Method for supplementing condenser heat rejection in natural gas processing

A method for supplementing condenser heat rejection in natural gas processing comprising the steps of:

• (a) providing a stream of natural gas;
• (b) directing the natural gas to a refrigeration sub-system;
• wherein the refrigeration sub-system comprises an evaporator that is configured to transfer heat from the natural gas to a refrigerant, thereby generating vapor refrigerant and cooled and condensed natural gas;
• (b) transferring the cooled and condensed gas to a vapor liquid separator to generate a first stream of processed liquids and a second stream of processed vapor;
• (c) circulating the refrigerant throughout the refrigeration sub-system;
• (d) routing the vapor refrigerant through a refrigeration compressor;
• (e) sending the vapor refrigerant to a refrigeration condenser that is configured to transfer heat load from live vapor refrigerant to atmosphere and to condense the vapor refrigerant into a liquid, thereby generating liquid refrigerant;
• (f) routing the liquid refrigerant to an accumulator tank;
• (g) routing the liquid refrigerant through an expansion valve that is configured to reduce temperature and pressure of the liquid refrigerant to generate reduced-pressure liquid refrigerant;
• (h) routing the reduced-pressure liquid refrigerant to the evaporator;
• and
• (i) passing at least a portion of the processed vapor via an actuated valve controlled by a processor to a processed vapor-to-refrigerant heat exchanger to remove heat from the liquid refrigerant before the liquid refrigerant is sent to the expansion valve.

A method for supplementing condenser heat rejection in natural gas processing comprising the steps of:

• (a) passing unprocessed gas through a gas-to-chilling fluid heat exchanger to generate cooled and condensed gas, wherein the gas-to-chilling fluid heat exchanger contains chilling fluid;
• (b) transferring the cooled and condensed gas to a vapor liquid separator to generate a first stream of processed liquids and a second stream of processed vapor;
• (c) allowing the chilling fluid to exit the gas-to-chilling fluid heat exchanger and enter a chilling fluid reservoir;
• (d) directing the chilling fluid to a refrigeration sub-system via a chilling fluid pump:
• wherein the refrigeration sub-system comprises an evaporator that is configured to transfer heat from the chilling fluid to a refrigerant, thereby generating vapor refrigerant:
• (e) circulating the refrigerant throughout the refrigeration sub-system;
• (f) routing the vapor refrigerant through a refrigeration compressor;
• (g) sending the vapor refrigerant to a refrigeration condenser that is configured to transfer heat load from the warmed vapor refrigerant to atmosphere and to condense the vapor refrigerant into a liquid, thereby generating liquid refrigerant;
• (h) routing the liquid refrigerant to an accumulator tank;
• (i) routing the liquid refrigerant through an expansion valve that is configured to reduce temperature and pressure of the liquid refrigerant to generate reduced-pressure liquid refrigerant;
• (j) routing the reduced-pressure liquid refrigerant to the evaporator;
• and
• (k) passing at least a portion of the processed liquids to a processed liquid-to-refrigerant heat exchanger via an actuated valve controlled by a processor to remove heat from the liquid refrigerant before the liquid refrigerant is sent to the expansion valve.

A method for supplementing condenser heat rejection in natural gas processing comprising the steps of:

• (a) providing a stream of natural gas;
• (b) directing the natural gas to a refrigeration sub-system;
• wherein the refrigeration sub-system comprises an evaporator that is configured to transfer heat from the natural gas to a refrigerant, thereby generating vapor refrigerant and cooled and condensed natural gas:
• (b) transferring the cooled arid condensed gas to a vapor liquid separator to generate a first stream of processed liquids and a second stream of processed vapor;
• (c) circulating the refrigerant throughout the refrigeration sub-system;
• (d) routing the vapor refrigerant through a refrigeration compressor;
• (e) sending the vapor refrigerant to a refrigeration condenser that is configured to transfer heat load from the warmed vapor refrigerant to atmosphere and to condense the vapor refrigerant into a liquid, thereby generating liquid refrigerant:
• (f) routing the liquid refrigerant to an accumulator tank;
• (g) routing the liquid refrigerant through an expansion valve that is configured to reduce temperature and pressure of the liquid refrigerant to generate reduced-pressure liquid refrigerant;
• (h) routing the reduced-pressure liquid refrigerant to the evaporator;
• and
• (i) passing at least a portion of the processed liquids to a processed liquid-to-refrigerant heat exchanger via an actuated valve controlled by a processor to remove heat from the liquid refrigerant before the liquid refrigerant is sent to the expansion valve.