화학공학소재연구정보센터
Chemical Engineering & Technology, Vol.39, No.12, 2348-2354, 2016
Dividing-Wall Column for Fractionation of Natural Gas Liquids in Floating Liquefied Natural Gas Plants
The development of floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) plants has resulted in a focus on reducing the weight and size of the topside processing facilities for these units. The conventional fractionation of natural gas liquids (NGL) in LNG plants implies a direct sequence of three or more conventional distillation columns requiring different levels of refrigeration. The results of a feasibility study are described, indicating that a packed three-product dividing-wall column (DWC) could replace conventional de-ethanizer and depropanizer columns. This could provide significant energy, hardware, weight, and footprint benefits, but, very likely, at the expense of an unaffordable cold utilities demand.(1))