Natural Gas Processing Over View
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satishchemengNatural Gas Processing Over View
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satishchemengGAS PROCESSING NOTES:
NATURAL GAS SPECIFICATION:
75 ppm approximately
For natural gas these criteria include Wobbe number, heating value, total inerts,
water, oxygen, and sulfur content. The first two criteria relate to combustion
characteristics. The latter three provide protection from pipeline plugging and corrosion.
Metering Problems with HC condensate:
Hydrocarbon dew point is becoming an issue in some situations. The problem arises
from trace condensation in pipelines, which can cause metering problems.
NATURAL GAS LIQUIDS
Natural gas liquids (NGL) include all hydrocarbons liquefied in the field or in processing
plants, including ethane, propane, butanes, and natural gasoline. Such mixtures
generated in gas plants are usually referred to as “Y-grade” or “raw product.
For liquid products, the performance specifications include Reid vapor pressure, water,
oxygen, H2S, and total sulfur content
Safety
Considerations make vapor pressure especially important for the liquid products
because of regulations for shipping and storage containers.
14.3 BARA
NATURAL GASOLINE
Natural gasoline, a mixture of hydrocarbons that consist mostly of pentanes and heavier
hydrocarbons and meet GPA product specifications, should not be confused with
natural gas liquids (NGL), a term used to designate all hydrocarbon liquids produced in
field facilities or in gas plants.
The major uses of natural gasoline are in refineries, for direct blending into gasoline
and as a feedstock for C5/C6 isomerization. It is used in the petrochemical industry for
ethylene production.
SULFUR
Current sulfur production in the United States is approximately 15,000 metric tons per
day (15 MMkg/d);
about 85% comes from gas processing plants that convert H2S to elemental sulfur.
Some major uses of sulfur include rubber vulcanization, production of sulfuric acid, and
manufacture of black gunpowder .
Contaminant Levels
COMBUSTION CHARACTERISTICS
HEATING VALUE
Determination of the heating value of a fuel involves two arbitrary but conventional
standard states for the water formed in the reaction:
1. All the water formed is a liquid (gross heating value, frequently called
higher heating value [HHV])
2. All the water formed is a gas (net heating value, frequently called lower
heating value [LHV])
WOBBE NUMBER
WB = (gross heating value)/SQRT(specific gravity)
In gas appliances, maintenance of the same combustion characteristics are desirable
when one gas composition is switched to another. Several factors must be considered,
but one of the more important considerations is maintenance of the same heat release
at the burner for a given pressure drop through a control valve. This combustion
characteristic is measured by the Wobbe number, defined as the gross heating value
(Btu/scf) of the gas divided by the square root of the specific gravity
The Wobbe number normally has a value between 1,100 and 1,400
Wobbe numbers are often adjusted by blending the natural gas with air. For
example, one distribution company maintains a Wobbe number between 1,130
and 1,280 for gas distribution to its residential customers by blending air with
the natural gas in three blending stations.
