C. Richard Sivalls, P.E., Sivalls Inc.
Recent changes in the federal and state clean air laws and regulations will affect the operation of glycol dehydration units used by the oil and gas industry to remove water vapor from natural gas. These laws and regulations will limit the amount of aromatic hydrocarbons such as benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene, and xylene (BTEX) and volatile organic compounds (VOC's) that may be emitted into the air from the glycol regenerator still vent. This paper will present an overview of the new laws and regulations as well as process control systems that may be used to control and reduce the BTEX and VOC emissions from dehydrations units. Flares, incineration units, aerial coolers, recycle units, and the efficient R-BTEX process will be covered.