Hydrocarbon Recovery 187

but can be increased by use of multiple tubes in parallel; the optimum pressure
drop is 25 to 35% (Lorey and Thomas, 2005). The vendor states that liquid
condensation must be less than 10 wt%. (FILTAN, undated). Lorey and Thomas
(2005) note that the device performs well with up to 5% liquids in the inlet stream.
The device has been used to dehydrate gas from underground storage. To prevent
hydrate formation in the cold stream, TEG is added.
Like Twister, the vortex tube has the advantage of simplicity and light weight.
It could be useful where limited turndown is acceptable. It will be of most value
when no compression is required.

7.3.1.4 Membranes

As discussed in Chapter 5, membranes are being used in several areas of gas pro-
cessing, including dew pointing. Hale and Lokhandwala (2004) discuss use of mem-
branes for fuel conditioning. Membranes are ideal for this application, provided
preconditioning is adequate to protect the membrane, and little penalty exists for
permeate compression. Figure 7.10 shows the flow configuration. Gas enters the
membrane on the discharge side of the compressor, and the residual gas provides fuel
to the compressor engine or turbine. The low pressure permeate is recycled to the
suction for recompression to recover the permeate. Table 7.5 provides results for one
field unit. Gas rates are low because only a slip stream needs to be processed for fuel.
Like the previous two technologies, the process is simple and requires no moving
parts. It too has the advantage of being relatively small and light weight. (The
membrane unit described by Hale and Lokhandwala [2004] is 6 ft × 6 ft × 6 ft [2
m × 2 m × 2 m]). The authors report this technology is used on several offshore
installations. Unlike the Twister and vortex tube, membranes have the advantage of
a turndown ratio down to 50%, with no performance penalty. This property may not
be an advantage for fuel gas conditioning, where flow rates should be stable.
The reported data are used to compute the permeate composition and fraction
of feed removed from the feed. The table points out the selectivity of the membrane

Compressor Cooler
Rich gas

Lean fuel Membrane Fuel gas

gas slipstream

Compressor
engine

Enriched gas permeate

FIGURE 7.10 Schematic for membrane unit used as a fuel conditioner. (Adapted from
Hale and Lokhandwala, 2004.)

© 2006 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

188 Fundamentals of Natural Gas Processing

TABLE 7.5
Operating Conditions and Composition of Natural Gas
Stream Using Membrane for Fuel Gas Conditioning
Membrane Conditioned
Feed Fuel Gas Permeate

Temperature, °F (ºC) 95 (35) 51 (10.5) —

Pressure psig (barg) 940 (65) 940 (65.0) —
Total mass flow lb mol/h 110.1 (50) 58.0 (26.3) 52.1 (23.7)
(kg-mol/h)
Total volume flow 0.95 (27) 0.5 (14) —
MMscfd (MSm3/d)

Mol% % Removed
Component Feed Fuel Gas Permeatea from Gas
Carbon dioxide 1.3 0.6 2.08 76
Methane 72.8 81.2 63.59 41
Ethane 9.6 9.0 10.29 51
Propane 9.9 7.1 13.04 62
i-Butane 2.4 0.8 4.19 82
n-Butane 2.5 0.9 4.29 81
n-Pentane 1.3 0.4 2.30 84
Water 0.11 0.00 0.23 100
Hydrocarbon dew 35 3.5 —
point (ºC)
aComposition of permeate and fraction removed from gas computed by material balance of nor-
malized reported feed and fuel gas composition.

Source: Hale and Lokhandwala (2004).

and may be poorer than that of the above two technologies. In fuel conditioning,
the selectivity is not a major issue because of the relatively small fraction of gas
that needs to be recompressed, and the enriched stream is recycled without
requiring additional compression.
A membrane that passes heavy hydrocarbons preferentially to smaller mol-
ecules is counterintuitive. Chapter 5 points out that membrane permeability is
the product of the solubility and diffusion coefficient. For separation of light
gases, the primary mode of selectivity is the diffusion coefficient. For dew point-
ing, solubility drives the selectivity (Baker et al., 1998). These membranes are
silicone rubber compounds that preferentially absorb the heavy components.

7.3.2 LOW ETHANE RECOVERY

The focus of the previous section was removal of heavy components (C3+) to
avoid condensation or to lower the heating value. This section discusses processes

© 2006 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

Hydrocarbon Recovery 189

used in conventional gas plants, where the objective is to produce a lean gas and
recover up to approximately 60% of the ethane in the feed gas. Two process
schemes are used to obtain this level of ethane recovery:

• Cooling by expansion or external refrigeration

• Lean-oil absorption

As noted above, inlet pressure dictates the best means of refrigeration. Lean
oil was an early method used for hydrocarbon recovery but is now used on a
more limited basis. Many of the refrigerated lean oil absorption plants in operation
today are large facilities, where replacing them with a more modern turboex-
pander plant would be capital cost prohibitive. Both approaches are described
briefly below.

7.3.2.1 Cooling by Expansion or External Refrigeration

Figure 7.11 shows the propane recovery obtainable as a function of process temper-
ature for various levels of liquids content. In this case, GPM is based upon the C3+
fraction. Figure 7.12 shows a similar plot for recovery of ethane and propane, with
GPM based upon C3+ fraction. Both the figures point out how recovery depends
upon the relative amount of C3+ in the gas stream and the lowest gas temperature.
A general rule is to assume that recovery increases with increased richness of the
gas. This assumption is made because the ethane content in the vapor at the top of

90

80
7
70
C3 recovery, %

60
5

50

40
3

30

20
−40 −30 −20 −10 0 10 20
Process temperature, °F

FIGURE 7.11 Recovery of the propane plus fraction as a function of the lowest separation
temperature and gas composition of feed. Operating pressure is 600 psig, and numbers given
on chart represent GPM based upon C3+. (Adapted from Engineering Data Book, 2004e.)

© 2006 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

190 Fundamentals of Natural Gas Processing

90
7 GPM
80
5 GPM
70

60
Recovery, %

3 GPM
7 GPM
50

40 5 GPM

30
3 GPM
20

10
−30 −25 −20 −15 −10 −5 0 5 10
Process temperature, °F

FIGURE 7.12 Recovery of ethane and propane as a function of the lowest separation
temperature and gas content of feed. Operating pressure is 600 psig and GPM are based
upon C3+. The solid and dashed lines represent ethane and propane recovery, respectively.
(Adapted from Engineering Data Book, 2004e.)

the column is set by column feed composition, along with temperature and pressure.
At constant pressure and temperature, the ethane concentration in the liquid decreases
with increasing C3+ fraction, which lowers the ethane concentration in the vapor
and, thus, increases the percent ethane recovered. (However, this outcome will not
always be the case in plants that use J-T or turboexpanders, because leaner gas puts
less of a load on the refrigeration-expander system and may lower column temper-
atures and increase recovery (McCartney, 2005)).
Figure 7.13 shows one commonly used direct-refrigeration process that employs
recycle from a fractionator to maximize liquids recovery. Inlet gas is initially cooled
with cold residue gas and cold liquid from the cold separator before going to the
propane chiller and to the cold separator. Vapor from the separator is the sales gas,
and the liquid goes to a fractionator to strip out light ends and recover liquid product.
The column operates at a lower pressure than does the cold separator. Because of
system pressure drop and because the fractionator runs at the lower pressure, the
recycle stream must be recompressed. Alternatives to the process include:

• Reduction or elimination of the recycle by adding reflux to the fractionator

• Running the fractionator at a higher pressure and use of a pump to
feed the column from the cold separator

© 2006 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

Hydrocarbon Recovery 191

Air cooler Compressor

Residue
gas

Cold separator Fractionator

Propane
Inlet gas chiller

Reboiler

NGL product

FIGURE 7.13 Schematic of a direct refrigeration process for partial recovery of C2+
fraction. (Adapted from Engineering Data Book, 2004e.)

The Engineering Data Book (2004e) provides more details of process varia-
tions and discusses how processing variables affect compressor and refrigeration
requirements. These configurations assume that the gas enters sufficiently dehy-
drated to prevent hydrate formation. If the water content is higher, ethylene glycol
can be added, which increases refrigeration duty. However, temperatures then are
limited by glycol viscosity.
Because the unit relies only on external propane refrigeration, the lower
temperature limit on the feed to the cold separator is −35°F (−37°C) at best.
Unless the feed has a very high GPM, ethane recoveries will be below 60%.
Expansion is required to lower temperatures and increase recoveries.
With high inlet gas pressures, replacing the propane system with an expander
is an attractive option. However, inlet compression may be necessary to obtain
the temperatures required to obtain the desired recoveries. Both J-T and turboex-
panders are used. Crum (1981) points out situations where a J-T system may be
preferable to turboexpanders, although recent advances in turboexpander tech-
nology may temper some of them:

• Low gas rates. J-T is more economically viable at low gas rates. Crum
(1981) maintains that at below 10 MMscfd (300 MSm3/d), turboex-
panders offer less economic advantage and they lose efficiency below
5 MMScfd (150 MSm3/d).
• Low ethane recovery. For ethane recoveries of 10 to 30%, J-T expan-
sion may be sufficient.
• Variable flow rates. J-T is insensitive to widely varying flow rates, whereas
turboexpanders lose efficiency when operating off of design rates.

© 2006 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

192 Fundamentals of Natural Gas Processing

Crum (1981) also points out that J-T plants are much simpler than turboex-
pander plants because J-T plants have no need for seal gas and lubricating oil
systems. However, because of the inefficiency of J-T valves compared with
turboexpanders, if any inlet compression is required, more is required with J-T
expansion to obtain the same amount of refrigeration. The Engineering Data Book
(2004e) suggests that use of J-T expansion for limited ethane recovery requires
inlet pressures around 1,000 psi (70 bar).
Crum (1981) discusses five configurations in which J-T expansion is used to
recover C2+ in plants, ranging from 3 to 10 MMScfd (80 to 300 MSm3/d). Without
external refrigeration, recovery rates were up to 39%. A process that utilizes
propane refrigeration in combination with J-T expansion obtained 80% recovery.
Crum (1981) found that the fuel cost savings for compression failed to justify
installation of turboexpanders in these small plants.

7.3.2.2 Lean Oil Absorption

Early gas processing plants used lean oil absorbers to strip NGL from natural
gas (Cannon, 1993), and the process is still used in about 70 gas plants today.
To improve recoveries, later plants used external refrigeration to cool the feed
gas and lean oil. Figure 7.14 shows a representative schematic of a propane-
refrigerated lean oil system. The process involves three steps (Engineering Data
Book, 2004e):

1. Absorption. An absorber contacts a lean oil to absorb C2+ plus from

raw natural gas.

Inlet gas Fuel gas

NGL
Residue gas

Propane
chiller

Propane
chiller
Absorber Rich oil Still
demethanizer

FIGURE 7.14 Refrigerated lean oil absorption process. (Adapted from Engineering Data
Book, 2004e.)

© 2006 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC