The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 24, 1988
Filed:
Jul. 10, 1987
Bradley W DeLong, Bartlesville, OK (US);
Michael L Gray, Bartlesville, OK (US);
Phillips Petroleum Company, Bartlesville, OK (US);
Abstract
A super-pressured, sub-cooled feed gas, predominating in methane and containing significant amounts of ethane and higher hydrocarbons and nitrogen, is separated by passing the feed gas through at least one separation step to separate a vapor phase and a liquid phase, fractionating the liquid phase to recover ethane and higher hydrocarbons as a liquid and a pipeline gas as a vapor phase product, the vapor phase from the separation step is then sequentially fractionated in second, third and fourth fractionation steps to produce liquid phase from the second fractionation step, which is recycled to the first fractionation step as a reflux, a liquid phase from the third fractionation step which is recovered as a product pipeline gas, a liquid phase from the fourth fractionation step which is recovered as an in-plant fuel and a vapor phase from the fourth fractionation step which is vented to the atmosphere as substantially pure nitrogen. The vapor phase from the first fractionation step and the liquid phases from the third and fourth fractionation step and the vapor from the fourth fractionation step are passed in indirect heat exchange with portions of the feed gas to cool the same and portions of the vapor phase from the separation step, the second fractionation step and the third fractionation step are utilized in reboilers to heat the second, third and fourth fractionation steps.