FEATURES OF NATURAL GAS DEMETHANIZATION PROCESS

Today, a significant part of the raw materials used in industry consists of natural gas. Thus, an important and urgent task for the further development of the industry is the development of more advanced processes aimed at natural gas treatment and processing of. Low temperature processes in gas processing are widespread due to the increasing demand for individual hydrocarbons and the growing demand for liquefied gases. Low temperature distillation remains the most important method for separating gas mixtures, especially when high throughput is required. The demethanization process is an industrially important example of such a process, which involves the interaction of separation, cooling and heat recovery systems.This article discusses a number of basic methods for low-temperature gas separation, such as condensation, rectification, absorption and separation, as well as the features of their application. Low-temperature separation is carried out in two stages in column-type apparatuses, the first of which demethanization is carried out with methane and C2+ fractions release. An overview of the demethanization process currently used for natural gas refining is given, and the key features of the demethanizer operation are described. The technological design of the process of low-temperature distillation, the design features of the installations are considered, a typical scheme of the demethanization process is given. Various technological schemes of demethanization proposed in patents are analyzed. A comparative analysis of the use of tray and packed contact devices and criteria for choosing a mass transfer column apparatus are given. The demethanization column arrangement is shown, the internal devices of the column, the feed input system, as well as the method of supplying heat to the demethanizer are described.