Gas condensate stabilization methods: Optimum operating conditions

Abstract

Gas condensate is a hydrocarbon mixture. It could be converted to petroleum products like jet fuels and gasoline or used as a fuel. Processing of the condensate should be done to meet the storage and transportation standards. Reid Vapor Pressure (RVP) is used to determine the condensate vapor pressure and it must be in the range that doesn't allow the light components to separate as a gas phase in the storage tanks or transport pipelines. The optimum value of Reid Vapor Pressure in winter is usually 12 psia and in the summer is 10 psia. In our case study, we tried to find the optimum operating conditions for a current condensate stabilization unit as the Reid Vapor Pressure of the produced condensate is high and the plant is suffered from high gases emissions from the storage tank besides the problems which faced during condensate shipping. The current technique of condensate stabilization which is already used is flash vaporization technique. This study will show if this method is practical in the current conditions or applying the other method of fractionation (distillation) will be more practical or economic. That will help how to choose the practical method for your case. It is shown from the results that one of the methods or both of them could be practical. That is depending on the properties of feed that need to be stabilized. In general, the distillation method is preferred more than the flash vaporization method.