Improved availability and reduction of losses on a the Kauther Gas Plant TEG unit

PDO’s Kauther Gas Plant (KGP) was commissioned in November 2007 with a capacity of 20 MMSCMD. Its Glycol (TEG) dehydration package uses an overhead vapor combustion (OVC) unit to burn the stripping column off gas and provide the required reboiler heating duty.

The TEG plant has experienced major operating issues with higher than expected TEG losses being the most significant. Several studies have been conducted to assess the losses. These included: poor heat transfer in TEG regenerator by OVC;retrograde condensation and carryover of feed gas to the contactor; differences of the feed gas composition to the design; the effect of H2S scavenger and scale inhibitor injection; critical aspects of equipment design; configuration of the equipment and pipe work; vessel internals, instrumentation and control issues; fluid chemistry issues causing foaming and liquid carry-over etc.

This paper outlines a number of the key operational issues on the TEG plant , the approach taken to troubleshoot them and to implement solutions. It will share lessons learned and provide a guideline for good engineering practices for TEG system design and operation.