Abstract:
Natural gas, a fossil fuel derived from plants, animals, and microorganisms, is a sustainable
and eco-friendly alternative to oil and coal. It accounts for 23.8% of global primary energy
consumption and is used in the production of essential chemicals like hydrogen, fertilizers, and
plastics. However, natural gas extraction often generates water vapour, which poses challenges
for transportation and treatment of raw natural gas. Glycol dehydration is the primary technique
used to eliminate water vapour, this research aims to understand these challenges, design a
dehydration process using Aspen software, investigate operating parameters, and study the
impact of triethylene glycol on the absorption process. The goal is to enhance water removal
efficiency in the absorption dehydration unit using TEG glycol, contributing to process design
improvement.
Aspen HYSYS was used to simulate the dehydration process and the results are being
presented in this report. It has been found a clear relationship between water content in dry gas
and inlet gas flow rate. Higher flow rates reduce contact time between gas and glycol in the
absorber, resulting in more gas carrying over and higher water content in dry gas. The reboiler
temperature, also affects the moisture content in gas. The TEG flow rate is another parameter
that was found to affect moisture content in gas, the simulation results also shows that higher
TEG flow rates decrease gas moisture content in gas but increase glycol loss and BTEX
emissions.
