Natural gas production is fed from gathering lines throughout
West Virginia and is boosted along the way by field compressor stations. The
final compression takes place at the Hastings Extraction Plant. The cryogenic
area processes the wet gas stream, removing hydrocarbons and making gas suitable
for high-pressure transmission system customers.
Propane, isobutane, normal-butane
and natural gasoline are then produced in the fractionation area of the
plant.
These products are shipped from the Galmish Loading
facilities by rail car and tank truck to customers throughout the area.
Natural gasoline is also pumped by pipeline to storage
and shipped by barge from a facility at Bens Run, W.Va., on the Ohio River.
Hastings Extraction/Fractionation Plant (click image to enlarge)
Extraction Process
Liquids Extraction & Fractionation Process
-- The gas feed from the inlet centrifugal compressor at Hastings is first used
to supply heat to the Deethanizer in the reboiler. Because the gas must be chilled
to -102° F, all traces of moisture are removed by molecular sieve bed driers.
The extraction process then begins.
The inlet gas passes through heat exchangers to continue the
cooling process. Some of the heavier components of the gas become liquid and
drop out in the Cold Separator. The remaining cold gas is then fed to the Turbo-expander,
where the expansion of the gas and resulting pressure drop causes more liquid
to be produced. This liquid is then fed to the Absorber for even more heat exchange
and final removal from the gas stream of all except the very lightest hydrocarbon
components. The gas from the top of the Absorber is warmed, the pressure boosted
by the expander boost compressor and fed to the residue compressor for return
to the pipeline system.
The liquid produced in the cryogenic area is processed in
the fractionation section of the plant. The various fractionation towers distill
the products using temperature and pressure control to cause the products to
vaporize and leave the tops of the towers. This vaporized product is condensed
to liquid by air coolers and then pumped to storage.
Galmish
Loading & Storage -- Both the
railcar loading and truck loading facilities, as well as the storage spheres
for isobutane and normal butane, are located at Galmish.
Galmish Loading Facility (click image to enlarge)
Two
larger storage tanks for propane are on the hill above the rail loading
area. All products can be loaded into railcars or tanker trucks from this
location and delivered to customers throughout the eastern United States.
Although all products can be loaded and
shipped from Galmish, propane can also be pumped through a pipeline that
interconnects with the Texas Eastern Products Pipeline in Pennsylvania.
In addition, natural gasoline can be pumped to Ben’s
Run and loaded onto barges for delivery to customers.
