Gas Leak Detection Using Gas Quality in Natural Gas Processing Plant

The two major parameters used in determining the quality of a processed natural gas are the water content and water dew point. For every natural gas contract, the minimum amount of water the processed gas contained and the water dew point must be specified. Natural gas treatment processes include the removal of unwanted components or the reduction of these unwanted components, such as acid gases (carbon dioxide-CO₂, hydrogen sulphide-H₂S), nitrogen-N₂ and water vapour. Their presence in natural gas can be detrimental to natural gas process facility and gas pipeline efficiency, hence the need to remove or reduce their concentration to the barest minimum or acceptable standard in natural gas transportation and utilization. Natural gas treatment allows the gas to pass through different stages with specific functions, such as: pressure control; separation of gas and condensate; sweetening; dehydration; regeneration of sweetening and dehydration solvents; dew point control. This report focuses on simulating natural gas plant which integrate the different stage, focusing on two scenarios; the first scenario is without gas leak in the plant and the second scenario is with leak in the gas plant. The results were compared to determine the impact of the leak in the quality of the processed natural gas (dry gas). It was found out that as the volume of gas leak increases, the quality of the gas increases (i.e low water content; water dew point; increase mole fraction of methane). This is a very good finding, since it is the target of gas processors.