Removal of water from Natural Gas using Membrane: Modelling and Simulation (FLUENT)

Natural gas is a gas consisting primarily of methane, small portion of ethane,
propane, butane and other higher C molecules of hydrocarbon as well as the presence of
small amounts of Nitrogen, Sulphur and Oxygen (NSO) components. Natural gas is
colorless, shapeless and odorless in its pure form. Natural gas is often informally referred
to as simply gas, especially when compared to other energy sources such as electricity.
In oil and gas industry, the presence of water in natural gas is not a new problem.
The awareness for this problem leads to the research on this area in order to find solution
to overcome the problem. The problems arise such as the corrosion of the pipeline, the
formation of hydrates and also customer requirements of water content. Hence, it is
essential to remove the water in the natural gas before transporting to the downstream
facilities.
Commonly used technology nowadays is using liquid desiccant (Triethylene
Glycol) to absorb the water molecules in the natural gas. However, large in weight and
installation as well as the emission of hazardous component (benzene, toluene, ethyl
benzene and xylene) to the environment is the main problem with this method. Hence,
recently the research has been expanded to find the suitable way to remove the water to
overcome the problem from the use of liquid desiccant.
1 The new developed method is the usage of membrane technology to remove water
in natural gas. The characteristic of membrane and the separation principle of membrane
are studied to design the suitable separation process for this problem. The data generated
by the software simulation will be analyzed to observe the effectiveness of membrane
separation. Membrane separation is expected to reduce the loss of hydrocarbon and have
the efficient separation of water from natural gas