Combating the High Input Costs of Triethylene Glycol (TEG) in Natural Gas
The natural gas industry continues to feel pressure from outside forces that affect the market – economic, environmental and political. While some of these stresses are out of our direct control as operators, one of the challenges the industry faces related to the use of triethylene glycol (TEG) is well within operator control.
TEG is a necessary input to a dehydrator unit. As an effective agent used to strip excess water, benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes (BTEX) and other volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from the gas stream, TEG costs roughly $12 per gallon. The average dehydrator requires 1,000 gallons of TEG. With dehydration units present at virtually every step from wellhead to consumer, the cost of this input can rise dramatically.
Clean TEG is essential to the performance of any dehydrator. Dirty TEG often results in expensive downtime and repairs, as well as poor gas quality. TEG generally only works efficiently for as few as 10 months before it needs to be replaced, resulting in another $12,000 per dehydration unit. Now consider the additional costs to production required to shut down the line.
What if there was a way to cut TEG input costs by 90 percent by recycling spent glycol without shutting down the gas stream? The PACER from Cimarron Tank is the solution you’ve been looking for.
The PACER is a mobile dehydrator cleaning and glycol purifying unit that operates as a sidestream system. Once the PACER is connected to the dehydrator unit, spent TEG is passed through the PACER, which completely purifies the glycol in a single cycle while the dehydrator continues to operate. The PACER cleans both the glycol and the dehydrator unit itself, combining preventative mechanical maintenance with glycol purification. This process dramatically reduces the need for conventional cleaning methods without interfering with natural gas production.
Natural gas producers and transporters who choose the PACER for glycol recycling and preventative maintenance report they’ve recovered their investment each year through the reduction in mechanical issues. The benefits of the PACER include:
- Reduced fuel consumption
- Reduced filter changes
- Reduced glycol losses
- Reduced operational shutdowns
- Reduced pump maintenance
Other key advantages include increased operational efficiency and equipment life, lower dew points, reduced emissions and environmentally unfriendly waste disposals by 97 percent and reduced maintenance costs.
The benefits of the PACER are clear. What are you waiting for? Get in touch to learn how much you could be saving by installing your own PACER, and visit cimarrontank.com to learn more.