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US 4,689,063 AGranted
Process of fractionating gas feeds and apparatus for carrying out the said process
AssigneeCompagnie Francaise d'Etudes et de Construction "Technip"
InventorsHenri Paradowski, Herve Parfait, Joelle Castel, Alain Vasseur
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention relates to a process and an apparatus for cryogenic fractionation of gas feeds, the apparatus comprising essentially a contact purifying-refrigerating column associated with a fractionating column, an exchange system, a plurality of ducts with valves connecting the above three elements and two closed end independent refrigerating circuits integrated to the exchange system.
Claims16
A process for fractionating a gas feed comprising methane and hydrocarbons heavier than methane in which said heavier hydrocarbons are recovered from said gas feed comprising the steps of:
- (a) Partially condensing said gas feed (106) in a heat-exchange system (103) and feeding said partially condensed feed to the bottom of a contact purifying-refrigerating column (101);
- (b) Withdrawing a residual gas stream (133) from the top of said contact purifying-refrigerating column (101);
- (c) Withdrawing liquid (125) from the bottom of said contact-purifying refrigerating column (101), and feeding said liquid to a fractionation column (102);
- (d) Withdrawing a gaseous distillate (116) from the top of said fractionation column (102), and feeding said distillate to said contact purifying-refrigerating column (101);
- and
- (e) Withdrawing from the bottom of said fractionation column (102) a stream of hydrocarbons heavier than methane,
- and selectively producing as said stream of hydrocarbons heavier than methane a stream selected from the group consisting of compounds heavier than methane (C.sub.2 + cut) and compounds heavier than ethane (C.sub.3 + cut) by, when a C.sub.3 + cut is desired:
- (a) Feeding all of said feed gas (106) to said contact purifying-refrigerating column (101);
- (b) Feeding all of the liquid withdrawn from the bottom of said contact purifying-refrigerating column (101) to said fractionation column (102) at a point between its top and bottom;
- and
- (c) Partially condensing the gaseous distillate withdrawn from the top of said fractionation column (102) in said heat-exchange system (103) and feeding the uncondensed portion of said distillate to the top of said contact purifying-refrigerating column (101);
- and
- when a C.sub.2 + cut is desired:
- (a) Compressing (135) at least part of said residual gas stream (133) and feeding said compressed gas stream (137) to the top of said contact purifying-refrigerating
- column (101);
- when a C.sub.2 + cut is desired:
- (a) Compressing (135) at least part of said residual gas stream (133) and feeding said compressed gas stream (137) to the top of said contact purifying-refrigerating column (101);
- (b) Feeding all of the liquid (125) withdrawn from the bottom of said contact purifying-refrigerating column (101) to the top of said fractionating column (102);
- and
- (c) Feeding all of said gaseous distillate (116) withdrawn from the top of said fractionation column (102), without condensation, to the bottom of said contact purifying-refrigeration column (101).
17 more elements
An apparatus comprising:
- (a) a contact purifying-refrigerating column (101);
- (b) a fractionating column (102);
- (c) a heat-exchange system (103);
- and
- (d) a compressor (135;
- 232, 235, 236);
- having
- (e) a duct (125, 130, 131, 132;
- 247, 249, 251, 252 253) communicating between the bottom (101b) of said contact purifying-refrigerating column (101) and said fractionating column (102) and passing through said heat-exchange system (103);
- (f) a duct (116, 118, 119, 120;
- 227, 228, 229) communicating between the top (102a) of said fractionating column (102) and the top (101a) of said contact purifying-refrigerating column (101) and passing through said heat-exchange system (103);
- (g) a duct (133, 134;
- 230, 231) communicating between the top (101a) of said contact purifying-refrigerating column (101) and said compressor (135;
- 232, 235) and passing through said heat-exchange system (103);
- (h) a duct (137, 138, 120;
- 244, 245, 246) communicating between said compressor (135;
- 232, 235, 236) and the top (101a) of said contact purifying-refrigerating column (101) and passing through said heat exchange system (103);
- (i) a duct (124;
- 220, 221) communicating between the top (102a) of said fractionating column (102) and the bottom (101b) of said contact refrigerating-purifying column (101) and not passing through said heat-exchange system (103);
- and
- (j) a duct (125, 127, 129;
- 247, 249, 250) communicating between the bottom (101b) of contact purifying-refrigerating column (101) and the top (102a) of said fractionating column (102) and not passing through said heat-exchange system (103).
19 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.