Separation News Spring/Summer 2014

SEPARATIONNEWSWhat’s Inside

Bolivia - Client Learns a Lesson

HRT Pilot Test for Sour Water in Refinery

Cryo Plant Deals with Differential Pressure Build

Direct Element Replacement Success

Pentair Awarded Large Filtration Projects

Reduced OPEX for Salt Water Disposal Company

LiquiSep for HF Alkylation Unit

Lean Amine Filtration in Natural Gas Plant

OIL & GAS SEPARATIONS

KNOWLEDGE // COMMUNICATION // INFORMATION

FILTRATION & PROCESS vOLUME TWELvE, SPRING-SUMMER 2014

O&GS NEWSLETTER // SPRING-SUMMER 2014

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bolivia - client learns a lesson; ultisep outperforms

In 2012 a large engineering firm based in Buenos Aires completed the construction of process train three of the Sabalo gas plant in Bolivia. The plant is owned and operated by Petrobras, the seventh largest energy company in the world, with trains one and two having been operational for a number of years. Unfortunately for them, it was not a complete success.

Included in the process design scope in 2010 were two coalescing filters for the natural gas: one on the inlet to the amine sweetening plant to prevent hydrocarbon and other contaminants from fouling the amine; and, the other downstream of the amine contractor to capture amine carryover. While the engineering design team was familiar with the Pentair UltiSep® technology, they opted to design and build their own vessels; using a configuration based on the traditional Peco vertical separator design (similar to what is in use in the older process trains). The vessels are 28” in diameter, with 15 elements in each. For elements they chose a 4.5” by 72” retrofit style element from Jonell.

After resolving the challenges one would expect in the commissioning a new plant like this, Sabalo 3 was placed into full scale operation in mid-2013. Shortly into service, operations noted that neither separator seemed to be functioning properly, as little to no liquids were being recovered. As a result, they were forced to lower the plant operating rate to 70% of design in order to remain operational, even then amine carryover remained high. Our regional representative, Tradicom, who has assisted in other process upgrades using our technologies was contacted and asked to evaluate the separator performance using our UltiSep pilot testing system.

On-site testing confirmed that the inlet challenge rate was about 50% of the expected design parameters, at approximately 400 gallons per day. Yet, the outlet sample from the separator showed no reduction in liquids, so it was clear that the conventional separator with competitor elements was doing very little (tests are run on different days, so ingression will vary somewhat). A second set of tests on the amine outlet separator indicated that only 12%-13% of the entrained amine was being captured, far below that requirement of the EPC contract. At this point the customer took action to withhold final payments for the project as well, so a solution is needed.

Based on previous successes, Petrobras instructed the engineering firm to try to work with us on solution to the problem. In an effort to minimize the financial impact, the engineering firm requested that we consider a Nex-Sys upgrade solution rather than full vessel

replacement. We agreed to work with them, but could not guarantee performance as some vessel aspects were different that we would have liked. The customer agreed to let them try the Nex-Sys solution first; but, in the event performance still did not meet specification, full vessel replacement would be required.

Drawing review by Pentair noted that the coalescing elements were sitting directly on the tube sheet, with no stand-off to collect liquids. Fortunately, since the original elements were 72” long, the Nex-Sys team was able to design special risers so that 36” Apex elements could be installed while allowing significant volume to retain liquids. In early 2013, we travelled to the Sabalo site to assist in the installation of the Nex-sys upgrades packages, a couple of very adventurous days would follow, to say the least (but that is a very different story).

After upgrading, the inlet separator began to capture liquids very well and it was considered to be operating well enough to be accepted by the customer. However, the performance in the outlet separator was significantly improved, but losses were still too high for the customer to accept (it is thought that the unusual level control configuration discovered during the field installation may be a contributing factor). At this point the engineering firm has released a second purchase order for a new UltiSep separator for the amine outlet, designed and built at KMI by Pentair.

Building our field capabilities and successes on train three, Petrobras invited our team to repeat the testing on the existing separators on trains one and two. The data from these tests confirmed that the conventional separators on these two trains are not performing at an optimal level as well. Based on this data, they are also making budget and schedule arrangements for the upgrade of portions of these systems to Pentair UltiSep technology as well.


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Hrt pilot test for sour Water in refinerY

A sour water system in Virginia contains appreciable amounts of hydrocarbon from upstream operations. The hydrocarbon associated with the sour water contains insoluble organic components that precipitate upon cooling and can lead to extensive fouling at the sour water stripper, pumps, valves and other process equipment. This presents a challenge for operations because of the man hours required to clean and repair the equipment. When this equipment is shut down the sour water stream cannot be treated at the waste water plant contributing to high levels of accumulation in the holding tanks. Using the holding tanks for sour water is undesirable because it displaces storage meant for valuable product, equating to a revenue loss. The refiner has elected to validate the viability of Pentair’s Hydrocarbon Recovery Technology (HRT) as a remedy to hydrocarbon contamination of the sour water system. As part of the validation of HRT for particle and hydrocarbon removal from the sour water system, the refiner placed a pilot HRT system in service. The pilot unit was operated for a period of two weeks.

METHODS OF TESTING AND ANALYSIS

HRT was placed on the Tank 700 Sour Water Stream. The inlet was at the discharge of pump J-1678B from a 3/4” GA41 valve off line 6”-SW-1401-A1A2-L5’H-SR. The effluent was routed back to Tank 700 through a 3/4” valve GA41 on line 8”-0-152B-1P1(902). Flow through HRT was regulated at 2 gpm and it was increased to 3 gpm until the demonstration was stopped. The hydrocarbon drain on HRT was dumped manually and measured upon showing evidence of hydrocarbon accumulation. Unit operators recorded the flow, differential pressure across each device, system pressure readings and collected hydrocarbon samples when Pentair personnel were not present.

ANALYSIS BY GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY

Samples were pulled from the Sour Water stream prior to HRT and at the system Outlet. Organic phase samples were taken. These samples were delivered to STAR Labs, where the sour water inlet and outlet were analyzed by gas chromatography for Hydrocarbon Content with Carbon Number. The organic phase sample was analyzed by High Temperature Simulated Distillation.

RESULTS

HRT was placed in service on the Tank 700 Sour Water stream. The system operated with no measured differential pressure across either the Particle Separator or the Organic Separator devices during the days Pentair personnel were on site. After one week the flow rate was increased from 2 gpm to 3 gpm. At shut down the differential pressure of the Particle Separator increased to 7.2 psi and the Organic Separator was 2.4 psi.

Significant amounts of hydrocarbon were removed from the sour water stream. An aliquot of the sample was used to determine the nature of the hydrocarbon contaminant in the system. Simulated distillation of the sample indicates an initial boiling point of 98.6 °F and a final boiling point of 836 °F.

The recovered hydrocarbon was further analyzed to determine carbon number of the component fractions comprising the total liquid. The hydrocarbon represents primarily C6 – C15 components with a small tail of heavier components extending to C30 hydrocarbons.

The inlet to HRT averaged 419 ppmv hydrocarbons (cat naphtha). The outlet hydrocarbon concentration averaged 104 ppmv, providing 315 ppmv, or approximately 112 gallons per day of hydrocarbon recoverable by HRT, based on the sour water flow rate of 8500 barrels per day.

From the presented data, it appears that HRT performed within the design

envelope for the Sour Water system. Accordingly, an opportunity exists to significantly reduce the hydrocarbon burden on the plants sour water system contributing to re-occurring sour water stripper shutdowns, equipment fouling and potentially recover significant value through reclamation of cat naphtha from sour water.

PROCESS ECONOMICS

It is apparent that the implementation of HRT using 8500 barrels of sour water processed per day presents a significant opportunity for valuable recovery in operations. The potential economic recovery is greater than $78,000 annually, assuming that the separated hydrocarbon is re-processed.

The economic evaluation assumes recovered value of hydrocarbon only and does not include the additional operational benefits of inhibiting sour water stripper shutdowns, process equipment fouling and process downtime by reducing hydrocarbon entrainment to the sour water system by over 40,000 gallons per year.


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Pentair dust filters for removing desiccant fines and solid contaminants upstream of the cryogenic plant

crYo plant deals WitH differential pressure build

Inside of a dust filter

Left shows a sample of the desicant fines upstream of the dust filters. Right shows a sample of the solid contaminant that was captured using a boroscope while on-site at the facility.

A gas processing facility in Western Colorado was having challenges with building differential pressure across a cold box heat exchanger on the inlet to their cryogenic plant. The plant processes 450 MMSCFD of gas through a dehydration unit prior to feeding their cryo plant. The plant utilizes Pentair separation equipment to remove desiccant fines downstream of a molecular sieve. The plant contacted Pentair field services when they started to see appreciable differential pressure building on their cold box. Pentair field services were on-site to complete a plant survey and troubleshoot the process in order to determine the cause of the fouling.

Pentair Field Services along with plant personnel conducted a thorough inspection of the dust filter. The inspection included review of vessel preparation and commissioning procedures. The inspection revealed that the presence of liquid and solid contaminant on the downstream side of the vessel. Samples on the downstream side were captured using a boroscope submitted to Star Laboratories. Since this material was downstream of the filter it was not clear whether the contaminant was passing through the filter or if it had been introduced from another source. Pentair’s Star Laboratories used our SEM or scanning electron microscope to identify the elemental composition of the contaminants downstream of the dust filter as depicted.

The analysis revealed that the contaminant in question was made up of desiccant fines less than 0.4 micron in diameter that had been agglomerated into a paste with hydrocarbon present on the downstream side of the vessel.

As a result of the field visit Pentair and the plant have done the following:

• Pentair worked with the plant to revise their vessel preparation procedure to prevent liquid from getting into the vessel as it would appear the presence of hydrocarbon and submicron particulates is causing the differential pressure on the cold box heat exchanger.

• Pentair also conducted training for the plant’s operations and maintenance crews for changing out elements to assure a positive seal is maintained.

• Prior to leaving the site we conducted online gravimetric testing downstream of the dust filter to assure that there were no solids carrying over downstream of the dust filter.

Upon completion of our inspection and recommendations, the plant has not experienced heat exchanger fouling. We continue to keep in close contact with the plant regarding element change out and differential pressure monitoring.


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After our successful Compax upgrade of amine unit solid/liquid separators a few years earlier, the process engineer associated with that project presented us with a new opportunity tied to a Sulfur Plant expansion. He wanted to utilize our solid/liquid separator technology in 6 expansion vessels that would remove Iron Sulfide contaminant from a 214 gpm, 61 psig, 170 degrees F and .388 cP amine stream. However, the following conditions presented immediate challenges for us, regarding our attempt to upgrade those vessels:

• The vessels, which would be used for amine quench water, amine particulate and carbon bed after-filtration, were already at the refiner’s site and had unique internal hardware to support 3M brand 10 & 50 micron (absolute) Series 740 style cartridge element (see photos below),

• Because the vessel startup was to take place in just 2 months there was not enough time for us to measure the vessels, fabricate any necessary modification hardware and install that hardware, which would have been the sequence of events associated with a NexSys upgrade.

After internal conversations between our product marketing and NexSys team members a “direct element replacement” became the strategy for the upgrade because it appeared that our FEU7136 style element might fit the vessels without any additional hardware required. A few weeks later we were able to coordinate a NexSys field service measurement of the vessels with the refiner to confirm mechanical compatibility of our FEU7136 element. Once that was confirmed we quoted the refiner and received 2 very substantial orders yielding nearly 1000 elements (to the right is the filter element used in this upgrade). The refiner has since started up all 6 vessels, utilized thousands of our elements and is happy with their performance – a terrific situation for him and Pentair.

RENT TO OWN...SUCCESSdirect element replacement success on amine unit


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As oil and natural gas production continues to boom within the United States, more Energy companies are racing to build facilities on the Gulf Coast to boost exports of propane, butane and other fuel’s. The shale gas development has led to a surge in the availability of associated fuels such as propane and butane. Now, United States energy companies are seeking new outlets to ship overseas. In fact, the United States became a net exporter of propane and butane for the first time last year. Pentair’s technology fits well into this sector of the industry.

We were recently awarded two large projects at two different Phillip 66 sites. To win these projects, we collaborated with S&B Engineering on the Sweeney Fractionator project and Burns and McDonnell Engineering on the Freeport LNG project – both projects are located in Texas. Tim Taylor, Executive Vice President for Phillips 66’s commercial, marketing, transportation and business development, said in a statement “It’s an extraordinary time of opportunity for our company and our industry, especially in the rapidly growing midstream space. Given the anticipated growth in natural gas liquids production, we see substantial advantages in having fractionation and export facilities on the Gulf Coast outside of Mont Belvieu. These projects allow us to maximize our existing infrastructure and will position us for further growth.”

The Sweeny Fractionator One in Old Ocean will be near the company’s Sweeny Refinery. The 100,000-barrel-per-day fractionator will supply purity natural gas liquids products to

the petrochemical industry and heating markets. The fractionation facility contains our Polarex technology. The Polarex process was attractive to Phillips 66 because of its smaller foot print and enhanced economics of operations. Pentair worked with both Phillips and S&B Engineering to design this section of the plant. Start-up is scheduled for the end of 2015.

The $1 billion Freeport LPG Export Terminal, at the site of the company’s existing

marine terminal in Freeport, will supply petrochemical, heating and transportation markets globally. Its initial export capacity will be 4.4 million barrels per month, and startup is expected in mid-2016. Pentair’s LiquiSep technology was chosen for the separation of 185,000 BPD of Propane and 300,000 BPD of Butane. We are providing on this project 6 units. We worked closely with Burns and McDonnell Engineering and were awarded the project in June of 2014. Start-up is also scheduled sometime in 2015

These projects also include the storage of natural gas liquids and additional pipelines with connectivity to hubs in Mont Belvieu, as well as a 100,000 barrel-per-day de-ethanizer unit that will be installed near the Sweeny Refinery to purify domestic propane for export.

The market is growing every day and we see more opportunity growing in the LNG as stated earlier by Phillips “It’s an extraordinary time of opportunity for our company and our industry, especially in the rapidly growing midstream space.”

pentair aWarded large filtration projectsGROUND BREAkING PROjECTS WITH TWO PHILLIPS 66 PLANTS


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PROVEN V-MAX TECHNOLOGY

reduced opeX for a salt Water disposal companY

PROjECT BACkGROUND

A Canadian salt water disposal company had been utilizing 5 micron bag filters before injection into their disposal wells to remove particles and protect the well from contamination challenges. Due to the reduced available surface area provided by the 5um bags, the site has experienced significant challenges associated with minimal online life and multiple bag filter change outs (approximately 2–3 per day), heightened labor requirements and escalating operating costs. Over the last 4 months, Pentair personnel have been working closely with the disposal company to find a suitable solution to replace the bag filtration in order to achieve increased online life, reduced operational resource requirements and minimized OPEX.

An upgrade to Pentair’s V-MAX technology was installed in an existing vessel at ZERO capital cost. Pentair’s V-MAX technology has proven to significantly increase the online filter life by greater than 3x compared to the 5 um bag filter (4-6 days). Additionally, STAR labs provided analysis in order to supply the disposal company with tangible efficiency detail regarding the existing V-MAX element compared to the 5 um bag, as well as compared to a slightly tighter VECTRA design. Based on the particle loading analysis results, the total removal efficiency of the current V-MAX media is comparable to the 5 um bag, and the V-MAX technology had a better particle removal efficiency over the entire micron contaminant size range.

SUMMARY

The media evaluation and analysis results demonstrate V-MAX technology is superior to bag filtration for salt water disposal in order to provide enhanced fluid quality to minimize well fouling and significantly reduce operating expenditures and labor requirements by achieving greatly improved online filter life. Since the initial upgrade has been in service, two additional facilities from the salt water disposal company have completed the first stages to upgrade their bag filtration to Pentair’s V-MAX technology. Additionally, the benefits of V-MAX are being presented to the corporate leadership by the facility manager within the disposal company to recommend utilizing Pentair’s V-MAX technology versus bag filtration for all of the disposal sites.


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liquisep for Hf alkYlation unit at montana refinerY

P66 Billings Refinery is working on a project to improve efficiency of water removal from their PB (propene butene) olefin stream which feeds their HF (hydrofluoric acid) Alkylation Unit. The unit processes 9,000 BPD and has been served by a coalescer from another manufacturer for many years. The goal of a new coalescer system is to improve water removal by 20% to help optimize performance and efficiency of the alkylation unit, and reduce challenges downstream. The existing coalescer has a sight glass and a water boot with a valve that must be opened manually to discharge water to the sewer. The new coalescer will be equipped with controls to automatically drain the water to the sour water drum.

Alkylation

The HF Alkylation unit plays a critical role in providing one of the most important feeds to the final product gasoline blending pool. Alkylation processes transform low molecular weight alkenes and iso-paraffin molecules into high value iso-paraffins with a high octane number. In a standard oil refinery process, isobutene is alkylated with low-molecular weight alkenes (primarily a mixture of light olefins propene and butene) in the presence of a strong acid catalyst, either sulfuric acid or hydrofluoric acid. In an oil refinery it is referred to as a sulfuric acid alkylation unit (SAAU) or a hydrofluoric alkylation unit (HFAU). Since crude oil generally contains only 10 – 40 percent of hydrocarbons in the gasoline range, refineries use a fluid catalytic cracking process to convert high molecular weight hydrocarbons into smaller more volatile compounds, which are then converted into liquid gasoline-size hydrocarbons. Combining cracking, polymerization, and alkylation can result in gasoline yield representing 70 percent of the starting crude oil.

Effects of Water on Alkylation Process & Equipment

Water is a major contaminant that promotes corrosion in several ways, so it is important to remove water from the feed. First, it is widely recognized that corrosion is a function of HF acid concentration and temperature, and that high rates of corrosion (>>100 mpy [ >>2.54 mm/yr] ) can occur as the acid becomes more dilute.

Second, the presence of water reduces acid strength and contributes to the formation of corrosive ASO (acid soluble oils). Both the water and the ASO must be removed through regeneration of the acid.

In the reaction section of the alky unit, acid water content is normally to be kept at no more than 2%. Excessive water increases corrosion, and as particles of iron fluoride scale become dislodged and travel with the process streams, the result is often fouling of heat

exchangers and plugging of trays.

In the fractionation section, iron fluoride caused by the corrosion process can return to the towers with the reflux and lay down on the trays or foul reboilers. Significant deposiits may lead to accelerated tower fouling, impacting fractionation and resulting in the inability to maintain iC4 purity

Pentair’s Recommended Solution

Pentair is proposing a skidded package to include a 20” LiquiSep complete with piping, valves, instrumentation and controls. Given the high separations efficiency of our design, utilizing LiquiForm elements, we expect to exceed expectations by reducing water in the feed to concentrations below their goal. Expected project timing: Q3 2014


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lean amine filtration in a natural gas processing plant

Sweet GasUltiSep

Lean AmineAcid Removal Unit

Absober

Liquid Particle Filter AdsorbOR

Gas from Production Plant

ProcessOR LiquiSep

UltiSep

Three phase separator

Regeneration Column

Condensate and Water

Flush Tank

Light HC

Flush Tank

Liquid Particle Filter

Acid Gas to Sulfur Plant

Raw natural gas usually contains various contaminants which mainly consist of acid gases (CO2, H2S, etc.), water, other gases (nitrogen, helium) and mercury. In this particular process, raw gas was first fed into a three- phase separator, where gas was separated into sour gas, condensate, and water condensate respectively. After proper filtration treatment, the condensate was then sent to a condensate stabilization plant and then was fractionated into sales LPG/gasoline. The water was purified with proper treatments in a water treatment plant, meanwhile, sent to a stripper to recover hydrocarbon carried over.

Sour gas first flows through an amine absorber where CO2, H2S are removed by lean amine. Rich amine then flows into a regeneration column, where acid gases are released into a claus unit and the lean amine is regenerated and recycled. Following the amine absorber, there is a dehydration unit where sweet gas is dehydrated by using MEG. Dry gas is then sent through a chiller to a fractionation column where condensates are sent to fractionation plant, and sales gas will be transferred through transmission plant. Meanwhile, rich MEG needs to be regenerated by a stripping column. However, rich MEG contains traces amount of rust, dust and solid particles and must be removed prior to the Stripper column, otherwise, it will cause corrosion of re-boiler.

After evaluating this process and reviewing the spec sheet provided by the client, Pentair recommended and provided a particle separator; ProcessOR and an AdsorbOR which were sized to fit the application. As indicated in blue in PFD above, a pre-filter with 25um rating is applied to remove large particles to protect Activated Carbon bed (AC bed), which is for removing color and odors in lean amine. A 10 um rating PrecessOR is positioned after the AC bed to remove active carbon powder carried over if any.


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groWing activitY in east teXas = anotHer Win for compaX

Background

Our client operates a growing number of gas processing plants in northeast Texas. Drilling activity in the area has been increasing over the past 2 years resulting in logistical opportunities for the area gathering and processing operators. Many companies have made capital investment to existing facilities along with new greenfield plants for the area. This area is rich in oil along with liquids rich gas from the wellheads. Every new plant incorporates an amine treater to remove CO2 down to the pipeline specifications. The treated gas feeds the cryogenic plant to liquefy the heavier constituents of the gas for sales to a liquid pipeline. The leftovers after the cryogenic plant are known as residue. This residue gas is what is sent to the gas sales pipeline. The opportunity to optimize these many gas processing amine treaters is were Pentair can shine. Our technology is easier to use, more efficient, and most importantly economical for our clients. We are able to extend change out intervals to maximize our clients capital investment with minimal operational expense and downtime.

Solution

Pentair was requested onsite to evaluate options for improving ergonomics and more importantly increase online life. Through evaluations from our Nex-Sys engineering team, we were able to provide a great solution that took care of both priorities the client had. We were able to not only increase the surface area by 25%, we were able to improve ergonomics and online life by an approximate 35-50%. The client has decided to standardize on Pentair technology for their amine system separations needs. We are currently working to upgrade a similar system to our V-Max offering. Along with these two wins. They are currently in construction of fourth plant on their site that Pentair has already been engaged to provide separation for the brand new amine treater.

Natural Gas Pipeline


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On the CoverA lit up shot of pipelines leading into a gas plant. Critical contamination control is required for such pipelines.

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Separation News Spring/Summer 2014