Pushing the limits for natural gas dehydration process: technology outlook, problems and opportunities

The increasing market demand for natural gas has pushed the energy industries to explore new natural gas resources in remote location. Consequently, new dehydration technologies suitable for remote location operation must be in placed in order to exploit and transport these resources economically. Three main challenges in developing these new technologies are the compactness of the equipment, performance reliability and minimum human intervention in terms of maintenance and monitoring. This paper reviews the current dehydration technology, as well as the new and emerging technologies for natural gas dehydration, which includes separation via enhanced physical forces and separation with membrane / zeolite based material. The limitations, problems and challenges of these technologies, particularly for offshore application, will also be discussed.