Remove nitrogen from natural gas to increase calorific value and/or to reduce gas volume for compression.
Natural gas is pretreated to remove constituents that can freeze in the subsequent cryogenic process or affect product quality. After cooling (1) against hydrocarbon product and waste nitrogen, the feed is expanded into the lower (high-pressure) distillation column (6) of the linked pair. Vapor rising through the column is rectified to yield almost pure nitrogen. It condenses against boiling hydrocarbon in the condenser/reboiler (5) located in the upper (low-pressure) column (4). If helium is present in the feed gas, a purge stream containing helium can be withdrawn from the condenser/reboiler for further enrichment.
Liquid nitrogen is taken off the top of the lower column and subcooled (3) by low-pressure nitrogen. Part of the liquid nitrogen provides reflux to the upper column. Methane-rich liquid from the base of the lower column is drawn off, subcooled (2) and fed to the upper column. A waste-nitrogen stream, typically containing less than 0.5% methane, is drawn from the top of the upper column. A hydrocarbon stream is withdrawn from the base and pumped to product pressure by the hydrocarbon pump (7). Waste nitrogen and hydrocarbon product are heated to ambient against the natural gas feed to provide refrigeration to the process.
For low-nitrogen content feeds, alternative process flowsheets using a heat-pumped single-column design, or a prefractionation column upstream of one or two further columns, give improved performance. Operating conditions: The double-column process is sufficiently flexible to handle natural gas with nitrogen concentrations varying from 5 mol% to 80 mol%, and can be a good choice for variable content streams associated with enhanced oil recovery (EOR). Feed gas above 27 bar can be processed without any compression. For feed gas containing heavy hydrocarbons or a low-nitrogen content, a three-column process is more efficient. The third column also improves plant tolerance to CO2, which may simplify gas pretreatment requirements.
Economics: The double-column arrangement can offer several benefits compared with conventional processes, especially for a feed gas nitrogen content above 20%. No power-consuming, heat-pump cycles are required, and machinery needs are reduced. In addition, all hydrocarbon product can leave the plant at high pressure, which reduces recompression requirements.
Licensor: Costain Oil, Gas & Process Ltd.
