Mechanical Design of an Industrial Absorber and Regenerator in a Triethylene Glycol Dehydration Plant

Nigeria is ranked sixth in natural gas reserves, making natural gas locally content-driven and a catalyst for development and industrialization because of its importance as a starting feed material for petrochemical production and a clean energy source used domestically and industrially. However, this natural gas comes with some deposits of impurities like water, which can cause hydrate formation, blockages, corrosion and other flow problems during pipeline processing and transmission. To meet the specification for pipeline transmission, the triethylene glycol (TEG) dehydration method, regarded as the most effective dehydration method, is recommended. The TEG dehydration plant is divided into two parts, the gas absorption and the glycol regeneration. To ensure the lifespan of the TEG dehydration plant, because of pressure, stress and corrosion involved during operation, the mechanical design aspect of the absorber and regenerator column was carried out using the results obtained from HYSYS simulation design such as operating temperature, pressure and column diameter of (350C, 60bar and 1.5m) and (2040C, 15bar and 2m) of the absorber and regenerator respectively to give the most economical thickness of column body and head of (31mm and 30mm) and (15mm and 14mm) for the absorber and regenerator columns respectively using stainless steel type (304) as material for construction.