Process Simulation of Condensate Stabilisation Unit

Natural gas condensate is a liquid phase that is present in natural gas wells. From
these wells, condensates are sent to oil refineries for it to be processed into
marketable petroleum products. However, before being transported to the refineries,
the condensate need to be stabilized beforehand since it contains light components
that could flash off in low pressure conditions. This paper aims to find the suitable
conditions to stabilise a feed of “Summer Rich” condensate to maximum Reid
Vapour Pressures (RVPs) of 10 psia and 12 psia for summer and winter conditions
respectively. A simulation of the process has been conducted by using Aspen
HYSYS (ver. 2006) software. It was found that at a column pressure of 8.5 barg and
reboiler temperature of 180°C, the condensate is successfully stabilised to an RVP of
8.778 psia. The effects of four parameters, i.e. feed flow rate, feed temperature, feed
pressure and reboiler temperature towards the product RVP and sulphur content are
also studied. The increase in feed flow rate causes an increase in the product RVP
and sulphur content. On the other hand, increasing feed temperature and reboiler
temperature causes the product RVP and sulphur content to decrease. The increase in
feed pressure initially causes the product RVP to increase but after reaching a certain
point, the RVP starts to decrease. Besides that, the increase in feed pressure does not
give a major impact on the sulphur content.