Back to results
US 11,428,464 B2Granted
Process integration for natural gas liquid recovery
AssigneeSaudi Arabian Oil Company
InventorsMahmoud Bahy Mahmoud Noureldin, Akram Hamed Mohamed Kamel, Abdulaziz A. AlNajjar
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
This specification relates to operating industrial facilities, for example, crude oil refining facilities or other industrial facilities that include operating plants that process natural gas or recover natural gas liquids.
Claims18
A natural gas liquid recovery system comprising:
- a first chill down separator;
- a second chill down separator;
- a third chill down separator;
- a de-methanizer column;
- a plurality of hot process streams comprising:
- a feed gas;
- a dehydrated first chill down vapor from one or more feed gas dehydrators;
- and
- a second chill down vapor from the second chill down separator;
- a plurality of cold process stream comprising:
- a high pressure residue gas from the third chill down separator;
- an overhead low pressure residue gas from the de-methanizer column;
- a de-methanizer bottoms from the de-methanizer column;
- and
- a de-methanizer reboiler feed from the de-methanizer column;
- the one or more feed gas dehydrators positioned downstream of the first chill down separator;
- a cold box comprising a plurality of compartments that segment a plate-fin heat exchanger into a plurality of sections, each compartment of the cold box configured to transfer heat from one or more of the plurality of hot process streams to one or more of the plurality of cold process streams, the cold box configured to transfer heat from the dehydrated first chill down vapor to the high pressure residue gas through four of the compartments of the cold box, from the dehydrated first chill down vapor to the overhead low pressure residue gas through four of the compartments of the cold box, from the dehydrated first chill down vapor to the de-methanizer bottoms through one of the compartments of the cold box, and from the dehydrated first chill down vapor to the de-methanizer reboiler feed through one of the compartments of the cold box, wherein:
- each of the first chill down separator, the second chill down separator, and the third chill down separator are in fluid communication with the cold box,
- the first chill down separator configured to separate the feed gas into a liquid phase and a refined gas phase, and
- the one or more feed gas dehydrators configured to remove water from the refined gas phase to produce the dehydrated first chill down vapor;
- and
- a refrigeration system configured to receive heat through the cold box, the refrigeration system comprising:
- a primary refrigerant loop in fluid communication with the cold box, the primary refrigerant loop comprising a primary refrigerant comprising a first mixture of hydrocarbons;
- and
- a secondary refrigerant loop comprising a secondary refrigerant comprising i-butane.
22 more elements
A method for recovering natural gas liquid from a feed gas, the method comprising:
- transferring heat from a plurality of hot process streams to a plurality of cold process streams through a cold box, the cold box comprising a plurality of compartments that segment a plate-fin heat exchanger into a plurality of sections, wherein transferring heat from the plurality of hot process streams to the plurality of cold process streams through the cold box comprises transferring heat from one or more of the plurality of hot process streams to one or more of the plurality of cold process streams through each compartment of the cold box, the plurality of hot process streams comprising:
- the feed gas, wherein the feed gas is flowed to a first chill down separator of a liquid recovery section of a gas processing plant;
- a dehydrated first chill down vapor from one or more feed gas dehydrators of the liquid recovery section;
- and
- a second chill down vapor from a second chill down separator of the liquid recovery section, and the plurality of cold process stream comprising:
- a high pressure residue gas from a third chill down separator of the liquid recovery section;
- an overhead low pressure residue gas from a de-methanizer column of the liquid recovery section;
- a de-methanizer bottoms from the de-methanizer column;
- and
- a de-methanizer reboiler feed from the de-methanizer column;
- transferring heat to a refrigeration system through the cold box, the refrigeration system comprising:
- a primary refrigerant loop in fluid communication with the cold box, the primary refrigerant loop comprising a primary refrigerant comprising a first mixture of hydrocarbons;
- and
- a secondary refrigerant loop comprising a secondary refrigerant comprising i-butane;
- separating the feed gas into a liquid phase and a refined gas phase using the first chill down separator;
- and
- removing water from the refined gas phase using the one or more feed gas dehydrators to produce the dehydrated first chill down vapor, wherein transferring heat from the plurality of hot process streams to the plurality of cold process streams through the cold box comprises:
- transferring heat from the dehydrated first chill down vapor to the high pressure residue gas through four of the compartments of the cold box;
- transferring heat from the dehydrated first chill down vapor to the overhead low pressure residue gas through four of the compartments of the cold box;
- transferring heat from the dehydrated first chill down vapor to the de-methanizer bottoms through one of the compartments of the cold box;
- and
- transferring heat from the dehydrated first chill down vapor to the de-methanizer reboiler feed through one of the compartments of the cold box.
19 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.