Condensate Splitting - What Are the Options?

Tight oil production has dramatically increased the availability of 45 to 60 API gravity condensates. These light condensates produce too much vapor for conventional atmospheric distillation. In past decades a few condensate splitting units have been built to handle these light streams. However, the trend toward heavy oils between 1980-2005 made these condensate splitters rare.

The recent arrival of Bakken, Niobara, and Eagle Ford light crudes and condensates has restarted interest in condensate splitting units. Various operating companies have released announcements for multiple new condensate splitting units. Many of the announced units, as well as others, are likely to be built.

Four condensate splitting configurations are evaluated for condensates with a 45 to 60 API gravity feed. The configurations include;

1. One-step, conventional, low cutpoint atmospheric distillation.
2. One-step, reboiled, low cutpoint atmospheric distillation.
3. Two-step, conventional
4. Two-step, reboiled
5. Two-step, thermally coupled

The emphasis of this paper is on the analysis of the duty required, the available energy recovery, and the product yields. Comparisons for different types of crude oil-condensates covering the range from 50 to 60 API degrees are shown.