Gas condensate is a mixture of liquid hydrocarbons, including ethane and propane, the vapors of which are contained in the extracted gas. Nearly 70% of Russia’s gas condensate is produced in regions which are located far away from gas processing facilities. For this reason, gas condensate often gets flared, generating emissions of carbon monoxide, soot and toxic products.
An alternative solution is offered by hydrogenolysis, i.e., the treatment of gas condensate with hydrogen, as a result of which heavy hydrocarbon compounds are converted into lighter ones, such as methane, which can be pumped into pipelines. However, this approach involves preheating of the gas mixture, which is associated with high energy consumption.
The scientists from the University of Tyumen and the Institute of Catalysis SB RAS have managed to reduce the amount of external energy required for processing gas condensate into methane thanks to chemical heat. They achieved this with nickel-containing glass fiber catalysts, which can be used to produce cartridges with an unusual geometric structure that allows them to conduct heat very well.
The new method was tested with a reactor in which the direction of reagent movement was periodically changed at a temperature of 300 degrees Celsius. Thanks to this method, external energy was only needed for the initial start-up of the equipment. After that, the reaction was maintained without additional external heating. This made it possible to process any volume of gas condensate entering the reactor at ambient temperature. The effectiveness of the new method was confirmed by mathematical modeling, which allowed the authors to project the experimental data onto industrial reactor operations.
“The results of the study pave the way for inexpensive, lightweight, compact and autonomous modular units for gas condensate processing. These units could be delivered to natural gas fields, even those located in hard-to-reach areas, since this technology does not require bulky heat exchangers,” Andrey Zagoruiko, doctor of technical sciences, is quoted as saying by the Institute of Catalysis SB RAS.
