompressing the regeneration gas.
 Once the bed has been “dried” in this manner, it is necessary to flow
cool gas through the tower to return it to normal operating
temperatures (about 100 to 120◦F) before placing it back in service to
dehydrate gas. The cooling gas could either be wet gas or gas that has
already been dehydrated. If wet gas is used, it must be dehydrated
after being used as cooling gas, where a hot tower will not sufficiently
dehydrate the gas.
Switching of Beds

 The switching of beds is controlled by a time controller that performs

switching operations at specified times in the cycle.

 The length of the different phases can vary considerably. Longer

cycle times will require larger beds and additional capital
investment, but will increase the bed life.

 A typical two-bed cycle might have an 8-hour adsorption period

with 6 hours of heating and 2 hours of cooling for regeneration. The
16- hour adsorption time for an adsorption unit with three beds, two
beds in adsorption and one bed in regeneration, makes also a full
cycle time of 24 hours, which gives a good 3-year guarantee.
 Desiccant Selection
 High adsorption capacity at equilibrium. This lowers the required adsorbent volume,
allowing for the use of smaller vessels with reduced capital expenditures and
reduced heat input for regeneration.
 High selectivity. This minimizes the undesirable removal of valuable components
and reduces overall operating expenses.
 Easy regeneration. The relatively low regeneration temperature minimizes overall
energy requirements and operating expenses.
 Low pressure drop.
 Good mechanical properties (such as high crush strength, low attrition, low dust
formation, and high stability against aging). These factors lower overall
maintenance requirements by reducing the frequency of adsorbent change out and
minimizing downtime-related losses in production.
 Inexpensive, noncorrosive, nontoxic, chemically inert, high bulk density and no
significant volume changes upon adsorption and desorption of water.
 The most common commercial desiccants used in dry bed dehydrators are silica
gel (i.e., Sorbead), molecular sieves, and activated alumina.