CHEMICAL and ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING, School of

Engineering
PROC 2088 Process Systems Design – Semester 2/19

Project: Ethane Extraction from Natural Gas

1. Introduction
Ethane is a chemical compound with chemical formula C2H6. At standard temperature and
pressure, ethane is a colorless, odorless gas. Ethane is extracted from natural gas, and is
predominantly used as a petrochemical feedstock for ethylene(C2H4) production which is used in
the production of plastics.

2. The Client
Vietnam does not have a petrochemical industry of its own though the country has considerable
oil and gas reserves and exports its crude oil and gas as raw materials. These natural reserves,
mainly natural gas, can in fact be value-added as feedstock for the petrochemical industry.
Without local capacity for chemical products, Vietnam has to import almost all raw materials to
serve demand from plastic production. Despite this fact, the plastics industry of Vietnam has
grown aggressively over recent years. The Vietnamese government is considering a number of
strategies and initiatives for development of the plastics industry.

The National Vietnamese Gas Company currently have a number of gas processing facilities in
Vietnam, south of Ho Chi Minh, processing gas from the southern offshore reserves of Nam Con
Son and Bach Ho. Gas processing facilities are often constructed as a series of identical or
similar process “trains” producing sales gas and liquid products, generally condensate and LPG.
The company plans to expand one of it’s existing gas plants to include a second gas processing
train to take a new pipeline feed stream from an expansion of the offshore developments. They
have engaged your company to prepare a design for this new train including the additional ability
to extract ethane as a potential feedstock to a new petrochemical complex planned to come on
line in 2020.

3. The Global Market

The United States, the Middle East and Canada have long been the dominant producers and
consumers of ethane. Western Europe and Asia have consumed much smaller amounts and
Japan has essentially no market for ethane. Moreover, China consumes negligible amounts of
ethane in comparison to North America and the Middle East. In the Middle East, ethane
consumption has grown with additions to ethylene capacity. Due to shale gas/oil developments in
the United States, the country has witnessed a surplus availability of NGLs, including that of
ethane. The abundance of ethane in the United States will result in domestic ethylene expansions
and new unit additions from 2012 to 2020.

Of the ethane that is extracted from natural gas processing and that of petroleum refineries, 99%
is used as feedstock for ethylene production. Feedstock prices, ethane availability, and demand
for ethylene and downstream petrochemical products will help determine future ethane producers
and consumers, as well as production levels.

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Figure 1: World Production of Ethylene by Feedstock—2012
(Source: CEH Marketing Research Report, Ethane 2012)

The following table presents supply/demand for ethane in the major countries/region:

Table -1. Supply/Demand for Ethane by Major Country/Region—2012a

(Source: CEH Marketing Research Report, Ethane 2012)
Production Consumption Average Growth
Country/Region (thousands of rate, 2012-2017
metric tons) 2012 2017 (%)

United States 21,029 21,029 27,600 5.6

Canada 4,466 4,466 5,925 5.8

Middle East 21,500 20,383 24,950 4.1

Total 46,995 45,878 58,475 5.0%

a. This table focuses on the major supply/demand countries/regions for ethane. Other regions consume
and/or produce ethane in smaller quantities, as well as using mostly naphtha feedstock for ethylene
production.

The United States, the Middle East and Canada represent 80% of total world ethane consumption
in 2012. Vietnam currently has no demand for ethane as there are no facilities for ethylene
production.

4. Scope of the Project

The project is to design a gas processing facility to process 5.6 MMSCMD of raw gas. The facility
products will be sales gas, condensate and ethane.

Select the JT process and confirm suitability to achieve required ethane product recovery of 60 ktpa.

The supply and product pipelines are excluded from the scope of the project.

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5. Plant Location

The plant will be located at an existing gas processing facility in the southern province of Ba Ria-
Vung Tau, Vietnam.

6. Brief Description of the Processes

Natural gas and associated liquids occur as a combination of hydrocarbons from methane to
heavy C10+. Methane is the main component of sales gas and ethane is extracted by recovery of
natural gas liquids followed by fractionation. Natural gas liquids are recovered using the generic
separation methods of

• Absorption processes – such as lean oil

• Cooling – including Joule-Thomson (JT), refrigeration and Turbo expander processes

with an associated fractionation column.

• Physical separation processes – such a membranes

A brief overview of the processes is discussed below. Some of these processes may incur license
fees.

6.1 Lean Oil Absorption

In the lean oil absorption process, NGL’s are removed by contacting the natural gas with a liquid
hydrocarbon solvent. The lean oil absorbs the NGL's in an absorber column, resulting in rich oil
which is subjected to a distillation process to separate the NGL's for sale and recycling the
regenerated lean oil to the absorber column. The process is well established with the basic
absorption process being modified and improved over time.

In the ambient lean oil absorption process the natural gas is contacted with the lean oil (molecular
weight of about 150) in an absorber column at an ambient temperature of approximately 38°C.
The rich oil exiting the bottom of the absorber flows into a Depropaniser which separates the
propane and lighter components, returning the lighter components to the gas stream. The rich oil
is then fractionated in a distillation column, where the NGL's (C4+) are recovered as an overhead
product and the lean oil is recycled to the absorber column. Typically, the heavier hydrocarbons,
(butanes+) are recovered in significant amounts but ethane recoveries are limited.

In the refrigerated lean oil absorption process, the lean oil is chilled in a heat exchanger against
propane refrigerant to improve the recovery of propane to 90%, and depending upon the gas
composition, up to 40% of the ethane in the feed may be recovered (Reference 1). Reducing the
molecular weight of lean oil and cooling enhances the lighter component absorption in this
process.

6.2 JT and Refrigeration Process

The JT valve process is an expansion refrigeration process. Inlet gas is cooled in a gas-gas
exchanger using colder flashed gas from the low temperature separator. Gas is expanded is
enthalpically across a valve resulting in cold temperatures which condense hydrocarbon liquids
(and water, depending on dehydration option) from the gas. Varying the pressure drop alters the
temperature downstream of the valve and consequently, the amount of hydrocarbon liquids
condensed.

External refrigeration of the gas stream is also used to cool gas to condense higher fractions out
of the vapour phase. Often propane is an ideal choice for producing gas to meet sales pipeline
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gas specification however mixed refrigerants are also used, especially in the LNG extraction
process for achieving lower dewpoint for NGL recovery.

JT Process

Refrigeration Process

6.3 Turbo Expander

The process is an expansion refrigeration process, similar to the JT Valve process. However, a
turbo expander is used to expand the vapor and lower the temperature, instead of a valve. The
turbo expansion process is isentropic and gives a lower temperature (for the same pressure drop)
than a JT Valve process. The work extracted from the expansion is used to recompress the
treated gas and lower the compression duty requirements via a mechanically connected
compressor.

The turbo expander is used with a number of licensed technologies including the Randall Gas
Technology Super Hy-Pro indicated below. Ortloft also offer a wide range of processes.

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6.4 Twister
This process uses a supersonic nozzle to reduce the gas stream pressure and form liquids. This
supersonic stream then passes across vanes which swirl the stream, which induce a centrifugal
motion forcing the liquid to the wall where it is drained from the apparatus. The vapour then
passes to diffuser nozzle where it expands and recovers 70% to 80% of the initial pressure.

6.5 Membranes
Process uses a polymer membrane to selectively separate heavy end hydrocarbons. Membranes
operate on a solution diffusion principle and the “speed” of migration of the different species
effects the separation.

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7. Specific Tasks

You are part of the contractors design team and you have been asked to carry out a feasibility
study on the addition of ethane extraction to a planned new gas processing train.

The feasibility study should;

• consider the market for ethane and the surety of gas supply to confirm the viability of the
investment, and

• review alternative process technologies for ethane extraction and provide a comparison
between the considered technologies. Select the JT process and confirm suitability to
achieve required ethane product throughput (60 ktpa)

Once the market survey and process technology selection have been completed you are required
to prepare a report including the following:

• Mass and energy balances for the JT process to indicate flow rates, temperatures,
pressures, composition, heat duty etc.

• Detailed Process Flow Diagram (PFD) of selected process

• Indicative specification of utility requirements

8. Some Useful References

1. Elliot, D.G., 1997. "Technical Committee Guides Plant Design", Oil & Gas Journal
Supplement, Mar. 4, p37

2. John M Campbell, Gas Conditioning and Processing, Eighth edition, Volume 2:

The Equipment Modules, 2004
3. “Next Generation Processes for NGL/LPG Recovery” presented by Ortloff engineers at
the 77th annual gas processes association March 1998.

4. Gas Processors Suppliers Association – Engineering Data Book Twelfth Edition

5. http://www.academia.edu/9399279/LNG_Technology_Portofolio

6. Dow Gas Treating Products and Services website

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