Additional Condensate Recovery Unit of Indian Petroleum Industry

Natural gas production contains low molecular weight hydrocarbon compounds; it include methane (CH4), ethane (C2H6), propane (C3H8) and butane (C4H10). Although these hydrocarbons exist in a liquid state at underground pressures, they will become gaseous at normal atmospheric pressure, they are called natural gas liquids (NGLs). In the plant, contaminants are removed and the NGL hydrocarbons are recovered for other commercial uses. For economic reasons, some plants may be designed to yield an intermediate product typically containing over 90 per cent pure methane and smaller amounts of CO2,and C2H6. This can be further processed in downstream plants or used as feedstock for chemicals manufacturing. ONGC aims at implementation of ACRU (Additional Condensate Recovery Unit) for removing these hydrocarbons from the gaseous stream coming from the Off Gas Compression-II (OGC-II) to make it more pure and moreover to regain the costly crude oil present in it. Condensate (crude oil) is a valuable resource and even the recovery of small quantities is often economically justifiable. The discharge from the gas stream is worth recovering.