GSP-1991: Optimization of Ethane extraction Plants form Natural Gas Containig Carbon Dioxide

L.FERNANDEZ; A. BANDONI; M. ELICECHE; E. BRIGNOLE

Gas Separation and Puri fication

Elsevier

Año: 1991 vol. 5 p. 229 - 234

0950-4214

The extraction of ethane and NGL from natural gas is generally based on some of the following alternatives: turboexpansion (TE), Joule-Thompson expansion (JT); external refrigeration; and absorption. In many processing schemes a combination of these effects is used to improve the energy efficiency or to obtain greater recoveries. The selection of the basic process technology is based on an energy analysis. The determination of the final structure and optimum process conditions are found by successive quadratic programming. The optimization process is based on a rigorous simulation of the plant. An initial feasible point for the optimization procedure is derived from the feed phase-envelope properties. The effect of carbon dioxide on process design is taken into account by introducing as a constraint, in the optimization process, the conditions of carbon dioxide precipitation in the demethanizer unit. The sensitivity of the optimum design to different configurations, residual gas pressures, C2+ fraction and carbon dioxide concentration are presented