Development of MEG Regeneration Unit Compatible Corrosion Inhibitor for Wet Gas Systems

Abstract

Abstract Transportation of hydrocarbons and water in long subsea flow lines from satellite fields to a platform or to an onshore facility presents new challenges in the control of gas hydrates, corrosion, and mineral scale. Gas hydrates form at high pressure and low temperature and are a common problem in offshore wet gas pipelines due to low seabed temperatures and elevated pressures in these remote subsea developments. Monoethylene glycol (MEG) is widely used as a thermodynamic hydrate inhibitor in these developments to manage the risk of hydrate formation during production and transportation of multiphase fluids from subsea wells. Due to large amounts of MEG required for effective hydrate control, it is necessary to recycle and re-use it. The main processes for recycling of MEG are regeneration and reclamation. Typical conditions of regeneration and reclamation processes are ambient to vacuum pressures and temperatures in the range of 120°C −150°C1. In addition to the use of MEG for hydrate control, corrosion inhibitors are also applied for corrosion control in the subsea pipelines and infrastructure. These corrosion inhibitors must be able to perform under high shear and highly corrosive environments without losing their effectiveness after having been subjected to the system conditions present in the MEG regeneration process. Inappropriate selection of corrosion inhibitors for MEG based applications can lead to severe fouling/formation of solids, emulsion and foaming issues in the receiving facilities. The corrosion inhibitors developed for use in facilities operating with glycol regeneration systems should remain active after multiple MEG Regeneration Unit (MRU) cycles without causing fouling/formation of solids, emulsion and foaming. The current paper presents MRU compatible corrosion inhibitors developed based on the stringent testing methods adopted from real time MRU process.