ENCH 609 Lecture 1

Introduction, Treating Requirements, Block Diagrams

Learning Objectives
1.
2.
3.
4.

Knowledge of raw gas components and phase behavior.

Knowledge of gas plant products and typical specifications.
Knowledge of block flow diagrams to represent gas processing facilities.
Skill in performing basic material balance around block flow diagrams.

Introduction
Natural gas produced from formations cannot be put into a pipeline and sold for
consumption. Depending on the reservoir the gas will contain water, a mixture of
hydrocarbons from methane to C30+, acid gases such as CO2 and H2S, noncondensable gases such as N2, H2, and He, and trace sulphur compounds such
as mercaptans, COS, and CS2. Some gas streams may also contain elemental
sulphur, asphaltenes, diamonoids, or wax. All product streams from a gas
treating facility are required to meet certain specifications and as such treatment
is required to remove or separate the various components. In order to treat gas,
two critical pieces of information are required:
the gas you are starting with, and
the specifications of the products you are required to make.
Raw Gas Composition
When a project is being conceived, a Reservoir Engineer may have some
indication of the expected gas composition based on well analogues. Once a
well is drilled the composition may be determined by testing the well. If the well
is sweet, a long period of testing may be possible, resulting in an accurate
composition. Production testing of sour wells is problematic due to
environmental considerations and sour gas test results are often less accurate.
A well test is performed by passing the stream into a three phase separator as
shown in Figure 1-1. The composition of each product stream and the volume
are determined, and a calculation is performed to recombine the streams on a
molar basis to determine the raw feed composition.

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Raw Feed
(F, zi)

Gas
(V, yi)

Condensate
(L, xi)

Water
(W, wi)
Figure 1-1 Three Phase Test Separator

Although the plant process flow drawing will show one composition for the raw
gas feed, it should be remembered that this is usually only a best guess, and the
actual feed gas composition will vary. In some reservoirs the gas composition
from individual wells varies and the inlet composition is dependant on the relative
flow rates. Variation may also result if a plant is fed from multiple reservoirs, or
as a result of retrograde condensation in the reservoir as the field is produced.
When adding compression to a field that has been producing for years, the gas
composition can be expected to be accurate. There are a number of important
items to consider when looking at the raw gas.
Water Content
Most reservoirs are saturated with water at reservoir conditions and as the gas is
produced to surface both temperature and pressure decrease. Decreasing the
temperature reduces the ability of the gas to hold water in the vapour phase,
while decreasing the pressure has the opposite effect. The net effect is usually
condensation of water from the gas stream. If the gas composition and reservoir
conditions are known, the amount of water is easy to calculate. See section 20
of the GPSA Data Book for water content calculations. Many gas reservoirs are
underlain by an aquifer containing brine. Generally, Reservoir and Production
Engineers try to perforate and produce the well to avoid producing any of this
connate water. In reality the total water produced may be a combination of water
of condensation and connate water, which may also change over time.
Measuring chloride content of the water provides a means to estimate the ratio of
each type of water produced.

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Hydrocarbon Content
The hydrocarbon content is usually determined by doing a well test where the
well is produced into a test separator or series of test separators operating at
different pressures. The flow rates and compositions of the liquid and gas
streams are determined and then recombined to give the overall composition.
Gas and liquid analyses are done using gas chromatographs. Identification of
the lighter components C1 through C5 is strait forward. The heavier components
are somewhat trickier, as there is a difference if the C6 component is hexane or
benzene. A good analysis should identify these individual components. This
allows the designer to base detailed calculations on a detailed analysis, or to
lump components when the details are not required.
Acid Gas Content
The acid gases, H2S and CO2 are usually determined as part of the hydrocarbon
analysis. When the H2S content is in the ppmv range, it is important to take the
sample into a Teflon lined bomb and have the analysis done quickly. Failure to
do this may result in the H2S reacting with the wall of the bomb giving low H2S
results. Believing that there is little or no H2S present in the gas stream may
result in the wrong process design and failure to meet the required product
specifications.
Trace Sulphurs
Trace sulphurs usually refer to mercaptans (RSH), carbonyl sulphide (COS),
carbon disulphide (CS2), and various disulphides (RSSR). These are more likely
to be found when the gas contains H2S. Identification of these compounds is
important as they behave differently than H2S in various treating processes, and
will impact the total sulphur content of the treated products. Specialized
sampling and analysis is required to obtain an accurate assessment.
Elemental Sulphur
Reservoirs that contain H2S often contain elemental sulphur that is tied up with
the H2S in the form of hydrogen polysulphides (H2Sx). The maximum amount of
H2Sx that may be present is a function of temperature, pressure, and H2S
concentration. The actual amount of H2Sx present may however be less than the
maximum. As the gas is produced to surface the temperature and pressure
decrease shifting the polysulphide equilibrium. The shift in the equilibrium may
result in the deposition of elemental sulphur if the saturation point is reached.
Sulphur may deposit as a liquid or solid depending on the local temperature.
Deposition may occur in the reservoir or in the production tubing. Deposition is
more likely to occur and cause problems when the raw gas is very light and lacks
heavy hydrocarbon components. The heavy hydrocarbon components will
dissolved the sulphur or at least transport it in the tubing. The amount of
polysulphide present is determination by taking a downhole sample at reservoir
conditions. Alberta Sulphur Research Ltd. (ASRL) has the equipment and skills
to complete this sort of testing and analysis.

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