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Gas Conditioning System

Sources of Natural Gas Production
Natural gas produced from geological formations comes in a wide array of
compositions. The varieties of gas compositions can be broadly categorized into
three distinct groups:
Associated Gas,
Non-Associated Gas
Coal Bed Methane.
These produced gases can contain both hydrocarbon based gases (those which
contain hydrogen and carbon) and non-hydrocarbon gases.
Hydrocarbon gases are Methane (C1), Ethane (C2), Propane (C3), Butanes (C4),
Pentanes (C5), Hexanes (C6), Heptanes (C7), Octanes (C8), and Nonanes plus
(C9+). The non-hydrocarbon gas portion of the produced gas can contain Nitrogen
(N2), Carbon Dioxide (CO2), Helium (He), Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S), water vapor
(H2O), Oxygen (O2), other sulfur compounds and trace gases. CO2 and H2S are
commonly referred to as acid gases since they form corrosive compounds in the
presence of water. N2, He and CO2 are referred to as diluents since none of these
burn, and thus they have no heating value.
The composition of Natural Gas that is available at Vimagiri Plant is as
followed.

Calorific value: LCV - 8489 kcal/Sm3 (kJ/kg); GCV 9382 kcal/Sm3 (kJ/kg) and
The specific gravity is 0.6854

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Role of Gas conditioning: To determine the suitability for operation with a gas fuel
system, various physical parameters of the proposed fuel need to be determined:
Heating value, dew point, Joule-Thompson coefficient, Wobbe Index and others.
However, fuel borne contaminants can also cause engine degradation. Special focus
is given to the problem of determining the dew point of the potential fuel gas at
various pressure levels. In particular the treatment of heavier hydrocarbons, and
water is addressed and recommendations about the necessary data input are made.
Since any fuel gas system causes pressure drops in the fuel gas, the temperature
reduction due to the Joule-Thompson effect has to be considered and quantified.
The quality and composition of fuel burned in a gas turbine impacts the life of the
turbine, particularly its combustion system and turbine section. The fuel specified for
a given application is usually based on availability and price. Natural gas is a typical
fuel of choice for gas turbines due to its low cost, widespread availability and low
resulting emissions. However, the composition of fuel gas can widely vary, from gas
with significant amounts of heavier hydrocarbons1 (Butane and heavier), to pipeline
quality gas consisting mostly of methane, to fuel gas with significant amounts of
noncombustible gases (such as Nitrogen, or Carbon Dioxide).
Gas fuels for gas turbines are combustible gases or mixtures of combustible and
inert gases with a variety of compositions covering a wide range of heating values
and densities. The combustible components can consist of methane and other low
molecular weight hydrocarbons, hydrogen and carbon monoxide. The major inert
components are nitrogen, carbon dioxide and water vapor. It is generally accepted
that this type of fuel has to be completely gaseous at the entry to the fuel gas
system and at all points downstream to the fuel nozzle.
Gaseous fuels can vary from poor quality wellhead gas to high quality consumer or
pipeline gas. In many systems, the gas composition and quality may be subject to
variations.
Typically, the major sources of contaminants within these fuels are:
Solids
Water
Heavy gases present as liquids
Oils typical of compressor oils
Hydrogen sulfide (H2S)
Hydrogen (H2)
Carbon monoxide (CO)
Carbon dioxide (CO2)
Siloxanes
Other factors that will affect turbine or combustion system life and performance
include lower heating value (LHV), specific gravity (SG), fuel temperature, and
ambient temperature. Some of these issues may co-exist and be interrelated. For
instance, water, heavy gases present as liquids, and leakage of machinery lubricating
oils, may be a problem for turbine operators at the end of a distribution or branch
line, or at a low point in a fuel supply line.
Water in the gas may combine with other small molecules to produce a hydrate a
solid with an ice-like appearance. Hydrate production is influenced, in turn, by gas
composition, gas temperature, gas pressure and pressure drops in the gas fuel
system. Liquid water in the presence of H2S or CO2 will form acids that can attack
fuel supply lines and components. Free water can also cause turbine flameouts or
operating instability if ingested in the combustor or fuel control components.

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Heavy hydrocarbon gases present as liquids provide many times the heating value
per unit volume than they would as a gas. Since turbine fuel systems meter the fuel
based on the fuel being a gas, this creates a safety problem, especially during the
engine start-up sequence when the supply line to the turbine still may be cold.
Hydrocarbon liquids can cause:
-

Turbine overfueling, which can cause an explosion or severe turbine damage).

Fuel control stability problems, because the system gain will vary as liquid
slugs or droplets move through the control system.

Combustor hot streaks and subsequent engine hot section damage.

Overfueling the bottom section of the combustor when liquids gravitate

towards the bottom of the manifold

Internal injector blockage over time, when trapped liquids pyrolyze in the hot
gas passages.

Liquid carryover is a known cause for rapid degradation of the hot gas path
components in a turbine.
The condition of the combustor components also has a strong influence and fuel
nozzles that have accumulated pipeline contaminants that block internal
passageways will probably be more likely to miss desired performance or emission
targets. Thus, it follows that more maintenance attention may be necessary to
assure that combustion components are in premium condition. This may require that
fuel nozzles be inspected and cleaned at more regular intervals or that improved fuel
filtration components be installed.

Figure 1: Schematic of a Gas Fuel system, showing the pressure drop in various devices. If the
gas is not superheated sufficiently, its temperature will eventually fall below the dew point
temperature.
With a known gas composition, it is possible to predict dew point temperatures for
water and hydrocarbons. However, the prediction methods for dew points may not

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always be accurate. In fact, it is known that different equations of state will yield
different calculated dew points under otherwise identical conditions. Furthermore,
the temperature in an unheated fuel line will drop, because the pressure drop due to
valves and orifices in the fuel line causes a temperature drop in the gas (Figure 1).
This effect is known as the Joule-Thompson effect. Most fuel gases (except
hydrogen) will exhibit a reduction in temperature during an adiabatic throttling.
Hydrogen on the other hand actually shows an increased temperature when the
pressure drops, which is a potential explosion hazard.

Figure 2: Schematic of Typical Oil or Gas Platform Fuel Conditioning System

Protection against heavy gases and water present as liquids can be achieved by
heating the fuel downstream of knockout drums and coalescing filters Figure 2. The
idea is to have a saturated gas at the exit of the knockout drum and filters and then
to raise the temperature to the necessary superheat to prevent subsequent liquid
dropout. The system shown in Figure 2 is typical for fuel systems on oil or gas
platforms, where the gas produced is usually wet. For dry gas of well known
composition, such as from gas plants or for pipeline applications, a less complex
system may be appropriate Figure 3.

Figure 3. Schematic of Gas Pipeline Fuel Delivery System with Gas at Greater than Minimum
Superheat

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Figure 1 illustrates the necessity for a superheat of about 50F (28 K) over the dew
point to ensure that no liquid dropout appears in the fuel system components
downstream of the heater. A superheating requirement of 50F (28 K) is currently
acknowledged as an industry standard (ASME, 1992). The heat input yielded by a
specific gas fuel is determined by the gas composition (including the moisture
content), its mass flow, and its heating value. Performance representations for gas
turbines are usually based on the lower heating value of the fuel gas, because the
exhaust temperatures are always high enough to keep the water vapor in the
exhaust from condensing.
A gas analysis alone may not be entirely sufficient for the detection of heavy
hydrocarbons, because it may only include the gases, but not the liquids in the
stream. Also, it is common practice to lump all hydrocarbons from Hexane and
heavier into one number. While this is perfectly acceptable for the calculation of the
lower heating value as long as the Hexane and heavier hydrocarbons constitute a
minute fraction of the gas, it will lead to a wrong estimate of the dew point. C14H30,
even in parts-per-million amounts has a significant impact on the dew point of the
gas mixture, as we will show later. Certainly a gas analysis has to be used in the
project stage to allow for equipment sizing. Also, fuel systems usually limit the gas
supply temperature due to temperature limits of its components. If the necessary
superheat temperature exceeds the fuel system temperature limits, additional gas
treatment may be necessary.
Lower Heating Value, Specific Gravity, Fuel Temperature, and Ambient Temperature
are important parameters since they influence the energy of the fuel flowing in the
system. From the lower heating value (LHV) in Btu/scf [kJ/Nm3] and the specific
gravity (SG), the Wobbe Index (WI) of the gas can be calculated:

Because the fuel supply temperature Tf has an impact on the actual volumetric fuel
flow, a temperature corrected Wobbe Index is often used, where the reference
Temperature Tref is usually 520 R or 288K:

If two different fuel gas compositions have the same Wobbe Index, the pressure
drop in a given fuel system will be the same for both gases. The Wobbe Index is thus
an indication of energy flow in the system at the same gas pressures and pressure
drops.
A standard fuel system may for example be designed for a Wobbe Index of 1220
10% Btu/scf (48,031 10% kJ/ Nm3) based on the LHV of the fuel. Different gas
compositions can yield the same Wobbe Index, but they will have widely different
hydrocarbon dew points. Minimum engine flameout fuel flows will also vary if the fuel
contains high percentages of noncombustible gases. High fuel gas or ambient
temperatures can cause problems if the temperature capabilities of elastomeric
seals, electrical devices or other system components are exceeded. Low fuel gas or
ambient temperatures can cause water or heavy hydrocarbon condensation.
Protection against these factors includes analyzing the variations in the fuel
composition, fuel temperature, and ambient temperature so that the required
modifications to the fuel treatment system and turbine fuel system can be made. A
turbine expected to operate with gaseous fuels exhibiting a wide Wobbe Index range
will need to be configured differently than one that will only operate with a small
variance in Wobbe Index. The fuel supply contract should include the allowable

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variations in composition and temperature. The probability of upset conditions needs

to be evaluated and fuel treatment systems and turbine fuel systems need to be
designed for the upset conditions. Gas fuel supply and package lines may need to be
heat traced to keep the gas fuel supply above the gas dew point during periods when
the engine is not operating. Low point drains are also recommended if liquids may be
present in the gas fuel. This precludes burying the gas fuel supply lines underground
when liquids may be present.
Low BTU Fuel Gas
The potential concerns about burning low BTU fuel gas in a gas turbine arise in
general around three topics:
1- Can a stable combustion be maintained?
2- Can emissions requirements be met?
3- How does the fuel gas affect gas turbine operation?
A significant number of gas turbines operate successfully using low BTU fuels.
Landfill gas, for example, is usually of very low BTU content due to the high
percentage of CO2 (typically around 40%) in the fuel gas. Stable combustion
depends on the capability of the fuel system to deliver sufficient amounts of fuel to
sustain the combustion process. Low BTU fuels often have a limited flammability
range. This cans which can require the addition of gas with heavier hydrocarbons
(e.g. Propane) during start-up, at low load, or during transients. Of importance is
also the capability of the torch to ignite the fuel to initiate combustion. As described
earlier, the fuel to air ratio of an engine, without additional measures, tends to cause
leaner mixtures at low loads. Another concern could be the requirement for sufficient
residence time in the combustor.
Low-BTU fuels will burn at a lower flame temperature than standard natural gas
Figure 4, assuming the low energy content is due to noncombustible gases. A lower
flame temperature will reduce the amount of NOx generated. The dilutants (such as
Nitrogen or CO2) effectively cool the flame, thus generating a lower rate of NOx. The
emissions from a low BTU fuel are therefore easier to handle than the emissions from
standard natural gas.
Another question is related to gas turbine performance. The function of gas turbine
and its components was described earlier: The power needed in the air compressor is
proportional to the mass flow through the compressor and the power generated in
the turbine section is proportional to the mass flow through the turbine section. The
mass flow through the turbine section is the sum of air mass flow through the
compressor and fuel mass flow (neglecting steam or water injection and bleed air).
For a low BTU fuel, the fuel mass flow increases compared to the fuel mass flow if
the engine were to operate on natural gas. The fuel flow adds about 1.5 to 2 percent
to the air mass flow if natural gas is used, but a low BTU gas with LHV of 10 MJ/kg
could require a fuel flow that adds 7 to 10 percent to the air mass flow.

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Figure 4: Impact of Fuel Gas on Emissions

Therefore, the mass flow through the turbine section is increased, while the
compressor air mass flow remains the same. The increased exhaust mass flow
moves the compressor operating point to a slightly higher discharge pressure, which
means the compressor consumes somewhat more power. The net effect is a higher
power output of the engine. The engine compressor needs to have sufficient stall
margin, because the added mass flow will move the operating points closer to the
stall line of the compressor. Steam or water injections into the combustor have a
similar effect.
Dew point
For fuel gas containing heavier hydrocarbons or water, the temperature of the gas
has to be high enough to avoid the dropping out of liquids. The dew point
temperature of a gas is the temperature at a given pressure at which the first drop
of liquid forms in equilibrium with the gas.
When a real gas experiences a drop in pressure (e.g. due to a flow orifice or a
valve), and no heat or work is exchanged with the environment, the temperature of
the gas will change. The enthalpy of the gas stays constant. This behavior is called
Joule-Thompson Effect. The temperature will actually drop for most gases (in
particular hydrocarbons) except hydrogen when the pressure is reduced. Since any
fuel system will cause a pressure drop to the fuel , fuel gas that is above the dew
point at the fuel system inlet, could experience liquid drop out due to this drop in
temperature. The situation is often aggravated by heat loss of the fuel system when
the surrounding temperature is lower than the fuel supply temperature.
Because the calculation of the dew point temperature, the enthalpy at the dew point,
and the enthalpy of the gas mixture at various pressures is so important, we will
discuss it in more detail. The necessary calculations are performed using a suitable
equation of state. These semi-empirical correlations allow, for a known gas
composition, to calculate the dew point temperature and dew point enthalpy for a
given pressure. They also allow to calculate the enthalpy of the gas for given
pressures and temperatures. Thus, as long as the enthalpy of the gas is higher than
the enthalpy at the dew point (for a given pressure), no liquid dropout will occur. The
basis for performing a dew point calculation is the understanding that it is an
equilibrium state. The fundamental thermodynamic relation for phase equilibria, such
as the dew point, is that the fugacity of each component in the vapor phase is equal

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to the fugacity of the same component in the liquid phase. This arises because the
fugacity is a measure of the "escaping tendency" for a component to leave its phase.
Thus, when a component's fugacity is the same in two or more homogeneous phases
in contact, there will be no net mass transfer, i.e., equilibrium exists. The fugacity
coefficient is calculated using an equation of state.
If water is present in the gas, then the problem becomes more complex. Though the
systems of interest are mostly alkanes and, in some cases, non-polar inorganic
gases, an aqueous phase may be formed at a higher temperature than the organic
phase. The dew point calculated is not necessarily the relevant one, since it is
possible for the organic phase to drop out first. The preferred method is to calculate
both the dew point where the organic phase drops out first and the dew point where
the aqueous phase drops out first, and then to choose whichever temperature is
larger.

Figure 5: Dew line for different gas mixtures in a pressure(bar)-temperature(K) diagram. Gas
composition is: Methane 73.8%,Ethane 8.2%,Propane 3.23%, I-Butane .28%, n-Butane 0.78%, IPentane 0.24%,n-Pentane 0.18%, n-Hexane 0.18%, Cxx 0.71%, Nitrogen 0.93%, Carbondioxide
11.68%. Cxx represents either Hexane (C6), Octane(C8) or Decane(C10). Despite the fact that Cxx
represents only 0.71% of the gas, it has a significant impact on the dew point.
To conduct a successful determination of the fuel system capability, the fuel gas
composition, possible contaminants, the fuel supply pressure and temperature need
to be known. As part of this study, it became obvious that the dew point of a
hydrocarbon gas mixture is highly dependent on the heavier hydrocarbons. The
common practice to report Hydrocarbons individually only up to pentane, and lump
all heavier hydrocarbons into one C6+ number may yield sufficient information about
the lower heating value and the Wobbe Index of the fuel. It will not yield an accurate
dew point, however. In Figure 5, a typical situation is evaluated: A fuel gas
composition has 0.71 percent of its constituents lumped together as C6+.
Then, dew points are calculated assuming these constituents are either all Hexane,
or all Octane or all Undecane. As Figure 5 shows, even small amounts of heavier
hydrocarbons have a significant effect on the dew point of the gas mixture.

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Arguably, the practice to remove all liquids in a separator, and then to heat the gas
portion by, say 50F (28 K), will insure that the gas supplied to the gas turbine will
indeed be superheated by 50F (28K).
However, a proper sizing of the heater is not possible without knowing (at least
approximately), the required end temperature. Also, fuel system components usually
have maximum allowable temperatures. Without prior knowledge of the necessary
gas temperature, the fuel system temperature limits may not allow the necessary
superheat.
It must be noted that all the prior statements assume an adiabatic fuel system. Heat
loss in the fuel system will occur, however, if the system is not insulated and the
surrounding temperature is significantly lower than the fuel supply temperature. In
particular during start-up at low ambient temperatures, when the fuel system is still
cold liquids can form. A system without heat tracing needs to be evaluated assuming
the lowest surrounding temperature. However, standard heat transfer methods allow
approximating the heat loss of a fuel system under arbitrary surrounding conditions,
and using the first law of thermodynamics, to calculate the fuel gas enthalpy at any
point of the fuel system. As described above, this enthalpy has to be higher than the
enthalpy of the vapor at the dew point.
Avoidance of Liquid Dropout
Many gas turbine installations operate with very simple fuel supply systems,
especially if the fuel composition and supply temperature and pressure are constant.
If the fuel analysis determines that there will not be any liquid dropout under any
operating condition with sufficient superheat margin, the system as outlined in
Figure 3 should be sufficient. In applications where the fuel quality is subject to
significant change, or where a sufficient margin of superheat cannot be ensured, a
fuel system as outlined in Figure 2 is more appropriate.
In such a fuel system with a separator and subsequent heater, the fuel will leave the
separator in a saturated state (either saturated with water or heavy hydrocarbons).
The temperature increase in the heater is thus equal to the amount of superheat of
the gas. On a side note, for a given required amount of superheating, the required
heat input of the heater PH is approximately:

The heater can be electric, or use hot water; exhaust heat can also be used to heat
fuel, using heat exchangers.To determine whether the system will be capable of
avoiding liquid drop out, the enthalpy of the fuel gas has to be calculated at the skid
edge. Knowing the gas composition, the gas pressure and the gas temperature at
skid edge allows calculating the enthalpy of the gas. The pressure in the combustor
depends on the engine load (Figure 6). The exact slope of combustor pressure
versus load depends on the design of the engine; in particular whether it is a single
or two-shaft engine, and the type of engine controls used. We further assume that
the velocities in the fuel system stay low (i.e. there is no significant difference
between the static and the total enthalpy). The necessary condition to avoid liquid
drop out in an adiabatic fuel system is, that for all pressure levels that may occur in
this fuel system, the enthalpy of the vapor at the dew point is lower than the
enthalpy of the gas at the skid edge (Figure 6).
This approach does obviously not account for the effect of high velocities in the fuel
system, as they can occur in partially closed valves. These high velocities can lead to
a significant drop in the enthalpy, and can easily cause a situation where liquids drop
out. However, this situation is not as critical as it looks at the first glance. First, the
velocities will drop again after the valve. The static enthalpy will therefore increase,
so even if droplets may have formed, they will evaporate again. Second, it is known

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that in situations with rapidly accelerated gas there is a time lag between the
condition where the state of the gas would indicate liquid droplets and the actual
formation of droplets. This effect is frequently experienced in steam turbines, where,
during the rapid acceleration of the steam in the nozzles, steam can be substantially
supercooled without forming liquids.
Under quasi -stationary conditions, we can easily describe the change of states from
skid edge to the exit of the fuel injector into the combustor. The conditions at skid
edge are known, and the engine compressor exit pressure or the actual combustor
pressure can be used to approximate the pressure at the injector exit. The path in a
Mollier diagram is shown in Figure 6. The dew line, which is typical for hydrocarbon
fuel gas, shows a distinct maximum H/p =0. The shape of the dew line thus
suggests, that the highest chance of liquid dropout occurs not necessarily at the
lowest pressure in the combustor.

Figure 6: Engine compressor discharge pressure (PCD) as a function of engine load, and
the resulting process path of fuel gas in an adiabatic fuel system.
In evaluating these fuel systems, one must take into account that the highest
pressure drops in the fuel system may not occur at full load, but rather during the
starting of the engine, when the combustor pressure is lowest (Figure 6). In other
words, the system has to be evaluated for the highest pressure that the gas can
have at skid edge, and the combustor pressure at light-off conditions, as well as for
any load condition between idle and full load.
Additionally, unless the fuel lines are heat traced, they may be colder than the fuel
especially during start up. Therefore, a significant safety margin between the dew
point temperature and the lowest possible fuel temperature is necessary.
Hydrogen Sulfide
Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) causes a number of challenges to the operation of a gas
turbine. The fact that it is highly toxic requires sufficient protection of personnel from
leakages. Hydrogen sulfide and CO2 form acids in the presence of liquid water. Since
many fuels are water saturated, sufficient superheat over the water dew point of the
fuel as well as heat tracing has to be provided, to avoid corrosion of the fuel system.
The Sulfur contained in Hydrogen Sulfide (as well as in Mercaptanes) will react in the
combustion process to from SO2 and SO3. These gases are often regulated because
they can cause acid rain.
Additionally, if sulfur has the opportunity to react with sodium or potassium (which
often is introduced with the combustion air, especially in offshore applications) in the

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combustor, it will form alkali sulfates that can cause hot corrosion in the hot section
of the gas turbine. It is important to note that hot corrosion is often caused by the
interaction between fuel quality and air filtration quality.
Operation with fuel pressure limitations
The gas fuel supply pressure has to be high enough to overcome the pressure losses
in the fuel system, and the pressure in the combustor at the injector tip. If the fuel
pressure is too low, the engine output is no longer limited by firing temperature or
speed limitations, but by the fuel pressure. The combustor pressure is typically lower
at high ambient temperatures (because for the same compressor head, the pressure
ratio drops with increasing inlet temperature). Therefore, the engine might be able to
reach full load at higher ambient temperatures, while it cant reach full load at lower
ambient temperature. Depending on the engine type, the power output at low
ambient temperatures might even be lower than the output at high ambient
temperatures. The impact of fuel gas pressure limitations is outlined in Figure 7.

Figure 7: Engine performance and pcd pressure. If the fuel gas pressure is limited, the
appropriate line of constant pcd pressure becomes the limit for maximum available power.
Emissions
The fuel used impacts obviously the constituents in the exhaust gas. If the fuel yields
a high flame temperature, as it is the case with heavier hydrocarbons, as well as
Hydrogen, Carbon monoxide and some others, it will usually yield a higher amount of
NOx (Hung, 1977). On the other hand, fuels of this type often have a wide
flammability range. Fuels with a low Wobbe Index due to a large amount of
dilutants will yield low flame temperatures, thus low NOx levels, but can cause
problems for start-up and load transients due to a limited flammability range.
Another aspect should be considered: The amount of carbon dioxide produced in the
combustion process depends, besides the thermal efficiency of the engine, only on
the amount of carbon in the fuel. While methane has four hydrogen atoms for each
carbon atom, ethane has only three, and octane only a little over two hydrogen
atoms per carbon atom. Thus, burning a methane molecule generates four water
molecules, but only one CO2 molecule. Burning hydrogen causes no CO2 emissions
at all (however, most methods of generating hydrogen do). Burning coal or CO will
yield combustion products consisting entirely of CO2. Therefore, typical coal fired
power plants will emit 1000kg/MWh of CO2, oil fired plants yield 800kg/MWh, while
natural gas fired plants produce 600kg/MWh or less.

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Primary Pretreatment Technologies:

Introduction: Primary pre-treatment technologies represent the first stage in
reducing the amount of contaminants in the fuel gas and typically use simple
physical process operations. The main contaminants removed (or reduced) are water
(albeit contaminated), referred to as condensate and particulates.
Water/condensate Knockout
The presence of liquid water in gas pipework can have a detrimental effect on the
plant performance. Firstly, accumulation of water reduces the space available for gas
flow which means that the pressure loss will be raised, and, secondly, the unstable
nature of two-phase flows (i.e. liquid and gas combined) gives rise to oscillations
which in turn means that a steady and controllable operation cannot be achieved.
The presence of contaminated water can also lead to deposit formation on the pipe
walls which reduces the smoothness and further increases the pressure loss. Hence,
the presence of liquid water in gas pipes should be controlled and minimized.
There are three components which can be treated, depending both on the source of
the gas and application or proposed usage of the treated landfill gas, namely:
- slugs of liquid;
- gas-liquid foam; and
- uncondensed water vapour.
The level of complexity (and therefore cost) increases down the list above and this
has determined that many installations rely solely on passive slug catching vessels.
However, some schemes have adopted foam and droplet arresting systems to
minimise the effects on engine intake and control systems.
The basic principles of each of the treatment options are described below.
Liquid Water Capture
In-line dewatering features are frequently adopted by landfill operators and these
are usually installed within the landfill gas collection network. However, there is
invariably a need to incorporate additional control measures to prevent onward
transmission of liquid water. In some cases, drains and water traps may be adequate
for the supply gas specification. A further common practice, usually forming the final
element of dewatering is a knockout drum, often called a condensate knockout pot
(occasionally called a slug catcher). This is located as close as practicable to the
inlet to the gas booster. The purpose of the knockout drum is to lower the gas
velocity sufficiently to enable dropout of liquid which may then be drained or
pumped to discharge. Such devices are simple and capable of handling large gas
flows (up to 10 000 m3 h-1) and removing over 1 litre min-1 of water (Figure 8).
Foam Removal
An often adopted refinement to water control systems is the incorporation of
coalescing (or demisting) meshes in the gas pipes entering and leaving a condensate
knockout drum which collapse entrained foam and prevent carryover. Typically the
meshes are woven stainless steel pads which provide a large surface area to trap the
foam and allow it to drain under gravity to the collection drum.
As an alternative (or in addition) to the knockout drum, some equipment
manufacturers provide cyclones which impart swirl to the incoming gas flow and
thereby enhance the rate of liquid removal from the gas stream.
Often several elements (for example, dewatering manifold, knockout drum and
secondary cyclone vessel) are built into a skid-mounted module which is linked
directly to the gas booster inlet. Cyclones are reported by manufacturers to be able
to capture 99% of droplets greater than 10 mm1.

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Water and condensates in gas represent possibly the most intractable contaminant
from the gas abstraction perspective, since accumulation in pipework is difficult to
eliminate completely and this can cause blockage. In addition, the acidic condensate
can give rise to relatively high rates of corrosion of carbon-steel pipework. A
simplified flowsheet for a primary pre-treatment system is shown in Figure 8.

Figure 8 Primary processing systems

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Vapour Reduction
Raising the pressure of a gas mixture leads to an increase in temperature. Whilst
some of the heat of compression will be dissipated at source1, the delivery gas
stream will inevitably be at a temperature significantly higher than ambient. This
may give rise to the need to cool the gas to protect control valve seats, prevent
over-stressing of polyethylene (PE) pipework2 and meet other criteria for reliable
metering or consumer safety considerations.
For applications where gas conditioning is specified (to reduce the amount of water
vapour and lower the dew point), the thermal load on the conditioning unit may be
limited such that a pre-chilling step may be required. Pre-chilling and after-cooling,
whilst carried out for different reasons, involve the same basic process, namely heat
removal from the high pressure delivery gas stream.
The amount of heat to be removed will depend upon the specific heat capacity of the
gas mixture, the booster exit temperature, the mass flow rate of gas and the
specified final temperature. For typical primary cleanup processes, using for example
a centrifugal gas booster, the heat load is unlikely to require specialist equipment
and a length of 5 to 10 m of corrosion protected steel pipework may be sufficient.
However, some cases where, for example, space is restricted, may benefit from
using a forced draught cooling stage.
It should be noted that in any instance of aftercooling, depending on the condition of
the gas stream leaving the landfill (in terms of specific moisture content),
compression will reduce the relative humidity which will be reversed on cooling. This
can give rise to condensation in the delivery line which can cause problems for the
consumer. It is therefore essential to review and measure the temperature profile
along the pipework, and if necessary, install insulation or lagging (or trace heating)
of the downstream end of the pipe.
More complex (and much less widely used) types of gas cooling are available, these
include: shell and tube heat exchangers; spray towers and chilled water
recuperators.
For some applications, there is a requirement to reduce the moisture content of the
gas stream such that at any point in the delivery pipework the relative saturation is
always well below 100%. In order to achieve this, the gas stream requires
conditioning using a dehumidification process. There are three basic options which
may be adopted to achieve this function: refrigeration drying; deliquescent bed
absorption; and glycol stripping. The former uses a refrigeration unit to chill the wet
gas to around 2C, causing condensation of a proportion of the water vapour. This is
followed by reheating of the cooled gas to between 10C and 15C. Greater levels of
drying can be achieved by cooling to -18C, although to prevent pipeline icing-up,
the gas stream has to be spiked with glycol, which is later removed from the product
gas. Deliquescent dryers involve passing the wet gas stream through a tower or
vessel containing a moisture absorbent material (for example, common salt) which
physically absorbs the moisture. These techniques lead to a pressure loss in the
supply that should be allowed for in the specification of the gas booster and its
operational settings. In addition, the techniques can add a significant amount to the
gas processing costs - refrigeration units have an electrical load (constituting a
relatively large parasitic loss) whereas deliquescent dryers require regular
toppingup of the granular absorbent. The techniques, by their nature, give rise to a
contaminated water stream which should be treated or disposed appropriately.
The glycol stripping process is more applicable to larger gas flow rates and involves
passing the wet gas through a counter current contact tower employing for example
triethylene glycol (TEG). Simplified process flowsheets for a refrigeration drying
system and a TEG drying system are shown in Figure9 and Figure10, respectively.
These may be compared with the basic primary processing arrangement shown in
Figure 4.1.

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Figure 9 Typical Refrigeration-type Gas Conditioning System

Figure10 Simplified Gas Drying using triethylene glycol (TEG)

Particulate Filtration
Particulates can arise in gas stream for a variety of reasons, and if allowed to pass
downstream to a supply plant or consumer can give rise to damage and wear of
systems and equipment. Parry (1992) highlighted the need for vigilance whenever
knockout drums are used in systems supplying gas engine generating sets. The issue
of concern is bacterial growth in the vessel which leads to particulates that can
seriously affect engine operation. Particles can be controlled either by passing the
gas stream through a filter pad (typically made of stainless steel wire) which can also
double as a foam coalescing mesh, or alternatively using a cyclone separator.
Cyclones are capable of removing particles down to 15 mm (or even 5 mm for a high
efficiency cyclone) whereas filter pads are effective down to 2 mm. Both systems are
prone to blockage and therefore require frequent maintenance to remove
accumulated solids.

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Secondary pretreatment technologies

Pre-combustion cleanup of gas trace constituents has no effect on bulk emissions of
CO and NOx and is therefore only of value in reducing aggressive gas constituents
that either harm the engine or produce unacceptable emission levels. This section
addresses those secondary pretreatment options that are available for hydrogen
sulphide, halogenated compounds and siloxanes.
Hydrogen Sulphide Pre-treatment
There are a number of methods of removing or stripping hydrogen sulphide from gas
streams, involving both wet and dry scrubbing techniques. Wet scrubbing techniques
are usually employed to remove not just hydrogen sulphide but a number of
components.
Hydrogen Sulphide Dry Scrubbing
An early solid chemical treatment for H2S widely employed for coke-oven gas was
the use of an iron sponge or a material of wood chips impregnated with hydrated
ferric oxide. The H2S within the gas reacts with the iron sponge to form iron
sulphide, with cleanup efficiencies up to 99.98%.
Hydrogen Sulphide Wet Scrubbing
Chemicals used in the wet scrubbing of H2S can be solid or liquid and may be applied
in batch contactor towers or injected directly into the gas pipeline. The by-product of
the reaction is usually separated and disposed of as a waste. The chemical is
consumed and the absorbent can be regenerated.
Pre-treatment of Halogenated Organic Species
A number of processes are available which are capable of treating most halogenated
organic compounds. These treatments also have an additional effect of scrubbing
carbon dioxide and other trace components. Historically, most of the operational
experience to date has concentrated on the removal of carbon dioxide and the
information in the following paragraphs reflects this position.
Membrane separation techniquess
The basis of this process is the differential permeability of gases through polymeric
membranes. The separation polymers typically comprise bundles of very large
numbers of hollow fibres arranged in a pressure vessel. When landfill gas is
introduced into the vessel, carbon dioxide passes through whilst methane is held
back. This gives rise to a high pressure methane-rich gas on the outside of the fibres
and a lower pressure carbon dioxide enriched gas inside the fibres.
A single stage separation unit cannot provide very complete separation of methane
and carbon dioxide and typically, the low pressure off-gas (carbon dioxide enriched)
may contain as much as 12% v/v methane. The product gas contains around 88%
v/v methane. However, multistage separation processes can achieve 98% v/v
methane though pressures required for this operation can be as high as 4 MPa.
Pressure swing processes
Pressure swing processes rely on the selective adsorption of carbon dioxide on the
surface of special porous solid adsorbents. The adsorption takes place at elevated
pressure and the separation takes place when the pressure on the adsorbent is
relieved - hence the name, Pressure swing adsorption or PSA. Cleanup plant
utilising PSA operate in four steps:
- high pressure adsorption;
- depressurisation to ambient;
- vacuum stripping of carbon dioxide; and

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- repressurisation of product.
There are two basic adsorbent types that have seen some use in the development of
landfill gas cleanup:
- molecular sieves; and
- activated carbon beds.
Molecular sieve processes
A molecular sieve is essentially a packed bed of granular material (called zeolites)
that has special adsorption properties which vary depending on the type of gas.
These materials are characterised by large open structures with numerous open
channels which can effectively adsorb carbon dioxide.
The process can only be operated in a batch-wise way, so that an operational
treatment plantrequires multiple cascaded vessels, some of which act to remove
carbon dioxide and others (with spent zeolite) operate in a recharge mode. For a
molecular sieve to be effective, the gas must be pretreated to remove sulphides
(especially hydrogen sulphide), dried to remove water and water vapour and have a
low concentration of nitrogen (nitrogen is not removed by the molecular sieve).
Activated carbon beds
High pressure landfill gas is adsorbed on a bed of activated carbon. The bed is then
depressurized and methane and carbon dioxide desorb at different rates allowing a
separation to be made. In order to provide a continuous flow product (since the
process is batch-wise), a number of vessels are configured such that some are
adsorbing whilst others are yielding product in the desorption phase.

System Description at Vimagiri Power Plant

Inlet Separation Skid (SKID #1):
Knock-out Drum: The Knockout Drum consists of an upper section and a lower
section. The upper section contains a vane section and the lower section contains
the liquid collection section.
The upper section includes gas inlet, gas outlet connection, thermal relief valve
and vent. The lower section includes connections for level switch, level control and
level gauge.
Fuel Gas Filter Separators:The filter separator consists of two chambers one the
upper chamber and a lower chamber. The upper chamber is made up of a filter
section, held in place with adjustable filter retainers and mounted on the stand off
pipes and a mist extractor. It also includes the gas inlet, gas outlet, thermal relief
valve, differential pressure gauge and vent. A screw downs lid closure caps off the
upper chamber of the filter separator and allows for ease of filter element
replacement.
The lower chamber includes connections for the redundant high level switches,
high-high level switch, level gauge, and a drain.
Drain Tank: mated controls discharge liquids from the Knockout Drum and the Filter
Separators are collected in a drain tank and stored until removed. It includes the
liquid inlet, vent, man-way, drain, redundant low-level switches, high-level switch,
level gauge and a drain pump.
Dew Point Heaters: The indirect fired heater utilises a water bath, heated by a 'U'
tube type firebox, to supply heat to a process coil carrying natural gas, which is also
submerged in the water bath.

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Combustion of natural gas, in the fire tube, heats the water bath. This hot water
bath in turn transfers heat to the surface of the process coil, thereby transferring
heat to the process gas flowing through the coil.
Pressure Reduction / Regulation Skid (SKID # 2):

A pressure reducing regulator maintains a desired reduced outlet pressure while

providing the required flow to satisfy a downstream demand. The pressure at which
the regulator maintains is the outlet pressure setting (set point) of the regulator.
Monitoring is over pressure control by containment. When the working pressure
reducing valve ceases to control the pressure, a second regulator installed in series,
which has been sensing the downstream pressure, goes into operation to maintain
the downstream pressure slightly higher than normal pressure.
The arrangement of regulation provided is an upstream wide-open monitor
arrangement. In this arrangement the both the regulators sense the downstream
pressure. Set points are very close to each other. If the worker regulator fails, the
monitor assumes control at a slightly higher set point. If the monitor regulator fails
the worker continues to provide control. Any malfunctioning / failure in the
controlling regulators, shifts the control to the monitor regulator in the same line. If
the gas pressure in the running line reaches the shut off set point due to
malfunctioning in both the regulators in the stream, the slam shut will close.
Performance Heater Skid (SKID #3):
Performance Heaters:Performance Heaters are simple heat exchangers in which one
media is hot water being cooled while the other is a process gas being heated. Hot
water enters the heater at the top. As the moving gas draws heat away from the hot
water, the hot water cools.
The heat exchanger consists of two sections one is the tube section and the other
is the shell section. Natural gas enters the shell side of the heat exchanger and hot
water enters the tube side of the exchanger. Connections are provided for water
inlet, gas inlet, gas outlet, water outlet, relief valve and a vent. The upper
exchanger and the lower exchanger are provided with a sump in the shell side
(gas) section. The sump is provided to catch liquid condensate or slug that would
enter the gas stream should a tube rupture occur.
Fuel Gas Coalescing Filter:The filter separator consists of two chambers. The upper
chamber is made up of a filter section, held in place with adjustable filter retainers
and mounted on the stand off pipes. It also includes the gas outlet, redundant highhigh level switches, high level switch, level gauge, relief valve, vent, and upper
chamber drain. The stand off pipes connects to the lower section via a baffle plate to
direct gas up through the inside of the filter elements. A screw down closure caps off
the top of the filter separator and allows for ease of filter element replacement. The
lower chamber includes a mist extractor and connections for the gas inlet, baffle
plate, redundant high level switches, high-high level switch, level gauge, and a lower
chamber drain.
Across both chambers are connections for a high differential
pressure switch.
Drain Tank:Automated controls discharge liquids from the Performance Heater and
the Final Filter are collected in a drain tank and stored until removed. It includes the
liquid inlet, vent, man-way, drain, redundant low-level switches, high-level switch,
level gauge and a drain pump.

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Cold Vent Stack: One cold vent stack is provided near GAILs gas terminal for
venting gas entrapped in pipeline gas during start-up & shutdown operation of the
plant. Vents of the knock-out drum is connected to vent header leading to the vent
stack.
Instrumentation:
- Pressure and temperature test points.
- Flow meter for GT.
- Gas chromatograph with multiple stream switch over, capable of measuring
specific gravity, calorific value based on individual constituents of the fuel
gas.
The entire gas-conditioning skid will be considered as hazardous area with the
following classification:
Classification
IEC
NEC
Gas group (class)
IIA
D (I)
Zone (division)
2
2
Temperature (class)
T2
T2
With regard to the atmospheric vents & drains, the areas local to the condensate
tank vent and condensate tank discharge will be considered as zone-1 (division-1).
Operation Procedures:
Inlet Separation skid (SKID #1)
Inlet piping to the knockout drum consists of a manual block valve. The valve can be
operated manually to shut the gas supply to the inlet separation skid .The first stage
of conditioning to the gas stream starts with the gas knockout. The process gas
enters the upper section of the gas scrubber through the gas inlet connection and is
entrained on the surface of a vane pack as it exits the vessel. Any moisture is
coalesced into droplets then falls into the bottom of the lower chamber. Level control
in the knockout drum is achieved by a pneumatic level control valve.
Liquids discharged from knockout drum are tied to a common drain header, which is
directed to the drain tank. A bypass is provided around the knockout drum and can
be used during maintenance of the knockout drum. A thermal relief valve is provided
on the knockout drum to protect the vessel in an event of over pressure due to
thermal expansion. A vent is provided with a check valve to vent any gas in the
knockout during maintenance. All relief valve and vent outlets are tied to a common
vent header.
A nitrogen purge connection is provided at the inlet of the knockout drum.
In the second stage of fuel gas conditioning, the fuel gas splits off to flow to
horizontal filter separators where two identical 100% capacity horizontal filter
separators are provided on the inlet separation skid, with one as a standby.
Gas enters at the inlet of the filter separator, the gas stream then flows around and
through multiple filter cartridges. The cartridges are designed so mist particles
coalesce into droplets on the outside surface, as the gas flows from the outside to
the inside of each element, and solids are trapped. Any liquid particles that remain
in the process gas after flowing through the filter elements are entrained on the
surface of the vane pack. The mist from the gas is trapped by the mist extractor and
coalesces into droplets on the surfaces of the mist extractor vanes. These droplets
flow down the vanes and fall into the reservoir in the lower chamber.
The sump of the lower chamber is divided into two sections .One connection the filter
section of the upper chamber and other connecting the vane pack section of the
upper chamber. Level in both of these sections is maintained.

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The solids trapped in the filter elements will gradually increase the pressure drop
across the filter separator and a pressure differential switch monitors this pressure
differential.
A thermal relief valve is provided on the filter separator to protect the vessel in an
event of over pressure due to thermal expansion. A vent is provided with a check
valve to vent any gas from the filter separator during maintenance.
Automated controls discharge liquids from the knockout drum and the filter
separators are collected in a drain tank.
The fuel gas from the horizontal filter will split off to flow through the dew point
heater. The dew point heater provides additional heat gain to the incoming gas
supply to supplement the performance heater.
Two identical 100% capacity dew point heaters are provided, with one as stand by.
Each dew point heater has one local BMS panel, which controls the operation of the
heater.
The indirect fired heater utilises a water bath, heated by a U tube type firebox, to
supply heat to a process coil carrying natural gas which is also submerged in the
water bath. Combustion of natural gas, in the fire tube heats the water bath. This
hot water bath in turn transfers heat to the surface of the process coil, thereby
transferring heat to the process gas flowing through the coil.
A flame scanner (UV type) is mounted on the burner constantly monitors the burner
flame. If for any reason burner flame is lost, the heater will be shutdown.
Pressure reduction/Regulation skid (SKID #2)
The arrangement of regulation provided is an upstream wide-open monitor
arrangement. In this arrangement both the worker and monitor regulators sense the
downstream pressure. Set points are very close to each other. If the worker
regulator fails, the monitor assumes control at a slightly higher set point. If the
monitor regulator fails the worker continues to provide control.
Pressure reduction/regulation is done for gas turbine and for HRSG.
Performance Heater skid (SKID#3)
After pressure regulation skid the fuel gas flows to the performance heater skid
where the fuel gas gains additional heat. The thermal performance of the power
plant is enhanced by preheating the gas fuel before it is burned in the gas turbine,
with heat taken from the steam cycle. Each gas turbine/HRSG unit has a gas fuel
heater. The gas heater or the performance heater is a reverse flow heat exchanger
and the heating medium is hot feedwater taken from the outlet of the intermediate
economiser of the HRSG. The performance heater discharge water flows to the
condenser.
The system is configured and operated to maximise the performance benefit
available from fuel heating. This objective requires that the water leaving the
performance heater en route to the condenser be as cold as possible while the fuel
gas to the gas turbine should be as hot as possible (up to its limit).In order to meet
this objective the performance heater is controlled to maintain the target fuel
temperature without exceeding a cold end pinch. This avoids returning heated water
into the condenser, which is inefficient.
The primary function of the separator, is the removal of small contaminants and
liquids from a stream of flowing natural gas. The process gas enters the lower
chamber of the filter separator through the gas inlet connection and impacts a vane
pack. This is the first step in separating liquids. Mist from the gas is trapped by the
mist extractor and coalesces into droplets on the surfaces of the mist extractor
vanes. These droplets flow down the vanes and fall into the liquid reservoir in the

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bottom of the vessel. Any liquid particle that remains with the process gas after
flowing into the vane pack then flows through multiple filter cartridges. The
cartridges are designed so mist particles coalesce into droplets on the outside
surface, as the gas flows from the inside to outside of each element. The liquids that
coalesce and drop out of the gas stream are accumulated in the bottom of the upper
chamber. There are two chambers provided in the filter separator. One is called filter
upper chamber and other as lower chamber. Level of both the chambers is
maintained.
A thermal relief valve is provided on the filter separator to protect the vessel in an
event of over pressure due to thermal expansion. A vent is provided with a check
valve to vent any gas from the filter separator during maintenance.
An ESD valve is provided at the outlet of the filter separator to shut down gas flow if
gas turbine trip is initiated.
A fail open vent valve is provided to vent the gas in the pipe connecting the filter
separator and the gas turbine. This valve is held closed during operation, when a gas
turbine trip is initiated the solenoid valve de-energises to open the valve.
Automated controls discharge liquids from the performance heater and the filter
separator are collected in a drain tank.
Gas Conditioning skids are controlled from PLC based control panel located in
controlled equipment room in control building. However, each dew point heater is
provided with dedicated microprocessor based BMS panel.

Fuel Gas Conditioning System

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