Natural Gas Field Treating

Trouble-free dew pointing of natural gas streams

Dew pointing helps avoid downstream equipment operability issues associated with condensation and liquid slugging, and controls gas heating value. UOP offers a broad range of dew pointing technologies including MemGuard™ Regenerable Adsorbent System to protect downstream membrane systems, mechanical refrigeration systems, UOP-Twister^® Supersonic Gas Separation System, Joule-Thomson plants and turboexpander solutions.

Efficient Water and Hydrocarbon Removal

UOP-Twister Supersonic Gas Separation System is often the ideal solution for natural gas dehydration, dew pointing and mild NGL recovery. This new standard for combined water and hydrocarbon removal from natural gas offers:

• Increased liquids recovery potential
• Modular system with compact footprint for quick installation and reduced capital costs
• Simplified design with no moving parts to reduce maintenance and inspections expense
• Glycol-enhanced and chemical-free options available to meet project needs
• Demonstrated performance with high on-stream availability
• Often ideal for remote and offshore facilities

The supersonic separator technology, introduced and patented by Twister B.V., is a robust solution for commercial gas processing applications. The UOP-Twister technology uses pressure drop to cool a stream to a condition where water and heavier hydrocarbons condense and are easily separated. The supersonic gas flow design results in a more efficient separation and can provide typically 20% higher liquids recovery for the same pressure drop compared to conventional Joule-Thomson gas cooling systems.

Additionally, the efficient separation offered by the equipment eliminates the need for chemical injection to prevent hydrate formation, a limitation of conventional gas dew pointing technology. There are no moving parts and reliability is extremely high. The compact design and modular approach provides efficient use of space in offshore applications or expansions in existing facilities. In addition, the technology is economically attractive due to the ability to achieve higher liquids recovery and reduce operating costs relative to other dew pointing systems.

UOP Russell

UOP Russell mechanical refrigeration, rich gas conditioning, Joule-Thomson plants, and cryogenic turboexpander equipment solutions can also help keep your gas free from liquids through dew point control so you can successfully transport your natural gas to your market of choice.

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Regenerable and non-regenerable options for efficient mercury removal

UOP offers regenerable molecular sieve adsorbents and non-regenerable metal oxide
adsorbents to remove mercury from natural gas, LPG and other light hydrocarbon streams.

Regenerable Adsorbents

Our HgSIV™ adsorbents are silver loaded molecular sieves specifically formulated to remove mercury. The adsorbent can be loaded into an existing molecular sieve dehydration unit to simultaneously remove mercury, water and other impurities. HgSIV adsorbents are regenerated with a clean gas stream.
View Flow Scheme

Non-regenerable Adsorbents

UOP GB adsorbents can be used for final removal of mercury from the regeneration gas of a dehydrator using HgSIV. This has the advantage of using a smaller vessel while treating a more concentrated mercury stream.
View Flow Scheme

Alternately, UOP GB adsorbents can be located upstream of all other gas treating processes to permanently remove mercury and prevent contamination of downstream process piping and equipment.
View Flow Scheme

UOP adsorbents are used to remove small concentrations of acidic compounds from liquefied gases to meet copper strip quality tests.

UOP is your single-source supplier for guaranteed mercury removal. We offer a product sale into your dehydration system or full equipment packages for use with our non-regenerated adsorbents.

To cost-effectively address the critical issue of mercury removal from natural gas and associated gas liquids, UOP offers state-of-the-art adsorbent technology for a variety of applications in a skid-mounted, modular unit.

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Integrated solutions for your entire field gas treating plant

Lightweight, Compact Membrane Solutions

UOP Separex™ membrane systems offer faster delivery and lower installation and operating costs. They remove acid gas and water with minimal operator intervention and maintenance. With their compact size, they are often ideal for remote locations where transportation logistics can be a challenge.

UOP’s membrane element portfolio offers a tailored solution to help minimize gas processing costs and drive increased natural gas monetization. With the most advanced and flexible membrane product portfolio in the industry, UOP can customize a solution that best fits your gas processing needs for increased capacity and/or higher hydrocarbon recovery.

• UOP Separex Flux offers balanced processing capacity and hydrocarbon recovery
• UOP Separex Flux⁺ provides higher processing capacity
• UOP Separex Select provides higher selectivity resulting in significantly higher hydrocarbon recovery

Because dry shale gases are lean in heavy hydrocarbons compared to oil-associated gas streams, the feed gas pretreatment requirement for a Separex membrane system is minimal and contamination issues are greatly reduced. In fact, operators have achieved very long membrane life in shale gas applications in the Antrim reservoir in Michigan, USA. For wet shale gases, UOP can tailor a solution to efficiently capture the high-value liquid hydrocarbons upstream of the Separex system.

Key Separex system features and benefits include:

• Simple installation and removal procedures
• Simple and quick start-up
• Fully automated system eliminates potential membrane damage
• Low turndown ratio can be achieved
• Operational simplicity and high reliability
• Optimized footprint when space is a premium

Reliable Bulk, Selective or Trace Acid Gas Removal

Remove CO₂, H₂S and other sulfur components from your feed gas stream with the UOP Amine Guard™ FS process technology. It combines the Dow^® high performance UCARSOL™ family of solvents with UOP’s Amine Guard system process technology. The process can be tailored for either bulk, selective or trace acid gas removal for CO₂ and H₂S. It is typically used to treat natural gas streams for pipeline, NGL or LNG applications or synthesis gas streams in ammonia plants.

The Amine Guard FS Process was introduced over 20 years ago and today more than 400 units have been put into commercial service.

Tailored Bulk or Trace Acid Gas Removal

The UOP Benfield™ process can be tailored for either bulk or trace acid gas removal in natural gas treating to achieve pipeline specifications. It is a thermally-regenerated, cyclical solvent process that uses an activated, inhibited hot potassium carbonate solution to remove CO₂, H₂S and other acid gas components. Introduced more than 35 years ago, there are more than 700 Benfield units in commercial service worldwide.

Existing plants can be revamped for capacity increases and/or heat savings through the use of UOP’s LoHeat™ technology and/or UOP high performance packings. UOP’s Benfield ACT-1™ activator is a promoter for the absorption of carbon dioxide (CO₂) by hot potassium carbonate solution. ACT-1 activator can do one or more of the following in comparison with DEA activation:

• Lower the CO₂ in product gas by 25-85%
• Lower the carbonate solvent solution circulation by 5-15%
• Lower regeneration energy requirements by 5-15%
• Increase feed gas throughput by 5-15%
• Reduce the consumption of anti-foam and other chemicals
• Reduce or eliminate the reduction of vanadium valence state from V+5 to inactive V+4 in ammonia or hydrogen purification service

Modular Designs

UOP Russell has extensive expertise in providing modular designs for amine treatment of gas. By putting the gas in contact with amines, contaminants such as carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, and others can be removed from the gas to help prepare it for market. We can also help you recover sulfur by converting H₂S into sulfur or sulfuric acid downstream of the amine unit. Our skid-mounted, modular equipment is designed to provide increased recovery and revenue for the best production and bottom-line results, at the best value.

Selectox for Sulfur Recovery

The Selectox family of processes can recover sulfur from gas streams containing 0.3 to 100% hydrogen sulfide with most units processing dilute acid gas streams with less than 25% H₂S.

• The US Environmental Protection Agency states that Selectox is the “best demonstrated technology” for many onshore sulfur plant applications
• Selectox recovers sulfur on an offshore production platform
• BSR/Selectox can recover sulfur from Claus plant tail gas at relatively low cost, giving overall sulfur recoveries of 99 to 99.5%

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The market leader in molecular sieve technology

UOP MOLSIV™ Adsorbents

UOP MOLSIV™ adsorbents are used in both gas and liquid service. Union Carbide scientists invented molecular sieves over 60 years ago, and today UOP scientists continue in their footsteps, creating new and better sieves for a wide variety of gas processing applications. To this day, UOP remains the leading supplier of dehydration adsorbents upstream of liquefaction.

Despite removal of acid gas to low-level upstream of NGL and LNG liquefaction, some CO₂ and H₂S can end up in the fractionated ethane, propane and butane streams. As a result, the natural gas processing industry uses UOP’s MOLSIV adsorbents for natural gas dehydration, mercury removal, CO₂ removal, natural gas/LPG desulfurization and ammonia synthesis gas purification. With over 2,500 operating units worldwide, UOP is the commercial expert in molecular sieves for gas and liquid processing.

Molecular sieve adsorbents composed of aluminosilicate crystalline polymers (zeolites), efficiently remove low concentrations of contaminants down to trace concentrations. UOP manufactures molecular sieve products such as beads, granules and extrudates, including standard pellets and UOP TRISIV™ pellets. The molecular sieve type, size and particle shape selected for a particular customer are determined by the application. UOP’s extensive database allows us to recommend the optimum products on a case-by-case basis.

UOP Russell

UOP Russell helps prepare natural gas for cryogenic processing by dehydrating the gas to be free of water. Our skid-mounted, modular equipment is designed to provide increased protection for the best NGL production and bottom-line results, at the best value. For transportation of natural gas, UOP Russell offers packaged glycol systems to remove water, thus preventing potential water condensation and hydrate formation in the pipeline.

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The most efficient and diverse hydrocarbon management technology portfolio in the world

UOP offers the broadest portfolio of hydrocarbon management solutions available. Depending on feed gas composition, pressure, flow rate and hydrocarbon recovery goals, UOP’s offering includes MemGuard™ adsorption, mechanical refrigeration, Joule-Thomson plants, UOP-Twister^® Supersonic Separators and turbo-expander solutions.

Modular Equipment

With modular equipment, monetizing your gas resources anywhere in the world becomes simple. The UOP Russell product family of skid-mounted equipment offers:

• Savings on total project cost
• Reduced time from investment decision to startup
• Reduced on-site installation time
• Simpler unit operations
• Packaged plant solutions that can be nearly 100% fabricated before gas composition or site identified

UOP Russell also provides mechanical refrigeration, JT plants and adsorption systems designed to increase recovery by removing heavy hydrocarbons and controlling the dew point. Condensate stabilization and ethylene glycol regeneration systems can be included if required for any of the dewpointing options. In addition, UOP Russell offers a range of fractionators, from which specific products such as propane, butane, iso-butane and gasoline can be delivered.

Watch the UOP Russell animation to learn how UOP Russell modular plants can be up and running six months faster than competitive offerings.

Mild Recovery

UOP-Twister Supersonic Gas Separation System is a robust solution for commercial gas processing applications. The UOP-Twister technology uses pressure drop to cool a stream to a condition where water and heavier hydrocarbons condense and are easily separated. The supersonic gas flow design results in a more efficient separation and can provide typically 20% higher liquids recovery for the same pressure drop compared to conventional Joule-Thomson gas cooling systems.

Maximum Recovery

If you’re in need of an optimized, integrated plant design, UOP’s alliance with Ortloff offers a superior combination of expertise and experience. Ortloff Engineers, Ltd. is a leading engineering and consulting company with a portfolio of proprietary process technologies, know-how and patents in the natural gas liquids (NGL and LPG) recovery and compact gas plant industry. Ortloff’s technologies are designed to increase yields of high value components from the natural gas stream while reducing power requirements. Ortloff’s proprietary technologies have been utilized worldwide. When combined with UOP’s offerings, it’s an unbeatable combination.

Recover Propane & Heavier Hydrocarbons
Ortloff’s Single Column Overhead Recycle (SCORE) process is state-of-the-art gas processing technology suited to the recovery of propane and heavier hydrocarbons from a natural gas stream. The SCORE process is one of many Ortloff technologies capable of extremely high propane recovery with high efficiency (reduced power).

Ethane or Propane Recovery
Ortloff’s Recycle Split Vapor (RSV) process is an enhancement of Ortloff’s original Gas Subcooled Process (GSP) technology. The RSV technology is extremely flexible and can operate as either an ethane recovery or a propane recovery mode. This flexibility allows an operator to maximize plant profits based on ethane economics. In addition, an RSV plant can operate at flow rates significantly different than design.

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