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The improvement and analysis of the high‐pressure propane recovery process
Author(s) -
Jiang Hong,
Zhang Shijian,
Jing Jiaqiang,
Zhu Cong
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
asia‐pacific journal of chemical engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.348
H-Index - 35
eISSN - 1932-2143
pISSN - 1932-2135
DOI - 10.1002/apj.2246
Subject(s) - exergy , propane , natural gas , exergy efficiency , process engineering , process (computing) , environmental science , process optimization , petroleum engineering , waste management , chemistry , computer science , engineering , environmental engineering , organic chemistry , operating system
The recovery of propane from high‐pressure natural gas is an effective approach to increasing the economic benefits of the gas field. Currently, the high‐pressure absorber (HPA) process is the most common process available for recovering high‐pressure natural gas liquid. We have proposed two improved processes based on the HPA process for propane recovery from high‐pressure natural gas: revised HPA and HPA recycle liquid (HPARL) processes. Through the optimization algorithm, the three processes were optimized with the lowest unit energy consumption as the objective. The optimization results show that the HPARL process has a substantial energy‐saving advantage when the feed pressure is sufficiently high under lean gas conditions, whereas the HPARL process requires greater cooling capacity than the HPA and revised HPA processes under rich gas conditions to ensure recovery. The exergy analysis of the processes under the optimized conditions shows that the main exergy loss in the three processes originates from the deethanizer and that the exergy loss difference caused by the deethanizer in each process is derived from the first stage and the eighth stage. Because of the extensive exergy loss at the first stage of HPARL, this process has the highest deethanizer exergy loss under all conditions. The exergy efficiency difference among the three processes is very small under different conditions.