Intervening when feed gas is too lean

Heavies removal challenges for LNG projects

UOP and Kiewit, based on previous work experience, have found that one size does not fit all when it comes to gas treating for LNG plants. While many gas treatment process configurations are sound designs based on expected feed gas composition ranges, the actual operational experience seen in North America is that feed gas compositions have been extremely lean – leaner than ever anticipated. Whenever plant configurations are consistently operating outside of their design boundaries, operational challenges will result. This paper was developed in order to promote natural gas treatment alternatives that may be suitable when feed gas is “too lean”. Additionally, these schemes can result in an economic design with minimal operational intervention.