Congrats to the NG Resources team! The NG Resources staff held a luncheon this week to celebrate their accomplishment of no recordable incidents in 2016. Through their dedication to safety standards, this milestone was achieved.
Estimates place as much as 25% of the natural gas in the United States out of specification with regard to nitrogen content. Typically, a processor can expect the pipelines to require less than 3.0 mole percent nitrogen in their natural gas stream. With a decline in conventional natural gas sources and with a recent increase in political desire to better utilize clean burning natural gas, there is a need for these unconventional sources of natural gas. For the United States to also become energy independent, natural gas will have to take a larger role in our daily lives in the future. There is no doubt that shale gas is propping up the decline curve with respect to conventional gas, but low-BTU gas is another economically viable option. With the recent increase in oil prices, there is now a greater opportunity for nitrogen rejection with integrated NGL extraction, and specifically high NGL recovery. The increase in spread value for the liquid constituents of high nitrogen natural gas streams increases the net revenue for the producers thus making the high nitrogen projects more attractive for producer investment. In the future it may also become a requirement for these type facilities should they produce a motor fuel grade product. Even today, there are requirements for motor fuel grade LNG to contain no less than 95% methane, thus making high NGL extraction mandatory for motor fuel grade LNG.
Nitrogen Separation Technologies: Best Served Hot or Cold?
Today’s market of sustainable high gas prices and dwindling reserves has caused producers to consider non-traditional sources of revenue generation. Once considered trash gas or a waste stream, high nitrogen reserves are now being reexamined as economically viable. In the past, smaller gas wells that tested high in nitrogen were simply shut in because the cost of producing such gas was not feasible. Today, however, advancements in technology, in both cryogenic separation and pressure swing adsorption and absorption have made nitrogen rejection a profitable reality, even for smaller gas streams.
In order to effectively evaluate the most applicable nitrogen technology available for a specific high nitrogen gas scenario, several factors should be considered. On the market today there are essentially three types of processing appropriate for nitrogen rejection; cryogenic processing (conventional cryogenic systems), the single column NiTech® process, and non-cryogenic processing including pressure swing absorption, membrane systems, and lean oil adsorption. The differences in the competing technologies are substantial. In addition to upfront capital costs, the producer should also consider the following factors when selecting a valid nitrogen rejection technology for their gas processing demands.
BCCK’s NiTech® Nitrogen Rejection Process Provides Solution to Meeting Tighter U.S. Pipeline Restrictions
As the demand for natural gas continues to escalate in the United States and around the globe, unconventional gas sources are receiving more attention as viable energy options. Global environmental pressure is fueling demand for natural gas as a clean-burning, environmentally friendly power generation alternative to aging coal–fired power plants. Natural gas facilities have relatively low emissions of sulfur dioxide and particulate matter and far lower levels of “greenhouse” gas emissions, an advantage which politically supports a global shift from oil and coal to natural gas. In addition, current economic conditions in the United States have sparked an interest in becoming less dependent on foreign energy markets, with a preference for finding a proven and reliable energy source within the continental United States. With U.S. storage volumes of natural gas currently well above the five-year average, the abundance of natural gas readily available is politically appealing in a society intent on shifting energy dependence away from foreign sources. Various sources of natural gas are found throughout the United States and the infrastructure required to handle an increase in the demand for natural gas is sound and accessible.
NiTech® Nitrogen Rejection Technology: Efficiency Without the Complexity Typically Associated with Nitrogen Rejection
Gregory L. Hall, P.E.
BCCK Engineering, Inc.
In 1994, a new technology for separating nitrogen from natural gas was introduced with a full-scale processing plant located near Mist, Oregon. Several years of research and development by BCCK Engineering, Inc. preceded the installation of the facility. Prior to the installation of the Mist unit, BCCK engineers spent a significant amount of time optimizing the nitrogen rejection unit (NRU) simulation to ensure that hydrocarbon recovery was as efficient as possible, while providing a design that was economical and uncomplicated. To ensure a less complicated design, BCCK scheduled interviews with operators of conventional cryogenic NRUs to survey operational concerns. The results of these discussions prompted BCCK to develop and patent a nitrogen rejection technology, NiTech®, which requires no cryogenic rotating equipment, as these elements are consistently responsible for facility downtime and excessive operating expense. This work also provided a design with only three main components, which reduces capital costs and delivery time when compared to conventional technology. The success of the flagship NiTech® NRU in Oregon prompted the installation of ten additional NiTech® facilities in the domestic United States. Although each unit is centered around the core NiTech® design, each facility has unique challenges due to differing gas compositions, flow rates and operating conditions.