ASPEN-HYSYS Simulation of Natural Gas Processing

Plant & Analysis of Different Operating Parameters

Mohammad Hasibul Hasan*, Quazi Azizul Hassan, Sadat Kamal Amit, Dr. Md. Ruhul Amin
Department of Chemical Engineering,
Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology
Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh
[email protected]*, [email protected], [email protected], [email protected].

Abstract— In this time of energy crisis, low production rate provided by it, leads to represent a more realistic model. It
against the increasing demand of the gas production regularly can be used for variety of field including gas production[2].
hampers both the domestic and industrial operations. Natural In order to reduce the operating costs of a plant, much effort
gas is the major power source of this country. Unless other is put to find the optimal design condition of the process
power source is developed, natural gas is our only hope. So far
though optimization studies.
in Bangladesh 23 gas fields have been discovered with the rate
of success ratio 3.1:1 of which two of the gas fields are located in Optimization of chemical and related processes requires a
offshore area. Bibiyana is a world class gas reservoir that has process modeling and optimization along with control
the capacity to safely and efficiently deliver gas supply. Flow characterizes the area of process systems[3].
sheet development of the natural gas processing plant having The Bibiyana gas field represents one of the most
capacity of 150 MMSCFD at Bibiyana in Moulavibazar district significant natural gas discoveries in Bangladesh in terms of
of Bangladesh was undertaken using the Aspen HYSYS process quality and quantity; the field is now the second largest in the
simulator. The steady state simulation of the gas processing country [4]. Bibiyana gas field is discovered in 1998.
plant shall be performed based on both the design and physical Bibiyana is the largest producing gas field in the country. It
property data of the plant.
is a world-class gas reservoir that is expected to supply
Index Terms— Natural gas; Aspen-Hysys; gas processing; reliable, clean energy for the next 20 to 30 years. Total
separation; simulation; estimated reserve of this gas field is 3144.5 BCF and
recoverable amount is 2400.8 BCF [5].
I. INTRODUCTION Flow sheet development provides a good insight into the
Natural gas is playing a growing energy role. The scale of behavior of the actual system based on a mathematical and
its reverse and its environmental advantages favor its use, for scientific model. By proper simulation process, it has become
fast growing activities such as the precision industries and the easy to fix design variables, particularly for complex systems
generation of electricity. with several interacting variables. Simulation model responds
The natural gas produced into the mainline gas to adjustments or changes in design parameters as does a real
transportation system must need specific quality measure in process. Flow sheet development provides a convenient,
order for the pipeline grid to operate properly. Consequently, inexpensive and safe method of gaining to adjust design
natural gas produced at the wellhead, which in most cases variables and optimize the natural gas processing plant. Flow
contains contaminates and natural gas liquids, must be sheet simulation based approach implemented in Aspen
processed, i.e. cleaned, before it can be safely delivered to HYSYS is used to study the effect of design parameters.
high pressure, long distance pipe lines that transport the In the study of performance analysis using flow sheet
product to consuming public[1]. development, the operation variables are changed. For flow
There are many different simulation programs used in sheet development, simulation of the plant was carried out
industry depending on the field of application and desired using the design data and then the simulation work was
simulation product. When used to its full capability ‘ASPEN performed with the operating data to study the performance
HYSYS’ can be very powerful tool for an engineer to achieve of the plant. The simulation model consists of both
major business benefits by geometrical parameters like vessel dimensions, heat transfer
 Ensuring more efficient and profitability design. area, number of trays in a column etc. and operation variables
 Improving plant control, operability. like temperature, pressure, feed ratio etc. [6].
 Eliminating process bottle necks and minimizing
process network.
 Reducing human error and time requirement.
The inherent flexibility contributes through its design,
combined with the unparalleled accuracy and robustness
 II. NATURAL GAS PROCESSING overhead product of D-320 is mixed with refined gas stream
Natural-gas processing is a complex industrial process to prepare the very final product.
designed to clean raw natural gas by separating impurities and B. De-hydration Unit & Heat-Exchanger Unit
various non-methane hydrocarbons and fluids to produce what The three vapor streams of the separators are mixed in a
is known as pipeline quality dry natural gas [7]. mixer & passed through the dehydration unit for water
Natural-gas processing begins at the well head. The removal. The dehydration unit consists of an absorption
composition of the raw natural gas extracted from producing tower (D-310) where TEGlycol is used as absorbent of water.
wells depends on the type, depth, and location of the The overhead vapor product (dehydrated hydrocarbons) of
underground deposit and the geology of the area. Oil and (D-310) is passed through two heat exchangers (E-230) & (E-
natural gas are often found together in the same reservoir. The 250) & temperature is decreased. The tube out of E-250 heat
natural gas produced from oil wells is generally classified exchanger is then entered into a separator (H-140). Then
as associated-dissolved, meaning that the natural gas is expander (G-152) lowers streams temperature using Joule-
associated with or dissolved in crude oil. Natural gas Thomson principle of pressure relief & then three phase
production absent any association with crude oil is classified separator separates the remaining water in the mixed inlet
as “non-associated” [8]. more precisely. Heavy liquid is removed & light liquid (H-
Most natural gas extracted from earth contains, to varying 150 liquid out) and vapor (H-150 vapor out) is used for
degrees, low molecular weight hydrocarbon compounds further processing.
including methane (CH4), ethane (C2H6), propane (C3H8) On the other hand, bottom product of the absorption
and butane (C4H10). The natural gas extracted from coal tower(D-310) is passed through an expansion valve (K-131)
reservoirs and mines (coal bed methane) is the primary & a two phase separator(H-130) ,bottom product of which is
exception, being essentially a mix of mostly methane and used as a tube side inlet of heat exchanger (E-240). The tube
about 10 percent carbon dioxide (CO2) [9]. side outlet is then entered into a column (D-330) whose
bottom product is make-up Glycol solution & is entered into
III. SIMULATION OF THE GAS PROCESS PLANT the shell side of the heat-exchanger (E-240) & heat-
In this proposed plant there are five major units which will exchanger (E-230). Between the heat-exchangers a pump is
process the raw natural gas. These are: (1) separation unit, (2) used to increase the pressure. The shell outlet of E-230 is
dehydration unit & heat exchanger, (3) de-ethanizer and (4) mixed with TEGlycol feed to use in the absorption tower (D-
final purification & CO2 removal units. 310).
A. Separation Unit C. De-ethanizer Unit
In simulating the processing plant, gas is drawn from three The liquid stream of the three phase separator(H-150) is
wells: Well-1, Well-2 and Well-3 respectively. This data are then used in the de-ethanizer(distillation column D-
chosen randomly. Due to limitation and industrial visit the 340).Bottom product of the column(D-340) is LPG & passed
used data are assumed. If the industrial data are obtained the through the heat-exchanger(E-101) to prepare ‘Final LPG’ at
simulation can be done with real plant data can be compared low temperature. Stream (H-150 vapor out) is mixed with the
with ‘Bibiyana’ gas processing plant industry. Composition over-head vapor product of (D-340). Mixed stream (M-231
of the feed can be found in datasheet. Then the gas is passed out) is entered into the shell side of the heat exchanger (E-
through the pressure control valve to relief some pressure & 250) to increase the temperature.
then fed into three ‘3 phase separators’ (H-110A, H-110B, H-
110C) to separate each valve out stream in heavy liquid, light D. Purification & CO2 removal Unit
liquid & vapor streams. Most of the liquids are separated at Stream (M-251 shell out) is then gone through CO2
this separation unit. removal process. In this stage we used principles of
The three heavy liquid streams (mostly H2O) are removed liquefaction to separate CO2. Using cooler, heat-exchanger,
& the three light liquid streams are mixed together in a mixer compressor & separator, CO2 from natural gas has been
& then entered into a distillation column (D-320) through an highly decreased(less than 0.03%). CO2 can also be removed
expansion valve, the bottom liquid product is liquefied using absorption process where ME-Amine solution is used
petroleum gas (LPG) & is stored in a tank(F-210). The to absorb CO2. We can also use selexol for physical
absorption of CO2..
IV. PROCESS FLOW DIAGRAM (PFD)
 V. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 0.9652845

MOLE FRACTION OF METHANE IN

A. Product Composition 0.965284
Flow sheet development and design of natural gas
processing plant using the Aspen HYSYS was undertaken. 0.9652835
Flow sheet development was performed based on the design

PRODUCT
0.965283
and operating data of the plant. The sales gas & LPG
composition obtained from this processing plant are shown in 0.9652825
Table 1 & Fig. 1 respectively.
0.965282

TABLE 1. COMPOSITION OF SALES GAS 0.9652815

0.965281
Name of Name of
Composition Composition 0.9652805
Components Components
0 20 40 60
Water(H2O) 5.9×10-6 n-Heptane 7.09×10-5
NO OF STAGES
N2 2.1×10-3 n-Octane 1.2×10-5

CO2 2.6×10-4 n-Nonane 2.8×10-6 Fig. 2. Graph of mole fraction of CH4 vs No of stages
-7
Methane 0.9957 n-Decane 5.3×10
From Fig. 2 it is shown in the graph that as the no of
-4
Ethane 9.2×10 n-C11 1.3×10-7 stages get increased the mole percentage of CH4 gets
increased. Usually greater the no of stages, more the
Propane 2.6×10-4 n-C12 5.2×10-8
contact between vapor and liquid phase and more the
i-Butane 1.2×10-4 n-C13 1.5×10-8 separation can be done. But in case of building distillation
column the point that should be in consideration is the
n-Butane 1.6×10-4 n-C14 9.8×10-9 cost of building and maintenance.
i-Pentane 1.7×10-4 TEGlycol 4.05×10-23 So, for minimizing the cost of production and optimizing
the amount of CH4 produced the design parameter need
n-Pentane 1.03×10-4 MEAmine 0 to be determined.
n-Hexane 6.8×10-5
6000
PRESSURE IN G-152 COMPRESSOR (KPA)

5000
LPG Composition
4000
7%
14% 24%
3000
10%
2000
14%
6%
9% 16% 1000

0
0.963 0.9635 0.964 0.9645 0.965 0.9655
Propane i-Butane n-Butane i-Pentane MOLE FRACTION OF METHANE IN PRODUCT

n-Pentane n-Hexane n-Heptane Others

Fig. 3. Graph of pressure in compressor vs mole fraction of CH4
Fig. 1. Composition of LPG
It is noted from the Fig. 3 that as the pressure of the
B. Graphical Representation compressor G-152 get increased the composition of
methane in product got decreased. But it is required to
For the process described, varying the value of different compress the gas to separate the other components from
variable their corresponding data were generated and relevant the stream. The compressed gas is later sent to 3-phase
curves were plotted.
 separator in which the pressure impact is resulting the 0.2375
separation of desired product from other elements.

MOLE FRAACTION OF PROPANE IN LPG

0.237
0.965285 0.2365
0.236
MOLE FRACTION OF METHANE IN

0.965284
0.2355
0.965283 0.235
PRODUCT

0.965282 0.2345
0.234
0.965281
0.2335
0.96528 0.233
0 5 10 15
0.965279
FEED STAGE OF DISTILLATION COLOUMN D-340
0.965278
0 5 10 15 Fig. . Graph of C3H8 in LPG vs feed stage in distillation column D340
NO OF FEED STAGE IN D-340 DISTILLATION
COLOUMN From the Fig. we can see that with the increased number
of feed stage in D-340 distillation column, the propane recovery
Fig. 4. Graph of mole fraction of CH4 vs feed stage no. in distillation column
in LPG becomes higher. This is because the less the feed stage
From Fig. 4 it is noticed from the curve that mole fraction number is, the more the efficiency of the column will be as there
of CH4 get increased as the no of feed stage get increased. At will be increased amount of contact and heat transfer. As a
some point some consistency is shown. As the no of feed stage result propane becomes more in liquid form. This curve justifies
becomes larger the contact time for liquid and vapor phase in theoretical curve.
distillation column get increased thus the output percentage get C. Product Comparison between Our Simulated Plant data &
larger. Different Natural Gas Processing Plants
Methane composition, Carbon-Di-Oxide content & specific
12 gravity of our simulated sales gas product & existing different
MOLAR FLOW OF CO2 IN PRODUCT

gas processing plants are shown comparatively in Fig. 6, 7 and

10 8 respectively. Here, the term, ‘experimental’ represents our
simulated data.
(KGMOL/HR)

6 Methane Composition
4
Comparison
100
2 98
96
0 94
92
-185 -165 -145 -125 -105 -85 90
OUTLET TEMPERATURE OF HEATER E-100 (ᴼC)

Fig. . Graph of molar flow rate of CO2 vs heater outlet temp

Fig. . Comparison of Methane composition
Due to cooling by unit E-100 the percentage of CO2 along
with CH4 get increased in product as shown by the plot. It’s Figure shows that the methane composition of our
because the separation process of CH4 from CO2 can’t be attain experimental sales gas product is higher than that of different
by varying temperature. Thus using some adsorbent to absorb gas processing plants of our country. We know, natural gas is
the amount of CO2 need to be removed can be a better approach mainly methane [11]. Methane composition is a parameter
which denotes natural gas product quality [12]. In this regard processing plant is developed in this paper. Different process
ours’ is better. can be used to meet the specification required for processing of
natural gas. Environmental constraints and the need to reduce
cost require innovative processes. The process used here
Carbon Di Oxide Content derived from earlier processes, but tend to offer significant
reductions in investment and operating costs. In the longer term,
Comparison new concepts such as gas permeation can be expected to play a
growing role and the natural gas processing will keep changing.
0.6
0.6 0.47 In these plan, the composition of sales gas satisfactory. The
0.4 percentage removals of unwanted elements are good enough to
0.07 0.11 0.15
0.2 0.0003 run the process.
0
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The work is supervised by Dr. Md. Ruhul Amin. We are very
grateful for his kind assistance. The technical and administrative
backup given by the Department of Chemical Engineering,
Fig. . Carbon-Di-Oxide content comparison BUET is highly valuable and we are very thankful to the
department also.
CO2 removal is another pre-requisite in natural gas
processing plant [13]. Presence of CO2 content can cause
corrosion, undesired hydrate formation and severe problem in REFERENCES
cryogenic process [14]. So, the lesser the CO2 content, the
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better. From Fig. we find the CO2 content of experimental
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Processing Plant. Journal of Chemical Engineering, IEB, 2011.
Vol. ChE. 26(1): p. 4.
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0.54 5 Chowdhury, Z., , Natural Gas Reserve Estimate of Bangladesh.
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Use of Natural Gas, Natural Gas 2010, USA: The Caitol.Net,Inc.
From Fig. it is found that, the specific gravity of the
9 Robert Hubbard, U.o.O., The Role of Gas Processing in the
product natural gas of our experiment is similar to the different
Natural-Gas Value Chain. 2009: p. 7.
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Handbook of Liquefied Natural Gas. 2014, UK: Elsevier Inc.
[11] Salvo, J.M., DETERMINING NATURAL GAS QUALITY
VI. CONCLUSION PARAMETERS EXPRESSED IN VOLUME.
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