Removal of Water from Natural Gas Using Zeolite 4A and Zeolite 5A

This report is discussed regarding the research on Removal of Water from Natural
Gas using Zeolite 4A and Zeolite 5A. The natural gas that comes from the well usually is
saturated with water. Tri-ethylene glycol (TEG) is being used for many decades in the
industry as one of the absorbent in removing water from natural gas but there are some
problems and difficulties when dealing with this type of absorbent. Therefore, this project
is conducted to find the alternatives in removing water from natural gas and to evaluate
whether zeolites can be practiced and applied for offshore practices. Zeolites have been
proved that they able to remove carbon dioxide from natural gas. A lot of research done
proves that zeolites have a big potential to remove water vapour from natural gas
effectively. To know the properties of chosen zeolites, characterization by using Surface
Area Analyzer, X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF), Field-Emission
Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM) and Thermogravimetric Analyzer (TGA) has
been executed. Surface Area Analyzer is used to determine pore size and pore volume.
Zeolite 4A has higher surface area, pore diameter and micropore volume compared to
Zeolite 5A. Both of zeolites exhibit monolayer and chemisorption type of adsorption.
XRD shows that Zeolite 4A is more crystal than Zeolite 5A.Both of zeolites are cubic
crystal system with identical lattice parameters. XRF is performed to know the elemental
composition in zeolites and from the result, it is confirm that Zeolite 4A in a sodium form
and Zeolite 5A in a calcium form. FESEM is executed to observe the morphology of the
zeolite. From the image obtained, pore size and interconnecting pores of Zeolite 5A
seems bigger than Zeolite 4A. TGA result shows both zeolites have higher degradation
temperature than 900 °C. It was concluded that by using certain techniques, Zeolite 4A
and Zeolite 5A can be identified for their pore area and pore volume, structure properties,
elemental composition, morphology and thermal stability. Dynamic Performance Study
has been conducted by varying pressure20 to 60 bar, with constant flowate of 5LPM and
constant temperature of 50°C in order to study the performance of the zeolites in
removing water from natural gas. The best zeolite was selected based on adsorbent
capacity and percentage of removing water from natural gas.It was concluded that lower
pressure give better result since it give higher adsorption capacity and total water of removal from natural gas. Zeolite 5A is found give better performance in removing water
from natural gas than Zeolite 4A due to its affinities towards water.