Mechanical availability of the main gas separation unit of the first process line of the Amur Gas Processing Plant has been achieved

May 14, 2021 09:44

Mechanical availability of the main gas separation unit of the first process line of the Amur Gas Processing Plant has been achieved. Hundreds of professionals of the project owner Gazprom Pererabotka Blagoveshchensk, general contractor NIPIGAS, supplier of the equipment of the partner companies are currently involved in commissioning. Preparation of the equipment of the methane extraction column (demethanizer) for operation is the longest and takes about 30 days.

The height of the methane column is 88 meters — almost the size of a thirty-story house. Its maximum diameter is 6 meters, and its weight is more than a thousand tons. The demethanizer operates at a pressure of 30 atm, and the temperature in the process of gas cooling drops to minus 110 degrees Celsius.

Separation of dried natural gas in the demethanizer takes place through interconnected operation of multi-flow heat exchangers of the cold box and feed gas expanders. A mixture of liquid hydrocarbons (C2+ fraction) from the bottom of the demethanizer column is sent to the deethanizer where it is separated into ethane which will be the main feedstock component for the Amur GCC, and natural gas liquids which are further separated into propane, butane, and pentane and hexane mixture.

The mixture of methane, nitrogen and helium from the top of the demethanizer column is sent to the low-temperature separation unit of the nitrogen-helium mixture in the methane rejection columns. Then, the purified methane fraction as commercial gas is supplied to Ladoga-32 gas pumping units for transportation along the Eastern Route.

Nitrogen and helium mixture will go to the helium purification, liquefaction and loading unit which will remove nitrogen and other impurities, and ultra-pure helium (99.95%) will be shipped in isocontainers for shipment by road to the helium HUB in Vladivostok.

In 2021, the Amur Gas Processing Plant will see the first and second process lines for feed gas (each with a capacity of 7 billion cubic meters of gas per year), one unit for treatment and separation of NGL and one unit for treatment and liquefaction of helium with a capacity of 20 million cubic meters of gas per year put into operation.