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NGL fractionation Process Flowsheets & Simulations

Explore 5 validated, solved NGL fractionation simulation flowsheets in MaximaLabs — real components: methane, ethane, propane, n_butane, n_pentane, n_hexane. Open any one directly in your browser.

Solved via: PENG-ROBINSON.

FEED
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Qc
Qr
Demeth
Sales GAS
feed
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Qr
Deeth
Ethane
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Qc
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Deprop
Propane Product
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Debut
Butane Product
Pentane PLUS
Gas plant, Permian Basin, Texas, USA

Natural gas fractionation train

A four-column NGL fractionation train — demethanizer, deethanizer, depropanizer, debutanizer — recovering pipeline-spec sales gas plus ethane, propane, and butane products from wellhead-pressure raw natural gas, after Luyben (Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 2013, 52, 10741).

10 unit ops • PENG-ROBINSON

226 0

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FEED
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Qc
Qr
DEC2
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DEC3
feed
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DEC4
E C2
E C3
E C4
E C5
Mont Belvieu, Texas, USA

Light-ends fractionation train

A classic three-column light-ends train splitting an ethane/propane/ n-butane/n-pentane feed into four near-pure products: DEC2 (deethanizer, 5 bar) rejects ethane overhead, DEC3 (depropanizer, 5 bar) takes the propane cut, and DEC4 (debutanizer, 2 bar) splits n-butane from n-pentane. A genuinely wide-boiling train — DEC2 and DEC4 both land in the documented successive-substitution residual plateau (converge to a physically correct, sharp separation just above the strict 1e-5 tolerance) rather than a clean converged status, the same class of behavior already accepted for the DME casebook entry. From the ChemSep casebook (light-ends fractionation).

8 unit ops • PENG-ROBINSON

221 0

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⭐ Featured
FEED
feed
dist
side
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Qc
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DWC
C2
C3
C4
Mont Belvieu NGL fractionation complex, Texas, USA

NGL fractionation: single-shell Petlyuk dividing-wall column

A natural-gas-liquids cut (ethane / propane / n-butane) split into three on-spec products by ONE thermally-coupled dividing-wall column instead of two columns in series. This uses the native Petlyuk unit op: a prefractionator whose reflux and boilup are supplied by the main column (the single condenser + single reboiler), solved by an outer Wegstein loop that converges the bidirectional vapor/liquid coupling to self-consistency — the coupling legacy sequential-modular solvers approximate with two connected columns whose recycle fails to converge.

5 unit ops • PENG-ROBINSON

224 0

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Gas processing (NGL fractionation train)

Depropanizer (NGL fractionation)

The raw NGL recovered by a cold separator is fractionated: a depropanizer column splits it into a C₃-and-lighter overhead (propane + a little ethane, the LPG product) and a C4+ bottoms (butanes + natural gasoline). The column is solved with the component-flow Naphtali-Sandholm MESH (method "ns"), which carries every component flow as an unknown so the feed-vs-products material balance is an equation the solver closes by construction — the right tool for a sharp C₃/C₄ cut, where a reduced-form column would drag the split off and leak a few percent of a component. Peng-Robinson handles the light-hydrocarbon VLE; the built-in sensitivity sweeps the reflux ratio against the reboiler duty (the classic distillation energy trade-off).

4 unit ops • PENG-ROBINSON

185 1

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Gas processing (NGL fractionation train)

NGL fractionation train (depropanizer + debutanizer)

The full two-column NGL fractionation train of a gas plant: a raw NGL is split into three products. The depropanizer takes a propane-and-lighter overhead (the propane product), and its C4+ bottoms feed a debutanizer that splits butane overhead from a natural-gasoline (C5+) bottoms. Both columns use the component-flow Naphtali-Sandholm MESH (method "ns") so each sharp cut conserves every component exactly; the two columns solve in sequence (no recycle) and the whole train closes on mass. Peng-Robinson handles light-hydrocarbon VLE; the debutanizer runs at a lower pressure (7 bar vs 18) so its reboiler stays within a reasonable temperature.

6 unit ops • PENG-ROBINSON

186 0

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