UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL DE INGENIERIA

FACULTAD DE INGENIERÍA DE PETRÓLEO, GAS NATURAL Y PETROQUÍMICA

X FERIA Y CONCURSO DE PROYECTOS

Simulation and analysis of a Dew Point Control Plant

Paredes Tocas, J.P.; Ubillas Alcalde, C.U; Carrero Sánchez, K.A.; Llamocca Manco, J.J.
Procesos de gas natural, sección A.

Abstract: In the present experience, the UniSim Design R451 commercial simulator will simulate the process
followed by a dew point control plant to condition 75 MMSCFD (output capacity) to operate in a field of gas
condensates. The gas processed in the unit has a Dew Point of 30 ° F at 800psig thus complying with the required
dew point specifications for a sales gas; Likewise, the liquid current complies with the 13RVP required in this
document.

1. INTRODUCTION liquid extracted from the gas during the dew point
control operation. The medium pressure separator
The dew point of a mixture of hydrocarbons depends functions as a three-phase separator. It separates the
on the composition of the gas and on the pressure and gas that changes due to the decrease in the pressure of
temperature at which the hydrocarbons of said water and liquid hydrocarbon. Water will be treated
mixture, as in the case of natural gas, will begin to and possibly part of it will be used as irrigation. The
condense and enter the liquid phase. liquid hydrocarbon will be stabilized using a
condensate stabilizer.
Heavy hydrocarbon removal may be necessary to
avoid downstream clogging or to meet sales gas 1.1 Objectives
specifications. When the gas is cooled, the dew point
of the hydrocarbons is lowered, which causes the  Perform the simulation of a dew point control
heavy hydrocarbons to condense and be removed. The plant.
methods that can be used to condense heavy  Analyze the results obtained and the function of
hydrocarbons from a gas stream are as follows: each of the equipment to be used for each of the
stages in the plant.
 Joule-Thomson Expansion.
 Refrigeration technology (propane, 2. MATERIALS AND METHODS
refrigerant mixture, etc.)
 Turbo expansión 2.1. Materials
 Membrane technology
2.1.1. UNISIM Design R451 Commercial Simulator
DESCRIPTION OF THE CURRENT PROCESS
Figura 1. UNISIM Design R451 simulator work
SCHEME
environment
The flow from the Wellhead will go to the Slug
Catcher. The gas processing plant will process the gas,
liquid hydrocarbons and water from Slug Catcher. The
gas collected by the Slug Catcher will be sent to a
high-pressure separator, then to a glycol dehydration
unit, and to the dew point control plant based on
mechanical cooling.
Slug Catcher liquid will reduce its pressure to
approximately 280 psig as it flows to the medium
pressure separator. After that, it is combined with the
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 Source: UNISIM Design R451 Simulator
2.2. Methodology: Figure 2. Flow chart of a dew point control plant
The stages are two: (sheet1).

2.2.1. Collection of information: Information was

obtained from the file sent by the teacher of the course,
including the composition of the natural gas to be
analyzed and the conditions of the compressor,
pressure drop and its efficiency.

NOMENCLATURE
% molar: Molar Percentage
Flow Rate: [MMscfd]
Pressure: [psig]
Temperature: [°F]

Table 1. Composition and data of natural gas (input

current) Source: File sent by the teacher.

Figure 3. Flow chart of a dew point control plant

(sheet2).

Source: File sent by the teacher Source: File sent by the teacher.

2.2.2. Operation Considerations: It was carefully 2.3. Simulation procedure

analyzed whether the process simulator that was used
supported the simulation with the existing database
and the necessary unit operations. The simulation was
carried out in steady state, where results were obtained
very similar to the real ones. The fluid package
selected to perform the simulation is that of Peng
Robinson, recommended according to the literature
for this process.
2.2.2. Simulation Development: This experience was
carried out using as a simulation tool UNISIM R451,
where the design of a dew point control plant will be
developed (Figure 2).
The problem is based on the Margarita EPF plant.
1) See how to change units in: Tools /
Preferences / Variables.
2) Create a reservoir stream indicating the
composition and conditions at which it arrives
at the plant.
3) Saturate the input current to account for water.
4) Simulate the control valve to adjust the
operating pressure of the plant to 1000 psi.
5) Simulate the intake air cooler to adjust the
feed entering 130 ° F.

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6) Simulate the condensate control valve and the Figure 4. General flow diagram of the spray point control
two-phase medium pressure Slug Catcher IP plant.
280 psig.
7) Simulate a high-pressure scrubber and a
glycol filter.
8) Simulate the glycol unit with the Component
Splitter tool. Making the water flow to the
bottom.
9) Simulate the cooling system (E-103, E-104
and V-106). Consider the C3 cooling from 45 Source: Own elaboration in UNISIM Design R451.
psia to 295 psia and the C / T 1 heat exchanger
housing in the first approach.
3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
10) Preheat the cold liquid stream with cooling
3.1 Results
propane downstream of the condenser using
the E-105 heat exchanger. Mix the condensate 3.1.1. Part 1: SEPARATION (SLUG
and the liquid stream V-106 to the IP separator CATCHER)
V-102. This first part covers the first 7 points of the procedure
11) Separate the HC current from the V-102. shown above, in which the inlet current from the
Current 7 will be 33% for stabilizing reflux. wellhead was saturated, and then a control valve and a
Use the divisor parameter. cooler were used to condition the current at the input
12) Insert a C / T heat exchanger to preheat the of the two-phase slug catcher.
column feed to 180 ° F.
13) Insert a 14-stage non-reflux condensate Figure 5. Flow chart of the stage of the first separation
stabilizer. The feeding will enter the 7th with a slug catcher.
theoretical stage. Other feed in stage 1. The
only specification will be 13 RVP at the
bottom. The maximum pressure is 150 psig.
14) Cool the condensate stream to 130 ° F with an
air cooler.
15) Compress the steam above the head to HP in
two stages. Consider the air cooler outlet
temperature of 133 F.
16) Combine the V-102 vapors with the vapors of
the upper column compressor. Compress HP.
Source: Own elaboration in UNISIM Design R451.
17) Introduce compressed vapors upstream of the
V-104 filter. Table 2. Table of results of the conditioning simulation for
18) Change the output temperature HX to 100 ° F. the separation of the input current.
19) Consult and solve the problem with E-101.

Source: Own elaboration in UNISIM Design R451.

3.1.2. Part 2: DEHYDRATION OF NATURAL

GAS
In this second part, points 8 and 9 of the procedure
were developed, in which the simulation of a high-
pressure separator and the use of the component
splitter tool that simulates a glycol gas dehydration
system is shown.
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 Figure 7. Flow chart of the glycol regeneration process.
High-pressure separator:
After the current coming from the wellhead passes
through the slug catcher, the collected gas is sent to a
separator at high pressure. It was considered to place a
cooler to simulate a possible condensation of the gas
due to a pressure drop in the line that Follow the gas
from the slug catcher to the high-pressure separator.

Natural gas dehydration: Component splitter

Throughout the dew point control plant, prior to the
mechanical cooling process to control the dew point, a
natural gas dehydration treatment is necessary.
Absorption is the most common technique for
dehydration. In it, the water vapor from the gas stream
is absorbed into a liquid solvent stream. Glycols are
the most commonly used absorbent liquids since they
have properties that adapt to the criteria of commercial
application. Therefore, to satisfy gas specifications
and prevent the formation of hydrates, dehydration of
Natural gas becomes necessary.
Because there is no absorption tower in the simulator,
the component splitter tool was used to simulate the
contact tower used for glycol dehydration.
Commonly the dehydration process is made up of two
sections:
 Absorption
 Glycol Regeneration
For the plant under analysis there is also the
regeneration section, which was considered not
necessary to simulate because they did not have the
necessary specifications, but it is correct to mention its
importance and the description of its operation. [5]
Source: DEW POINT CONTROL PLANT
SIMULATION EXERCISE
At the bottom of the absorber comes a rich water -
glycol mixture that passes through the reflux
condenser coil and goes to the "flash" tank. The
aqueous glycol mixture passes through the heat
exchanger rich glycol - poor glycol and goes to the
regenerating tower in which, the absorbed water is
distilled from the glycol by heat application, at a
pressure very close to atmospheric. The regenerated
dry glycol that is hot leaves the reboiler towards the
accumulator where it cools due to the exchange with
the rich glycol that returns, then it is pumped to the
glycol / gas heat exchanger and returned to the top of
the absorber.
Table 3. Table showing the conditions of dehydrated
gas at the splitter outlet.

Source: Own elaboration in UNISIM Design R451.

Figure 6. Flow chart of the process of dehydration of
the gas stream from the slug catcher.
Figure 8. PT chart for dehydrated gas.

Source: Prepared by the author in UNISIM Design R451. Source: Utilities tool in UNISIM Design R451.

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 Table 4. Table showing the points of the dew point
curve for DEHYDRATED GAS.
Source: Utilities tool in UNISIM Design R451.
Table 5. Table showing the molar composition of
DEHYDRATED GAS.
Source: Prepared by the author in UNISIM Design R451.
3.1.3. Part 3: MECHANICAL
REFRIGERATION (DEW POINT CONTROL)
In order to meet the requirements of the dew point for
the sale of natural gas, the propane cooling process
was used. For this, the gas must be cooled to a
designated temperature that will depend on these dew
point specifications. This will be the minimum
cooling requirement.
For the selection of the refrigerant used in the
mechanical refrigeration section, propane was taken
into account.
Equipment used in the refrigeration process:
 propane tank
 economizer
 chiller
 propane scrubber
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 compressor
 air coolers or condensers
Following the propane circuit, we see that it is a
simple refrigeration cycle consisting of:
 Expansion
 Evaporation
 Compression
 Condensation
The refrigeration cycle begins in the propane tank
(this equipment is not available in the simulator) from
which the propane that is preheated with the liquid
current leaving the V-100 comes out, then passes
through a separator or also known as economizer of
propane which is responsible for separating the
gaseous and liquid phase of the propane stream from
the tank. Subsequently, the liquid that leaves the
economizer (V-101) passes through a JT throttle
valve in which its pressure is reduced from 295 psia
to 45 psia in order to go to the chiller where it will
exchange heat with the dehydrated gas by cooling and
evaporating it So propane. The vaporized propane
passes to the propane scrubber to ensure that no liquid
enters the compressor, the flow of gas from the chiller
joins with the outgoing gas of the economizer to pass
through the compressor and bring the pressure to 295
psia and finally used an air cooler to reduce the
temperature of the gas and pass it back to the propane
tank.
The dehydrated gas stream cooled with the propane
stream enters the V-100 separator, from which the
gas with the specified dew point conditions comes
out of the stop.
Figure 9. Flowchart of the cooling process with C3
Source: Own elaboration in UNISIM Design R451.

Table 6. Table showing the conditions of the
refrigerated gas.
Source: Own elaboration in UNISIM Design R451.
Figure 10. PT chart for REFRIGERATED GAS.
Source: Utilities tool in UNISIM Design R451.
Table 7. Table showing the points of the dew point
curve for the REFRIGERATED GAS.
Source: Utilities tool in UNISIM Design R451.
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Table 8. Table showing the molar composition of the
REFRIGERATED GAS.
Source: Own elaboration in UNISIM Design R451.
3.1.4. Part 4: CONDENSED STABILIZING
TOWER
The tower is composed of 14 theoretical plates and
will have two feed streams, a feed that will enter
through the plate 1 and that is composed of 33% of the
liquid hydrocarbons that leave the three-phase
separator (V-102) and the other 77 %, which will be
preheated to 180 ° F by exchanging heat with the flow
of funds from the stabilizer tower; This stream will
enter plate number 7.
This tower will have as its only specifications 150psig
of pressure at the top and Steam Pressure Reid of
13psig at the bottoms; The bottom will be used as a
fluid to preheat the column feed and then go through a
cooler to bring it to a temperature of 130 ° F.
On the other hand, the vapors that leave the column
will mix with the V-102 separator gases and go
through a three-stage process to bring them to high
pressure and then mix it with the V-101 separator gas
stream.
Figure 11. Flow chart of the condensate stabilization
stage.
Source: Own elaboration in UNISIM Design R451.
 Table 9. Table showing the properties of condensates
that leave the stabilizer tower.
Source: Own elaboration in UNISIM Design R451.
In the table shown it can be seen that the condensates
comply with the specification of a 13 psig RVP.
3.1.5. Part 5: STEAM COMPRESSION
The gas that leaves the stabilizer tower leaves at a low
Pressure (150 psig) so it must be compressed at a much
higher Pressure (close to the inlet pressure), to join
with the steam current that leaves the Separator and
perform The process already described.
This will be achieved through a three-stage
compression process, each consisting of a separator, a
compressor and a cooler. The separator is to separate
liquids from gases and thus prevent liquid from
entering the compressor; which the second separator
will be one of the three-phase type, to eliminate the
maximum amount of water in the stream; The chillers
are placed to reduce the temperature that is gained in
the compressor, all this occurs in three stages to
improve the efficiency of the process.
Finally, the gas stream that leaves the entire
compression process joins the gas stream of the
separator to enter the Splitter and eliminate the
remaining water.
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Figure 12. Flow chart of the compression stage.
Source: Own elaboration in UNISIM Design R451.
Table 10. Table showing the properties of the gas from
the stabilizer tower.
Source: Own elaboration in UNISIM Design R451.
Table 11. Table showing the properties of the gas at
the exit of the compression process.
Source: Own elaboration in UNISIM Design R451.
3.2 Discussion
In this section we analyze and compare the results of
the dew point of the gas leaving the component splitter
(DEHYDRATED GAS) and the gas of the current 9
leaving the mechanical refrigeration cycle (GAS
REFRIGERATED).
We observe that in the whole process of the plant there
is a pressure range <970-1000> psig for the gas
approximately. Ç
Now for the dehydrated gas stream we analyze Table
4 and taking into account the pressure at which the
current is taken (980psig) we obtain a dew point of
83ºF.
On the other hand, for the refrigerated gas stream we
analyze Table 7 and taking into account the pressure
of 970 psig at which this current is found, we obtain a
dew point of 30ºF.
In addition, comparing the molar compositions of both
streams (tables 5 and 8), we can see that in the
refrigerated gas there are a greater proportion of light
components such as methane and ethane, however, for
the dehydrated gas there is a greater composition of
the heavy hydrocarbon components which indicates
that by cooling the gas in addition to lowering the dew
point of hydrocarbons, this propane cooling also
causes heavy hydrocarbons to condense and be
removed.
4. CONSIDERATIONS:
 Although the project was designed to
produce 75MMSCFD, in the results we
obtained 76.68 MMSCFD this due to the
various assumptions made with
discretion throughout the simulation.
DEHYDRATION STAGE
 It was considered to place a cooler to simulate a
possible condensation of the gas by a pressure
drop in the line that follows the gas from the slug
catcher to the high-pressure separator.
 A Set Point (Set-1) was used between stream 48
(Wet Gas) and stream H2O (Water leaving the
Splitter) using the Comp Molar Flow (H2O) as a
variable, since all the water entering will be
removed to the splitter.
MECHANICAL REFRIGERATION STAGE
 V-103 separator is placed for safety; since, as we
know we must prevent the entry of liquid to the K-
100 compressor, because this could damage the
compressor equipment.
 In the propane cycle, a V-103 stop was used
because the simulator does not have a purifying
device whose function is to prevent liquid propane
from entering the compressor area.
 A pressure drop equal to zero was considered for
the air cooler.
 Pressure increases of 350 psi are considered for
each of the compressor in the vapor compression
section.
5. CONCLUSIONS
 It was possible to control the Dew Point of a gas
stream from a wellhead, to maintain the quality of
the gas and avoid the possible formation of
hydrates, which, as we know this causes damage
to the equipment and possible obstruction in the
process pipes.
 The specification of 13 RVP was guaranteed in the
flow stream of the stabilizer column, which
guarantees a safer way to stabilize the
condensates.
 From Table 7, for a Pressure of 800psig the Spray
Point is approximately 30 ° F. Normally the Spray
Point specifications for the sales gas at a typical
pressure of 800psig is 15 to 30 ° F; According to
this, the process and the considerations made in
the simulator are adequate to achieve these
specifications.
6. BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES
[1] S. Mokhatab, Handbook of Natural Gas
Transmission and Processing, 1 ed., GULF,
2006, pp. 295-296.
[2] M. Martinez, Ingeniería de Gas, Principios y
Aplicaciones. Deshidratación de Gas
Natural., Ingenieros Consultores, S.R.L.
[3] Control de punto de rocío, áreas de
negocio, OSL Iberia.
[4] Operación de plantas de procesamiento
de Gas Natural, Osignermin, Jessica Gomez
Pocomucha.
[5] Simple Dew Point Control – HYSYS
v10

CONDENSATE STABILIZATION

 The condensate stabilizer tower is designed to

minimize starting time and safely stabilize
condensates when working with a lower Reid
Vapor Pressure.

COMPRESSION STAGES
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