The Preliminary Study To Removing Oil Content In Condensate Steam Of Gland Seal System With Activated Carbon

Abstract

PT Badak NGL is a Liquified Natural Gas Company based in Bontang KALTIM, in the process of liquefying natural gas using a refrigeration compressor which powered by steam turbine, the steam turbine uses gland seal system to prevent steam leakage to the environment and the air entry to the vacuum system of steam turbine that will impact the performance of the steam turbine. Gland seal system uses low pressure steam that controlled by control valve. After that the steam will be condensed by condenser, the result of condensate steam is 35 mL/s average. Condensate steam from gland seal system is contaminated by oil about 2-7 mg/L. One of the effort for efficiency the water and chemical used so the condensate steam can be reused for boiler feed water, but the oil content must be reduced to 0.5 mg/L as required by ASME (the American Society of Mechanical Engineer). From the preliminary study in the form of experiments carried out to examine the use of activated carbon in removing oil content, it was concluded that the activated carbon was effective in removing the dissolved oil content in condensate steam from gland seal system outlet. The results of the test are obtained isotherm graph with the “Freundlich” equation approach obtained the need for activated carbon as much as 25 kg and dimension of columns with a length 2.23 m and a diameter 0.14 m. From a series of pilot-scale experiments it can be concluded that the optimum flow rates are 37,09 mL/s & 12,24 mL/s.