Energy saving in a gas processing plant through application of a membrane system

Abstract

Malaysia is rapidly emerging as a Newly Industrialized Countries (NIC). This shows the rapid pace of industrial programmes currently going on in the country. Even though energy resources in the form of petroleum deposit and hydropower are easily available, it is not too early at this present stage to monitor the energy requirements in industries and develop an efficient energy conservation approach so as to maximize these energy resources. This paper is intended to estimate the energy requirement in a Gas Processing Plant (GPP) having processing capacity of 250 MMSCFD natural gas and to estimate the energy saving that can be generated through the utilization of a Gas Membrane Separation System. The overall energy requirement for the GPP is estimated to be 1434 x 10(10) kJ/day and the estimated energy saving as a result of utilization of a Gas Membrane System is 43.7 x 10(8) kJ/day which is approximately 38.5%. This represents a significant energy saving especially in the long run.