Honeywell UOP (Des Plaines, Ill.; www.uop.com) has adapted its recycle-split-vapor (RSV) technology for natural-gas liquid (NGL) recovery into a new, modular offering, RSV2, which enables quick retrofitting of existing gas-processing plants with minimal downtime. “The RSV2 technology can increase ethane recovery up to greater than 99%,” explains John Wilkinson, general manager of UOP’s Ortloff Engineers division. “In addition, when operating in full ethane-rejection mode, the technology can increase propane recovery up to greater to than 99%.”
The RSV2 technology functions by recycling, cooling and condensing a high-purity product stream, providing a new reflux stream to an extension of the existing column, which enables both higher-purity products, as well as increased capacity through the gas-processing plant, adds Wilkinson. The RSV2 technology owes its recovery effectiveness to its ability to overcome the equilibrium limitations of existing gas-subcooled process (GSP) designs by providing a leaner reflux stream to the column, in both the recovery and rejection modes of operation. Honeywell UOP will install its first RSV2 units for Brazos Midstream (Fort Worth, Tex.; www.brazosmidstream.com), which will see the company upgrading two 200-million-ft3/d cryogenic gas-processing plants in the Texas Permian Basin. For this project, UOP expects that its technology will improve upon the traditional GSP techniques by increasing NGL recovery rates from 92 to nearly 100%, leading to significantly better operating margins, says David Dickinson, leader of UOP’s Midstream business.