METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR COMPRESSING RICH NATURAL GAS

摘要

A method and apparatus for compressing rich natural gas is described. The apparatus has a compression stage that has a gas inlet for receiving rich natural gas. The compression stage includes one or more compressors and one or more cooling elements. A pressure vessel is also included for receiving the compressed gas from the compression stage and a liquid outlet is connected between the compression stage and a vessel having a pressure that is less than the pressure in the compression stage. The vessel has a gas outlet connected to the gas inlet. The method includes the steps of subjecting a stream of rich natural gas to a compression cycle to form a compressed gas and a condensate, separating the condensate from the compressed gas, flashing at least a portion of the condensate to a gas and recycling the flashed condensate into the compression cycle.