Methanol in crudes
Methanol in crudes
(OP)
I work in upstream and we would like to implement a cold process as water dew point control (and HC) using methanol as the freezing point depressant/hydrate inhibitor. We hear that this could cause downstream problem and/or a price penalty. I would therefor like to hear from people who works in downstream what causes the issues with methanol and is it true that we could expect a price penalty (i know i could ask internally but thats often slow business
)
Best regards, Morten

Best regards, Morten
RE: Methanol in crudes
RE: Methanol in crudes
- Methanol tends to increase solubility of hydrocarbons in water. Therefore, excessive amount of methanol may increase amount of hydrocarbons that are dissolved in water and are not removed by conventional produced water treatment equipment, which mainly deals with dispersed oil.
- Methanol molecules tend to reverse polarity of coagulant chemicals and, thus, reduces oil droplets coalescence. This, in turn, will reduce the efficiency of separation equipment, and consequently more small droplets will leave together with produced water.
- And minor thing is that presence of dissolved methanol in water will reduce slightly a density of the water phase, thus, again reducing the efficiency of the gravity based separators.
RE: Methanol in crudes
Can see why you wish to consider MeOH for this gas - condensate hydrate inhibition application, but also consider toxicity and flammability. There will also be trace amounts of MeOH in the water stream produced from the MEG regeneration unit, which will not be acceptable for disposal at sea in most jurisdictions.
MeOH is typically only used for short term startup hydrate inhibition purposes for these reasons.
RE: Methanol in crudes
Thanks for your input, thas something i can work with
Best regards, Morten