New Retrofit Design Allows Gas Plant Operators to Significantly Improve Propane Recovery and Ethane Rejection

摘要

With an oil and gas industry recession and low ethane prices in many areas of the country, there is significant pressure to generate more profit from existing Gas Subcooled Process (GSP) cryogenic gas plants in the United States. New and innovative gas processing technologies have been developed to do this by improving the efficiency and flexibility of existing gas plants. With commodity pricing constraints and penalties associated with high ethane content in the natural gas liquids (NGL) product stream, maximizing propane recovery while improving ethane rejection capabilities in GSP cryogenic gas plants can generate significant economic value. Due to the current market conditions and commodity pricing, plant optimization is critical to the success of midstream operators. With new processing techniques and technologies being developed, midstream operators need to evaluate and be educated on the available options. A technical evaluation of existing technologies will be presented to demonstrate the feasibility and viability of converting standard GSP facilities to achieve more than 99% propane recovery with up to 98% ethane rejection. The evaluation will also include operational and downtime factors associated with each option. A general discussion around the economics for each option will also be discussed. Advantages and disadvantages will be presented for each option investigated to assist operating companies with their decisions on how to maximize ethane rejection and propane recovery while minimizing capital investment.