Stabilizers cold feed condensate

The need to obtain greater recoveries of the C9, C3, and C4S in natural gas has resulted in the expanded use of low-temperature processing of these streams. The majority of the natural gas processing at low temperatures to recover light hydrocarbons is now accomphshed using the turboexpander cycle. Feed gas is normally available from 1 to 10 MPa. The gas is first dehydrated to a dew point of 200 K and lower. After dehydration the feed is cooled with cold residue gas. Liquid produced at this point is separated before entering the expander and sent to the condensate stabilizer. The gas from the separator is... 

At the lop of the tower any intermediate components going out with the gas are condensed, separated, pumped back to the tower, and sprayed down on the top tray. This liquid is called reflux. and the two-phase separator that separates it from the gas is called a reflux tank" or reflux drum. The reflux performs the same function as the cold feed in a cold-feed stabilizer. Cold liquids strip out the intermediate components from the gas as the gas rises. 

A condensate stabilizer with reflux will recover more intermediate components from the gas than a cold-feed stabilizer. However, it requires more equipment to purchase, install, and operate. This additional cost must be justified by the net benefit of the incremental liquid recovery, less the cost of natural gas shrinkage and loss of heating value, over that obtained from a cold-feed stabilizer. 

A gas-processing plant, as described in Chapter 9, is designed to recover ethane, propane, butane, and other natural gas liquids from the gas stream. A condensate stabilizer also recovers some portion of these liquids. The colder the temperature of the gas leaving the overhead condenser in a reflux stabilizer, or the colder the feed stream in a cold-feed stabilizer, and the higher the pressure in the tower, the greater the recovery of these components as liquids. Indeed, any stabilization process that leads to recovery of more molecules in the final liquid product is removing those molecules from the gas stream. In this sense, a stabilizer may be considered as a simple form of a gas-processing plant. 

It should be clear from the description of LTX units in Chapter 5 that the lower pressure separator in an LTX unit is a simple form of cold-feed condensate stabilizer. In the cold, upper portion of the separator some of the intermediate hydrocarbon components condense. In the hot, lower portion some of the lighter components flash. 

The de-methanizer is analogous to a cold feed condensate stabilizer As the liquid falls and is heated, the methane is boiled off and the liquid becomes leaner and leaner in methane. Heat is added to the bottom of the tower using the hot discharge residue gas from the compressors to assure that the bottom liquids have an acceptable RVP or methane content. 

Since the reflux condenser provides the cooling for the stabilizer top, cold-feed is no longer required. As shown, the feed to the stabilizer is heated by exchanging heat with the stabilizer s bottom product. The feed is now introduced into the middle section of the stabilizer. 

The feed to the tower wiU normally enter the tower near the top of a cold-feed stabilizer and at or near the tray where the tower conditions and feed composition most nearly match the inlet feed conditions, in towers with reflux. The liquids in the tower fall down through the down-comer, across the tray, over the weir, and into the down-comer to the next tray. The temperature on each tray increases as the liquids drop from tray to tray. Hot gases come up the tower and buhhle through the liquid on the tray above, where some of the heavier ends in the gas are condensed and some of the Hghter ends in the liquid are vaporized. The gas gets leaner and leaner in heavy hydrocarbons as it goes up the tower the falling liquids become richer and richer in the heavier hydrocarbon components. 

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