b) Design control system necessary to control the following variables in order to achieve optimum

production rate of dehydrated natural gas and justify your answer

i. Liquid level at the bottom of the absorber.

Figure 2 : P&ID of liquid level at the bottom of the absorber.

Type of control strategy : Feedback controller.

Control Variable : Liquid level at the bottom of the absorber.

Manipulated Variable : Outlet flowrate of glycol.

Disturbance Variable : Inlet flowrate of glycol.

The liquid level at the bottom of the absorber is controlled to achieve optimum production rate of
dehydrated natural gas. In this system, the outlet flowrate of glycol is set as the manipulated
variable where the action (valve) is installed at this line where connected with level controlled and
level transmitter at the bottom of absorber. During the process occur, the inlet flowrate of glycol
may decrease where creating a disturbance. The effects of decreasing the flowrate need to
propagate through the absorber before the outlet flowrate of glycol decrease. Hence, the level of
transmitter as a measurement is installed to detect the level of liquid at the bottom. Once the level
of liquid change into low level, the signal from the transmitter to controller also change. The
deviation from the setpoint occur at the controller which act as decision and must be compensate
for disturbance by manipulating the outlet flowrate of glycol valve. The controller then sent signals
to the valve to decrease the opening and at the same time will decrease the outlet flowrate of
glycol.
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 Table 1: Advantages of feedback controller.

Term Advantages
• The valve will function as safety because when the level of liquid in the
Safety absorber too lower the valve will fully close to prevent the flow of glycol
and when the liquid level is too high the valve will fully open (Bucur,
Moise, & Popescu, 2015).
• The valve is the air to open (ATO) valve which will be close when it fails
and will be open when present of air.
• The flooding will not occur if the level of liquid in the absorber is controlled
by feedback controller by using ATO valve.
• The cost to install this control strategy is low and the maintenance also
Cost low because it is a simple control system.
• It is only control one stream, so only a transmitter and controller need to
be installed (Processing, 2013).
• Very simple technique where compensate for all disturbances which it
Efficiency only maintains the controlled variable at set point and compensates for
all disturbances (Carlos & Armando,2006).
• It works with minimum knowledge of the process at where the only
information it needs is in which direction to move (Carlos &
Armando,2006).

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 ii. Water reflux into stripper.

Figure 3 : P&ID of water reflux into stripper

Type of control strategy : Ratio controller (divider).

Control Variable : Ratio of water reflux.

Manipulated Variable : Inlet flowrate of water.

Disturbance Variable : Inlet flowrate of glycol.

The water reflux ratio into the stripper is controlled to achieve optimum production rate of
dehydrated natural gas. For this control variable, the ratio control system is used. Ratio control
system is a technique where in variable is manipulated to keep it as a ratio proportional to another
ratio control system is a special type feed forward control system widely used in the process
industries. The objective of ratio control system is to maintain the ratio of two variables which are
manipulated variable, u and disturbance variable, d at a specified value where the formula is

u
R=
d
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In this system the two streams involve are inlet water flowrate as u and inlet glycol flowrate d.To
obtain the ratio of water reflux the, the flowrate of two streams which the flowrates was detected
by flow transmitter of each stream were dividing. The calculated ratio of flowrate both stream was
sent to the ratio controller which the inlet flowrate of water is manipulated to maintain the set point.
The ratio controller will send the pneumatic signal to the control valve to open or close and
increase or decrease the inlet flowrate of water. The set point to this controller is the required ratio
which would be set locally. The divider control system is installed to stable the flow inlet at the
stripper and to maintain the steady operation of the stripper.

Table 2: Advantages of ratio controller (divider).

Term Advantages
• Conventional single-channel electronic air/gas ratio control on the basis
Safety of flow measurements is not fail-safe. It involves a high risk potential since
it is normally an installation-specific, stand-alone solution and includes
several potential error sources (Wicker & Ag, n.d.).
• The cost to install the ratio controller is low because it controll two stream
Cost in a time.
• The cost of maintainance also low due to the ratio control is not
complicated control strategy.
• Hence, the cost to run the process of natural gas dehydration becomes
low in order to increase the optimization of the process.
• In this system, the efficiency is high because it involve two streams in
Efficiency order to maintain the steady operation in the stripper (Gad, Elmawgoud,
Aboul-fotouh, & El-shafie, 2016).
• Ratio control can give a certain ratio from both stream which is needed in
the controlling of water reflux in the stripper.
• It is one of feedforward controller which can give correction before the
deviation in the process.

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iii. The pressure in the stripper.

Glycol
inlet

Glycol
outlet

Figure 4 : P&ID of pressure in the stripper.

Type of control strategy : Feedback controller.

Control Variable : Pressure in the stripper.

Manipulated Variable : Inlet flowrate of steam.

Disturbance Variable : Inlet pressure.

When the inlet pressure decrease, it will be creating disturbance. Deviation from set point has
occurred and it must compensate for the disturbance by manipulating the steam valve. The
controller sends the signal to the valve to increase the steam flow (M. A. Fanaei ,2006). It is a trial
and error operation until the temperature remains at set point (T. E. Marlin,2000).

Table 3 : Advantages of feedback controller.

Term Advantages
• Has a simple design and easy to tune. For linear, fast and short dead time
Safety processes does made it safe and easy to handle (Fanaei,2006).
• It requires minimal knowledge about the process to be controlled thus do
Cost not need to hired professional engineer so that labour cost can be
minimized (Doyle, Francis &Tannenbaum,1990).
Efficiency • Faster time response. Better stability(T. E. Marlin,2000).

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iv. The pressure in the top third of the stripper.

Glycol inlet

Glycol outlet

Figure 5 : P&ID of pressure in the top third of stripper.

Type of control strategy : Feedback controller.

Control Variable : Pressure in the top third stripper.

Manipulated Variable : Outlet flowrate of water vapor.

Disturbance Variable : Outlet flowrate of glycol.

Feedback control is a method that can be used when controlling a parameter based on past result.
In this case, the pressure in the top third of the stripper is control by manipulating the flow of fluid
leaving the top of the stripper along with the water vapor. The flow of fluid will affect the pressure
in the top third of the stripper as the pressure will act as disturbance if the desired set point is not
reached. Therefore, the pressure transmitter will transmit the pressure to pressure controller.
Corrective action will be done by regulating the control valve on the outlet stream of water vapor
(Doyle, Francis &Tannenbaum,1990).

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 Table 4: Advantages of feedback controller.

Term Advantages
Safety • Less sensitive to noise. Less sensitive to system parameter variations (C.
C. Yu, 2006).
Cost • Low labour cost, low handling cost (C. C. Yu, 2006).
Efficiency • Its corrective action occurs as soon as the controlled variable deviate
from the set point does increase it efficiency (Astrom and
Hagglund,2006).

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v. The liquid level at the bottom of the stripper.

Figure 6 : P&ID of liquid level at the bottom of the stripper.

Type of control strategy : Feedback controller.

Control Variable : Liquid level at the bottom of the stripper.

Manipulated Variable : Outlet flowrate of glycol.

Disturbance Variable : Inlet flowrate of glycol.

The liquid level at the bottom of the stripper is control through feedback control. Feedback control
is a method of control that the action taken is based on past result. In this system, the outlet
flowrate of glycol is set as the manipulated variable as a valve is installed at this line where it is
connected with level controller and level transmitter. The level transmitter is installed to detect the
level of liquid at the bottom and to avoid flooding from happen in this system. If a deviation of set
point occurs in the system, the level transmitter will transmit the signal to the level controller. As
the liquid level is controlled by regulating the control valve at the outlet flowrate of glycol, the
signal that has been transmitted by the level transmitter will be used by the level controller to
control the opening and closing of the control valve. Hence, if the liquid level at the bottom of the
stripper is not enough to the stripper, the control valve will regulate its opening to control the level
of liquid at the bottom of the stripper.

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 Table 5 : Advantages of feedback controller.

Term Advantages
• It is simple design and easy to tune for level process.
• Corrective action occurs as soon as the controlled variable deviates from
Safety the set point.
• Feedback control requires minimal knowledge about the process to be
controlled; it particular, a mathematical model of the process is not
required, although it can be very useful for control system design.
• Feedback PID control easily offers the greatest potential energy savings.
Cost It would provide assurance that treatment requirements are met no matter
what the loading condition enabling the highest energy conversion
possible with on-off control (Rob S., 2014).
• Feedback control system has a high efficiency. By having a dual feedback
control system in which the first feedback loop is control the first variable
and the second feedback loop is control another variable, the efficiency
of the feedback control system can be maximized (Eugene R.L. et al.,
1992).
Efficiency • A much more elegant, robust, simple and efficient way of solving the
control problem is to introduce a feedback structure. The measurable
output is fed back, and the controllable input is permanently modified by
an appropriate regulator to keep the output near its set value despite the
influence of time-variant disturbances. Design of the regulator may be
performed by use of well-known automatic control methods. Because of
its feedback structure, a control system of this kind is much more precise
and much less sensitive (Markos P. et al., 1991).

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vi. Efficient absorber operation at various throughputs.

Figure 7 : P&ID of efficient absorber operation at various throughputs.

Type of control strategy : Ratio controller (multiplier).

Control Variable : To control the amount of glycol enter the absorber.

Manipulated Variable : Inlet flowrate of glycol.

Disturbance Variable : Inlet flowrate of wet gas.

The efficiency of the absorber operation can be measured by how much the absorber can absorb
the amount of glycol that go through it. The feedforward control with ratio control is used to control
the amount of glycol enter the absorber as the inlet of gas in the system is more than one stream.
The objective of this control is to maintain the ratio of two variables at a specified value which are
the inlet flowrate of glycol and the inlet flowrate of wet gas. Inlet flowrate of glycol is manipulated
to keep it as ratio of inlet flowrate of wet gas. As the inlet flowrate of glycol is manipulated variable,
it will keep the ratio of inlet flowrate of wet gas into absorber being absorbed and released as dry
gas. This will keep both flow in proportion. A multiplier is used to this control system to measure
the inlet flowrate of wet gas into absorber. This flowrate is then multiplied with the desired ratio to
obtain the required flowrate of glycol stream. Flowrate is given by 𝐅𝐠𝐥𝐲𝐜𝐨𝐥 𝐬𝐞𝐭 = 𝐑 × 𝐅𝐰𝐞𝐭 𝐠𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐧. The
set point of the controller of glycol must vary, as the flowrate of wet gas is varying.

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 Table 6: Advantages of ratio controller (multiplier).

Term Advantages
• Measure important disturbance variables and take corrective action before
Safety they upset the process.
• Faster recovery than cascade or (SISO).
• The economic benefits of feedforward control can come from lower
Cost operating costs and/or increased salability of the product due to its more
consistent quality (Seborg D. E. et al., 1989).
• A new optimization-based feedforward thickness controller is developed.
Efficiency Simulation results for a validated mathematical model and first
experimental results from an industrial pilot installation show a significant
benefit (Prinz K. et al., 2018).

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Prinz, K., and Steinboeck, A., Kugi A. (2018). Optimization-based Feedforward Control Of The
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Bucur, G., Moise, A. G., & Popescu, C. (2015). Simulation of Gas Dehydration Plants Safe
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Gad, M. S., Elmawgoud, H. A., Aboul-fotouh, T. M., & El-shafie, M. A. (2016). The Economic
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Processing, N. G. A. S. (2013). Natural Gas Processing, (June), 1–18.

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