Water dew point is the specification that keeps a gas pipeline operable. Free water in a pipeline carrying carbon dioxide or hydrogen sulphide creates an aggressive corrosion environment that consumes wall thickness quickly, and at the pressures and temperatures common in gas transmission it forms hydrates that block lines and damage equipment. Dehydration to specification is therefore not a quality nicety but a condition for continued operation of the transport system.

Glycol dehydration handles most upstream duty, but it has a hard limit. Dew point depression achievable with triethylene glycol is constrained by the lean glycol concentration, which is constrained by the reboiler temperature at which glycol begins to degrade thermally. Achieving concentrations beyond that requires stripping gas, azeotropic stripping or vacuum regeneration. When the duty requires water content in the low parts per million, as it does upstream of cryogenic recovery, adsorption on molecular sieve is the only practical route, and that brings a different set of engineering problems in cycle design, bed support, regeneration energy and adsorbent life.

Amine sweetening is chemically more complex and operationally less forgiving. Solvent selection is a trade-off between acid gas pickup, selectivity between hydrogen sulphide and carbon dioxide, regeneration energy, corrosivity and degradation resistance. The circulating solvent accumulates heat stable salts, degradation products and particulates that drive foaming, fouling and corrosion. Most amine unit problems, including the majority of off-specification events, originate in solvent condition rather than in equipment design.

Both units also sit at the boundary of process safety. Amine regenerator overhead systems carry concentrated hydrogen sulphide. Acid gas disposal requires either sulphur recovery, incineration or reinjection, each with its own hazards. Glycol regenerator still columns vent hydrocarbon and benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene compounds with emissions and exposure consequences. Competent operation requires understanding these exposures alongside the process chemistry.

By the end of this training, participants will be able to:

• Determine water content of natural gas at process conditions and calculate the dew point depression required to meet specification
• Design a glycol dehydration unit including contactor sizing, circulation rate, stage requirement and regeneration conditions
• Evaluate enhanced regeneration methods and select the appropriate technique for a required lean glycol concentration
• Design molecular sieve dehydration including bed sizing, cycle time, regeneration heating and cooling requirements
• Explain amine chemistry and select an appropriate solvent for a defined acid gas removal and selectivity requirement
• Size amine contactors and regenerators and calculate circulation rate, acid gas loading and reboiler duty
• Manage solvent condition including heat stable salts, degradation products, filtration and reclaiming
• Diagnose off-specification gas, solvent loss, foaming, fouling and corrosion problems in treating units
• Assess acid gas disposal options including sulphur recovery, incineration and acid gas reinjection

The training addresses each technology as a complete unit, developing the underlying chemistry and equilibrium behaviour before moving to design calculation and then to operating practice. Water content charts, dew point depression calculations, glycol circulation rate determination, adsorption bed sizing, amine loading and reboiler duty calculations are worked through numerically using representative gas compositions. Units are presented with process flow diagrams, equipment drawings and operating data from installed plants. The troubleshooting content is built on documented failures in glycol, molecular sieve and amine service, and participants are encouraged to bring treating unit problems from their own plants for group analysis.

Organisations sending participants to this training will:

• Improve sales gas specification compliance and reduce off-specification events and associated deferment
• Reduce solvent and glycol losses and the operating cost associated with them
• Extend molecular sieve and amine solvent life through better operating and management practice
• Reduce corrosion and fouling damage in treating units and their associated equipment
• Improve the technical quality of treating unit design review, vendor evaluation and modification assessment
• Strengthen process safety management around acid gas handling and hydrogen sulphide exposure

Participants will:

• Design and check dehydration and sweetening units against defined process specifications
• Understand why a treating unit is failing to meet specification and what corrective action will work
• Manage solvent condition proactively rather than reacting to foaming and corrosion events
• Interpret laboratory solvent analysis and translate it into operating action
• Review vendor treating unit proposals critically against process requirements
• Build specialist capability in units that are central to gas plant reliability

• Gas plant process and facilities engineers
• Operations engineers and supervisors responsible for treating units
• Production chemists and solvent management specialists
• Design engineers specifying dehydration and sweetening units
• Maintenance and integrity engineers supporting treating equipment
• Laboratory and technical support staff analysing solvent and product quality
• Process safety practitioners working on facilities handling acid gas

Upon successful completion of this training course, delegates will be awarded an official Certificate of Completion issued by the Petroleum Engineers Association (PEA), an ISO 9001:2015 certified training organization. The certificate carries 10 Credits and formally records the total learning hours completed.

Each certificate is signed by the Course Facilitator and the CEO of the Petroleum Engineers Association, and serves as verifiable proof of professional training that delegates can present to employers and professional bodies worldwide.