Abstract: The performance of a gas plant with a cryogenic Demethanizer equipped with several sections of modern random packing and tower internals is examined to show the mass transfer separation performance, ethane recovery and energy usage under various modes of operation. This study compares the performance of the plant in GSP operation with full refrigeration versus partial refrigeration during plant start-up. Comparison is made between plant data and process simulation. The packing hydraulics is studied and compared to vendor hydraulic models. The packing mass transfer efficiency is compared to hydraulic load parameters, separation factor and the stripping factor.

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