Category: Nitrogen, PSA Nitrogen generator, PSA Plant

Nitrogen is a gas that is available in abundance in Air. It has numerous applications like Food processing, heat treatment, metal cutting, glass making, Chemical Industry, and many other processes rely on nitrogen in some form or capacity.

Nitrogen is commonly used in the oil & gas industry and applications include well stimulation, injection and pressure testing. In some of EOR (Enhanced Oil Recovery) projects, nitrogen can also be used to flood marginal fields, more commonly using water flooding or chemical/surfactant flooding. Additionally, nitrogen can be used to help prevent flammable gases from igniting and protect tubular from downhole corrosion.

Nitrogen, as an inert gas, offers an extensive variety of capabilities to the oil, gas and petrochemical enterprises. Used principally during plant maintenance, start-up and shutdown preparations, nitrogen purging and subsequent nitrogen spill testing form a critical path to the favorable outcome of any project. Therefore, nitrogen has become extremely important for onshore and offshore applications. Providing a dry air supply, nitrogen can extend the life of some systems, as well as prevent breakdowns.

In workover and completion operations, nitrogen is an optimal choice to displace well fluids in order to initiate flow and clean wells because of its low density and high pressure characteristics. The high-pressure gas is also used for production stimulation through hydraulic fracturing. Also, nitrogen is used for cementing operations and controlling cement slurry weights.

Additionally, nitrogen is used to maintain pressure in reservoirs that have either been depleted of hydrocarbons or experienced natural pressure reduction. Because nitrogen is immiscible (or does not mix) with oil and water, a nitrogen injection program or nitrogen flood can be used to move missed pockets of hydrocarbons from an injection well to a production well.

Nitrogen can also be used in pigging and purging a pipeline. For example, nitrogen can be used as the driver to push the pigs through the pipe. Nitrogen can also be used to purge the pipeline after pigging has been completed. In this case, the dry gas is run through the line without the pig to dry up any remaining water in the pipeline.

Also, nitrogen can be used in FPSOs and other situations where hydrocarbons are stored. In a process called tank blanketing, nitrogen is applied to an empty storage facility, to increase safety and provide a buffer for the entering hydrocarbons. other applications of nitrogen in the oil and gas industry.

Nitrogen Blanketing

Nitrogen blanketing also known as tank blanketing and tank padding, is a process that involves the application of nitrogen to a storage container consisting of chemicals and hydrocarbons that are volatile and reactive with oxygen. When a tank is purged with nitrogen, the material inside the tank does not come in contact with the oxygen. Blanketing lets the prolonged life of the product and the potential explosive hazards are diminished.

Purging of Nitrogen

To replace any undesirable or a hazardous atmosphere with an inert dry atmosphere, Nitrogen purging is used i.e. to limit the oxygen content so it does not react with other explosive mixtures and hydrocarbons. Displacement and dilution are the two most common methods of purging. Which method is to be used for which system depends on its geometry. Displacement is more effective for simple systems and dilution is used for complex systems.

To cool down the catalyst in a refinery

At the point when a refinery is to be shut down, it is preferable to minimize the temperature of the catalyst associated with the procedure at the earliest. For this reason, nitrogen, in huge volumes can be driven into the catalyst utilizing a pumping equipment to cool down the catalyst quickly and save shutdown time.