FIELD DEMONSTRATION OF A MEMBRANE PROCESS TO RECOVER HEAVY HYDROCARBONS AND TO REMOVE WATER FROM NATURAL GAS

The objective of this project is to design, construct and field demonstrate a 3-MMscfd membrane system to recover natural gas liquids (NGL) and remove water from raw natural gas. An extended field test to demonstrate system performance under real-world conditions is required to convince industry users of the efficiency and reliability of the process. The system will be designed and fabricated by Membrane Technology and Research, Inc. (MTR) and then installed and operated at British Petroleum (BP)-Amoco's Pascagoula, MS plant. The Gas Research Institute will partially support the field demonstration and BP-Amoco will help install the unit and provide onsite operators and utilities. The gas processed by the membrane system will meet pipeline specifications for dewpoint and Btu value and can be delivered without further treatment to the pipeline. Based on data from prior membrane module tests, the process is likely to be significantly less expensive than glycol dehydration followed by propane refrigeration, the principal competitive technology. At the end of this demonstration project the process will be ready for commercialization. The route to commercialization will be developed during this project and may involve collaboration with other companies already servicing the natural gas processing industry