For the recovery of natural gas liquids, CB&I has extensive knowledge and expertise in the area of cryogenic turbo-expander plants, particularly in high efficiency propane recovery and deep ethane recovery plants.

LPG recovery. Our seasoned process engineers have developed innovative plant designs that feature the industry's tallest demethanizer, oversized brazed aluminum exchangers for very close temperature approach and a modified refluxed demethanizer for additional ethane recovery. In addition, our plants feature a heat exchange train that can easily be modified to add propane refrigeration.

Our plants achieve high propane recovery with complete ethane rejection, and our cryogenic propane recovery plants recover 99 percent or more of butanes and heavier components. These units are suitable for both low and high inlet gas pressures. They feature few moving components and simple process designs, so they perform reliably, are easy to operate and require very little maintenance. And they are designed for minimal utilities consumption, which can reduce owners' on-going operating costs.

Cryogenic ethane recovery. CB&I designs and builds high ethane recovery plants using the refluxed demethanizer gas subcooled process (GSP), which typically achieves 85-90% ethane recovery. Other proprietary plant designs are also offered for higher ethane recoveries. For every installation, we optimize the process design, plant configuration and installed compressor horsepower, while carefully addressing personnel safety, environmental protection, customer preferences, space limitations, service access, available utilities and other design factors. We work to minimize capital, labor and material costs to yield low life cycle costs, while improving operating flexibility and reliability. Our process optimization typically evaluates the fraction of liquids recovered, inlet refrigeration options, side reboiler configurations, turbo-expander compressor configurations, and other process options.