METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CIRCULATING A GLYCOL STREAM, AND METHOD OF PRODUCING A NATURAL GAS PRODUCT STREAM

摘要

The methods apparatuses described herein involve recovering of glycol from an aqueous phase to form a stream of recovered glycol and a glycol recovery system. The aqueous phase is fed to the top of a lower theoretical stage in a distillation column. An overhead vapour stream is drawn from the distillation column overhead of an upper theoretical stage, and a bottom stream comprising a stream of regenerated glycol is drawn from the distillation column via a bottom outlet configured below the lower theoretical stage. The stream of recovered glycol comprises the regenerated glycol. In addition, a first middle theoretical stage is situated within the distillation column gravitationally above the lower theoretical stage and below the upper theoretical stage. A side stream of liquid water is drawn from the bottom of the upper theoretical stage in the distillation column.

主权项

1. A method of circulating a glycol stream, comprising:
conveying a process stream containing natural gas through a pipeline from an upstream location to a downstream location; injecting a glycol-containing stream into the pipeline at an injection point and conveying the glycol-containing stream with the process stream through the pipeline to the downstream location; at the downstream location, separating the process stream with the glycol-containing stream into at least an aqueous phase and a natural gas phase, said aqueous phase containing at least a part of the glycol originating from the glycol-containing stream and said natural gas phase containing at least a part of the natural gas from the process stream; recovering glycol from the aqueous phase to form a stream of recovered glycol, wherein said recovering of glycol from the aqueous phase comprises regenerating glycol by removing water from the glycol in the aqueous phase; and transporting the stream of recovered glycol to the injection point and adding it to the glycol-containing stream being injected;wherein said regenerating of glycol comprises: feeding the aqueous phase to the top of a lower theoretical stage in a distillation column, drawing a side stream of liquid water from the bottom of an upper theoretical stage in the distillation column, drawing an overhead vapour stream from the distillation column overhead of the upper theoretical stage, and drawing a bottom stream comprising a stream of recovered glycol from the distillation column via a bottom outlet configured below the lower theoretical stage, wherein a first middle theoretical stage is situated within the distillation column gravitationally above the lower theoretical stage and below the upper theoretical stage.