A systematic approach for design and simulation of monoethylene glycol (MEG) recovery in oil and gas industry

Abstract

Monoethylene glycol (MEG) is a widely used hydrate inhibitor in the oil and gas industry to reduce the risk of hydrate formation in pipelines that could cause a blockage. For flow assurance and hydrate inhibition purposes, large volumes of MEG are required to control the hydrate formation conditions in pipelines. Disposal of rich MEG after separation has considerable costs and poses significant environmental concerns. Therefore, the development of an effective process for MEG recovery has been gaining importance. The current study presents a systematic approach to develop, simulate, and optimize MEG recovery using Aspen Plus and ELEC-NRTL thermodynamic package. Two distinct MEG recovery process (MEG-R-P) designs, namely, the vacuum (design I) and atmospheric (design II) distillation, were tested. Both designs have demonstrated exceptional performance in recovering MEG from salts and water and producing lean MEG at a purity of 90 wt%. Design I operating at vacuum conditions outweighs design II in terms of MEG purity and energy requirements. The addition of MEG-R-P has the advantage of recovering and reusing significant amounts of MEG and removing the burden on the environment.