System for regenerating mono ethylene glycol and a method thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9926250-B2
Application number	US-201515321951-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 23, 2015
Priority date	Jun 27, 2014
Publication date	Mar 27, 2018
Grant date	Mar 27, 2018

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a system ( 100 ) for regenerating MEG, the system ( 100 ) comprising at least one flash drum ( 101 ) adapted to increase the temperature of rich MEG. At least one settling tank ( 102 ) is fluidly connected to the flash drum ( 101 ) where low solubility salts in the rich MEG are precipitated. Further, at least one filter unit ( 103 ) is fluidly connected to downstream of settling tank ( 102 ), and is configured to separate low solubility salt precipitates from the rich MEG. Furthermore, at least one storage tank ( 104 ) is positioned downstream of the filter unit ( 103 ), which is configured to receive and accumulate filtrate containing rich MEG. A reclamation column ( 105 ) is fluidly connected to the storage tank ( 104 ), which comprises a distillation chamber ( 106 ) and vane-mesh assembly ( 107 ) configured to produce lean MEG. The system ( 100 ) also has water handling capacity from 400 m 3 /day to 450 m 3 /day.

First claim

We claim:

1. A system for regenerating Mono Ethylene Glycol (MEG), the system comprising:
at least one flash drum adapted to receive rich mono ethylene glycol (MEG), wherein the rich mono ethylene glycol (MEG) is heated to a predetermined temperature in the at least one flash drum;
at least one settling tank fluidly connected to the at least one flash drum, wherein low solubility salts present in the rich mono ethylene glycol (MEG) are precipitated in the at least one settling tank;
at least one filter unit fluidly connected to the at least one settling tank, wherein the at least one filter unit is positioned downstream of the at least one settling tank and is configured to separate low solubility salt precipitates from the rich mono ethylene glycol (MEG);
at least one storage tank positioned downstream of the at least one filter unit, wherein the at least one storage tank is configured to receive and accumulate filtrate containing rich mono ethylene glycol (MEG) flowing out of the filter unit;
a reclamation column fluidly connected to the at least one storage tank, the reclamation column comprising:
a distillation chamber configured to vaporize water present in the rich mono ethylene glycol (MEG) to produce lean mono ethylene glycol (MEG); and
a vane-mesh assembly configured to separate fine solid particles from the vaporized mono ethylene glycol (MEG) and water;

at least one centrifuge fluidly connected to the reclamation column, wherein the at least one centrifuge is configured to separate high solubility salts from the mono ethylene glycol (MEG),

wherein, the system is configured to handle water from 400 meter cube per day (m 3 /day) to 450 meter cube per day (m 3 /day).

2. The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the mono ethylene glycol (MEG) is used as hydrate inhibitor during processing of liquid and gaseous hydrocarbon fuels.

3. The system as claimed in claim 1 comprises of at least one separation unit fluidly connected to the at least one flash drum and configured to separate hydrocarbon fuel from rich mono ethylene glycol (MEG).

4. The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the predetermined temperature ranges from 75 degree celcius (° C.) to 85 degree celcius (° C.).

5. The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the at least one settling tank comprises of at least one overflow passage to allow flow of rich mono ethylene glycol (MEG) into the filter unit.

6. The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the at least one settling tank comprises of at least one provision to receive chemical substances.

7. The system as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the chemical substances convert low solubility salts present in the rich mono ethylene glycol (MEG) into low solubility salt precipitates.

8. The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the at least one filter unit comprises of a first inlet fluidly connected to bottom of the at least one settling tank.

9. The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the at least one filter unit comprises of a second inlet fluidly connected to the at least one storage tank.

10. The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the at least one filter unit comprises of a drain passage configured to discharge low solubility salt precipitates.

11. The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the at least one settling tank is fluidly connected to the at least one storage tank.

12. The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the vane-mesh assembly comprises of at least one vane pack and at least one mesh pack configured to filter the fine solid particles from the mono ethylene glycol (MEG).

13. The system as claimed in claim 12 , wherein the at least one vane pack of the vane-mesh assembly filters solid particles of size greater than 20 microns.

14. The system as claimed in claim 12 , wherein the at least one mesh pack of the vane-mesh assembly filters solid particles of size greater than 10 microns.

15. The system as claimed in claim 1 comprises of at least one pump fluidly disposed between the reclamation column and the at least one centrifuge.

16. The system as claimed in claim 15 , wherein the at least one pump is configured to circulate the rich mono ethylene glycol (MEG) between the reclamation column and the at least one centrifuge.

17. The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the water vaporized in reclamation column is discharged to effluent treatment plant.

18. A method for regenerating mono ethylene glycol (MEG), the method comprising acts of:
increasing temperature of rich mono ethylene glycol (MEG) by heating the rich mono ethylene glycol (MEG) in at least one flash drum;
precipitating low solubility salts present in the rich mono ethylene glycol (MEG) in at least one settling tank, wherein the at least one settling tank is fluidly connected to the at least one flash drum;
separating low solubility salt precipitates from the rich mono ethylene glycol (MEG) in at least one filter unit, wherein the at least one filter unit is fluidly connected to the at least one settling tank and is positioned downstream of the at least one settling tank;
accumulating filtrate containing rich mono ethylene glycol (MEG) flowing out of the at least one filter unit in at least one storage tank, wherein the at least one storage tank is fluidly connected to the at least one filter unit and is positioned downstream of the at least one filter unit; and
routing the filtrate containing rich mono ethylene glycol (MEG) from the at least one storage tank to a reclamation column to obtain lean mono ethylene glycol (MEG), wherein obtaining the lean mono ethylene glycol (MEG) from the reclamation column comprises steps of:
separating high solubility salts from the rich mono ethylene glycol (MEG) by at least one centrifuge fluidly connected to the reclamation column;
vaporizing water present in the rich mono ethylene glycol (MEG) in a distillation chamber of the reclamation column; and
separating fine solid particles from the vaporized mono ethylene glycol (MEG) and water through a vane-mesh assembly of the reclamation column;

wherein, the system is configured to handle water from 400 meter cube per day (m 3 /day) to 450 meter cube per day (m 3 /day).

19. The method as claimed in claim 18 , wherein the rich mono ethylene glycol (MEG) is heated to a temperature ranging from 75 degree celcius (° C.) to 85 degree celcius (° C.) in the at least one flash drum.

20. The method as claimed in claim 18 , wherein the separation of high solubility salts and vaporization of water occur simultaneously.

21. The method as claimed in claim 18 comprises act of separating hydrocarbon fuel from the rich mono ethylene glycol (MEG) in at least one separation unit fluidly connected to the flash drum.

22. The method as claimed in claim 18 , wherein increasing the temperature of rich mono ethylene glycol (MEG) facilitates precipitation of low solubility salts in the settling tank and separation of fluidic impurities from the rich mono ethylene glycol (MEG).

23. The method as claimed in claim 18 comprises act of routing excess rich mono ethylene glycol (MEG) from the at least one settling tank to the at least one filter unit through at least one overflow passage.

24. The method as claimed in claim 18 comprises act of routing rich mono ethylene glycol (MEG) from the at least one storage tank to the at least one filter unit through at least one port.

25. The method as claimed in claim 18 , wherein the low solubili

Assignees

• Reliance Industries Ltd

Inventors

• Arumugam Anandan
• Subbarao Mandava
• Ramarao Adda
• Rajaram Shrimant Ghadge
• Venkateswaran Natarajan
• Venkateswara Rao Nemani
• Mangal Pattnaik Mihir

Classifications

• B01D21/245

  Discharge mechanisms for the sediments · CPC title

• B01D3/06 Primary

  Flash distillation · CPC title

• B01D21/0012

  Settling tanks making use of filters, e.g. by floating layers of particulate material · CPC title

• B01D21/262

  by using a centrifuge · CPC title

• C07C29/76

  by physical treatment · CPC title