Application of relative sensitivity function in parametric optimization of a tri-ethylene glycol dehydration plant

摘要

Water removal from natural gas is an inevitable process in natural gas industry. Tri-Ethylene Glycol (TEG) plant is the most common and economical process for the dehydration of natural gas. In this work, a domestic TEG dehydration unit is simulated to determine the effect of various parameters on water content of the outlet dehydrated gas. The key feature of this work is the use of Relative Sensitivity Function (RSF) to optimize the whole plant. RSF led into a reduction in the water content of dehydrated gas, TEG circulation rate, and re-boiler duty. The final results revealed that relative sensitivity analysis is a convincing method to determine the best operating conditions and to evaluate the effect of various parameters on water content of the dried gas leaving the absorber column. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.