Economic evaluation of NGL recovery process schemes for lean feed compositions

The economic analysis of lean feed conditions for natural gas liquids (NGL) recovery is required to meet recent increases in the demand for lean gas reservoirs. This paper compares the economic performance of various NGL recovery schemes with consideration of the LNG HHV specification under various lean feed compositions. The ISS and IPSI schemes are typical processes in NGL recovery, especially in the normal and rich fields, whereas HHC separator and scrub column schemes have advantages for lean feeds. All the schemes were built by HYSYS simulation software and optimized using a genetic algorithm. The profitability analysis indicates that the gross profit and payout time give a similar trend compared to the previous studies. However, the results give different outcomes when considering total annualized cost (TAC), especially in terms of lean feed condition. The results show that scrub column scheme shows the best economic performance compared to other schemes under lean feed compositions.