Hydrate formation as a method for natural gas separation into single compounds: a brief analysis of the process potential

In both natural gas and petroleum reservoirs, the extracted gas is not only composed of methane: a variable and significant quantity of other compounds, such as different hydrocarbons (ethane, butane, pentane, propane, etc.), inert gas (nitrogen), and toxic and corrosive molecules (i.e., carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide), are present. In order to reach commercial specifications, natural gas has to be treated, in particular for reaching the minimum gross calorific value required and decreasing CO2 and H2S presence under the respective tolerance values. To do this, several different treatments are commonly applied, like inlet separation, sweetening, mercury removal, dehydration, liquid recovery, and, finally, compression for its transportation. Considering the growing demand and the necessity of exploiting also lower quality natural gas reservoirs, in the present paper, an original solution, for performing a gas treatment, is proposed and analyzed. It consists of promoting hydrates formation for both different compounds separation and gas storage. The greatest part of chemicals commonly present in natural gas is capable to form hydrates, but at different thermodynamic conditions than others. Parameters such as the typology of stored compound and the formation process efficiency are mainly related to partial pressure of each element. Here, the present strategy has been explored and the results achievable were shown. In particular, different possible natural gas compositions were taken into account and specifications required for gas commercialization were considered target of the process. Results led to different possibilities of raw gas treatment: in some cases, gas separation led to contemporary CH4 storage into hydrate structures, while, in the presence of different mixture compositions, contaminants were trapped into water cages and methane (and, eventually, other hydrocarbon compounds) remained in the gas phase