Methods and devices for drying hydrocarbon containing gas

Abstract

Processes and devices for recovering natural gas liquid from a hydrocarbon containing gas are provided by introduction of compressed air to a vortex tube. The vortex tube generates a cold air stream that is introduced into a heat exchanger. A hydrocarbon containing gas of higher temperature than the cold air stream is introduced into the heat exchanger, so that the cold air stream in the heat exchanger cools the hydrocarbon containing gas to condense natural gas vapors in the hydrocarbon containing gas to liquid hydrocarbons. In this manner, liquid hydrocarbons and dry hydrocarbon containing gas are obtained.

Claims

1. A process for recovering natural gas liquid from a hydrocarbon containing gas, said method comprising the steps of: mechanically coupling a boundary layer disk turbine (BLDT) to a compressor pump; directing a flow of pressurized fluid of the BLDT to mechanically power the compressor pump; compressing air with the mechanically powered compressor pump; thereby generating compressed air without an external energy source; introducing said compressed air to a vortex tube; separating the introduced compressed air in the vortex tube into a hot air stream and a cold air stream; introducing the cold air stream into a heat exchanger; introducing the hydrocarbon containing gas into the heat exchanger, wherein the cold air stream in the heat exchanger cools the hydrocarbon containing gas thereby condensing natural gas vapors in the hydrocarbon containing gas to liquid hydrocarbons; collecting the liquid hydrocarbons from the heat exchanger; and collecting a dry hydrocarbon containing gas from the heat exchanger; thereby recovering natural gas liquid from the hydrocarbon containing gas without an external energy source.

2. The process of claim 1, wherein the introduced compressed air has a pressure selected from a range that is greater than or equal to 80 psi and less than or equal to 120 psi.

3. The process of claim 1, wherein the introduced compressed air has a temperature selected from a range that is greater than or equal to 50 F. and less than or equal to 90 F.

4. The process of claim 1, wherein the introduced compressed air has a temperature that is within 10 F. of surrounding ambient air temperature.

5. The process of claim 1, wherein the cold air stream from the vortex tube has a temperature selected from a range that is greater than or equal to 20 F. and less than or equal to 20 F.

6. The process of claim 1, wherein the cold air stream has an exit temperature from the vortex tube that is at least 30 F. to 100 F. less than an introduction temperature of the introduced compressed air.

7. The process of claim 1, wherein the cold air stream has a user-selected flow rate.

8. The process of claim 1, wherein the compressed air is stored in a storage tank.

9. The process of claim 1, wherein the pressurized drive fluid is a vapor gas from a hydrocarbon containing liquid.

10. The process of claim 1, further comprising the step of providing on-demand control of a pneumatic device within the process.

11. The process of claim 1, wherein the hydrocarbon containing gas introduced to the heat exchanger is from a separation tank or a production field and comprises condensable hydrocarbons of C2 or greater.

12. The process of claim 11, wherein the mole percentage of the condensable hydrocarbons is 20% or greater.

13. The process of claim 1, wherein the collected dry hydrocarbon gas comprises methane hydrocarbons in an amount that is greater than or equal to 95 mol %.

14. The process of claim 1, wherein the collected dry hydrocarbon gas is provided to a sales line or combusted.

15. The process of claim 1, wherein the collected NGL comprises one or more of: ethane, butane or propane.

16. The process of claim 1, wherein the collected NGL is stored in a containment vessel or introduced to a sales pipeline.

17. An apparatus for recovering natural gas liquids from a hydrocarbon-containing gas, the apparatus comprising: a heat exchanger comprising: a first inlet for receiving a hydrocarbon stream comprising wet natural gas, a first outlet for releasing a cooled hydrocarbon stream that is dry natural gas from the hydrocarbon stream, a second inlet for receiving a cold air stream; a second outlet for releasing a heated air stream, wherein the cold air stream and the hydrocarbon stream comprising wet natural gas are in thermal contact, and the cold air stream cools the hydrocarbon stream to provide the dry natural gas and the heated air stream; and a third outlet for releasing a condensed natural gas liquid (NGL) from the cooled hydrocarbon stream; a vortex tube for separating compressed air into the cold air stream at a first end and a hot air stream at a second end; a cold air stream conduit that fluidly connects the vortex tube first end to the heat exchanger second inlet for introducing the cold air stream to the heat exchanger; and a NGL collection vessel connected to the heat exchanger third outlet for collecting a condensed NGL from the cooled hydrocarbon stream; a self-powered compressor that provides compressed air to the vortex tube, said self-powered compressor comprising: a boundary layer disc turbine (BLDT); a source of pressurized drive fluid; a pressurized drive fluid conduit that fluidically connects the BLDT and the source of pressurized drive fluid; a compressor pump mechanically connected to the BLDT; an air source fluidically connected to the compressor pump; wherein flow of pressurized drive fluid under a pressure differential mechanically powers the compressor pump to compress air to a desired pressure for introduction to the vortex tube.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, further comprising a compressed air storage tank fluidically connected to the compressor pump for storing compressed air.

Description

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 is a flow-diagram of an embodiment where compressed air is cooled and used to condense natural gas liquids from a hydrocarbon containing gas thereby drying the gas.

(2) FIG. 2 is a schematic of a vortex tube for cooling compressed air into a cold air stream for subsequent use in a heat exchanger.

(3) FIG. 3 is a schematic of a heat exchanger system that utilizes a cold air stream to condense NGL from a hydrocarbon containing gas stream.

(4) FIG. 4 is a flow-diagram of one embodiment where kinetic energy in the form of fluid flow is used to compress air without an external source of energy.

(5) FIG. 5 is a schematic of a boundary layer disk turbine to compress air and optionally a pneumatic device within an industrial process.

(6) FIG. 6A is a self-powered compressor for compressing a fluid such as air. FIG. 6B shows an embodiment where compressed air is stored in a storage tank for subsequent use or on-demand use in a cooling process of any of the devices or processes provided herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(7) The invention may be further understood by the following non-limiting examples. All references cited herein are hereby incorporated by reference to the extent not inconsistent with the disclosure herewith. Although the description herein contains many specificities, these should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention but as merely providing illustrations of some of the presently preferred embodiments of the invention. For example, thus the scope of the invention should be determined by the appended claims and their equivalents, rather than by the examples given.

(8) Hydrocarbon containing gas is used broadly to refer to a gas that contains hydrocarbon materials, such as natural gas from a gas field production or gas from a separator tank. Accordingly, the hydrocarbon containing gas can be a mixture of hydrocarbon gases, including methane and higher-chain carbons such as ethane, propane, butane, etc. Wet hydrocarbon containing gas refers to gas containing condensable vapors, such as C.sub.2+. In the processes provided herein, such condensable vapors are at least partially condensed from the hydrocarbon containing gas by an exchange of heat with a cold air stream so as to condense higher-chain hydrocarbons, thereby increasing the relative amount of methane in the hydrocarbon containing gas (referred herein as dry hydrocarbon containing gas). In an aspect, dry refers to at least 95% or greater (by mol %) gas composition is methane. In an aspect, dry refers to a composition that is between 95% and 99%, 97% to 99%, or about 98% to 99% methane (by mol %).

(9) Natural gas liquid or NGL refers to heavier hydrocarbons that have been condensed from wet hydrocarbon containing gas, such as C.sub.2+ (e.g., ethane, propane, butane, and higher). The NGL may be a mixture of hydrocarbons or, as desired, individually separated. The NGL collected herein may be stored, provided to a liquid gathering line, or further cooled to generate liquefied natural gas for easier storage or transport.

(10) Compressed air refers to air that is at a pressure higher than atmosphere. The compressed air may be directly from a compressor that compresses air to a desired pressure. Alternatively, the compressed air may come from a source of compressed air, such as air stored in a storage tank or vessel and provided on demand.

(11) Vortex tube refers to a mechanical device that separates a compressed gas, in this example compressed air, into hot and cold streams. Such vortex tubes are also known in the art as Ranque-Hilsch vortex tubes. Vortex tubes are known in the art, including as described U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,932,858, 5,483,801, 3,208,229, 3,173,273, and 3,775,998 which are specifically incorporated by reference herein for vortex tubes and related components for controlling and processing fluids. Depending on the application of interest and associated operating conditions, a wide range of vortex tubes may be employed herein, so long as the vortex tube provides the desired cooling and flow rates as required by the input wet hydrocarbon containing gas.

(12) Vortex tubes function by taking a tangentially-introduced higher pressure gas (e.g., compressed air) into a tube's swirl chamber that accelerates the gas to high rate of rotation (see, e.g., FIG. 2). A conically-shaped nozzle at the tube end ensures only the outer shell portion of the centrifugally swirling air exits. The remainder of the air is forced back to the other end of the vortex tube within an inner vortex having a reduced diameter confined within the outer vortex. The outer vortex portion of the air is a hot stream and the inner vortex portion a cold stream. Conventional vortex tubes can produce temperature drops up to and above 100 F., including in the range of about 40 F.-80 F., such as for air compressed to about 100 psi. Increasing the compression of the air generally increases temperature drop for a given vortex tube. Examples of commercially-available vortex tubes include those by Newman Tools (available on the internet at newmantools.com/vortex.htm).

(13) A controller at the conically-shaped nozzle end may be used to adjust the temperature of the hot and cold air streams, such as to provide a desired cold air stream temperature tailored to the application and operating conditions of interest.

(14) Heat exchanger refers to high thermal efficiency exchangers that provides thermal contact between two fluids of different temperatures. The term is used broadly and includes counter-current, parallel flow, and cross-flow exchangers. In the context of the current invention, the two fluids are a cold air stream and a hydrocarbon containing gas, wherein the heat exchanger inlet temperature of the hydrocarbon containing gas is higher than the inlet temperature of the cold air stream. Accordingly, thermal contact between the cold air stream and the hydrocarbon containing gas stream within the heat exchanger facilitates net heat flow from the hydrocarbon containing stream, thereby lowering the temperature of the hydrocarbon containing gas stream and correspondingly increasing the temperature of the cold air stream to a heated air stream temperature. For wet hydrocarbon containing gas, such a lowering of temperature facilitates condensation of certain hydrocarbon vapors, such as heavier hydrocarbons, into NGL. The NGL is separated from the gas stream and collected leaving a dry hydrocarbon containing gas stream to exit the heat exchanger. For robust heat exchange, the flow path is shaped so as to maximize surface area available for heat exchange, and may be optionally split to provide good thermal contact between the flowstreams. In addition, one or more surfaces may be shared between the fluid conduits, with the hydrocarbon containing gas on one side of the surface and the cold air stream on the opposite side to further increase heat exchange. Any of the conduits may be shaped to enhance heat exchange. Furthermore, heat sinks may be utilized to further control thermal transfer characteristics.

(15) Fluidically connects or fluidically connected refers to two components that are connected such that a fluid is transported between the components while functionality of each component is maintained.

(16) Industrial process refers to a procedure used in the manufacture or isolation of a material. For example, the industrial process may involve chemical or mechanical steps used in a hydrocarbon generation, recovery procedure, or process, such as for a hydrocarbon vapor recovery unit from a hydrocarbon recovery, separation, and/or storage facility.

(17) Mechanically coupling refers to a connection between two components, wherein movement of one component generates movement in another component without affecting the function of the components. The coupling can be direct, such as by a rotating shaft that is attached to two components. Alternatively, the coupling may be indirect such that there is one or more intervening components or materials between two devices, such as a belt, pulley and/or clutch.

(18) BLDT or boundary layer disk turbine, also referred to as a Tesla turbine (see U.S. Pat. No. 1,061,206) or a Prandtl layer turbine (see U.S. Pat. No. 6,174,127), refers to a stack of disks that are spaced apart and rotably mounted on a shaft. In this manner, flow of a fluid between adjacent disks generates disk rotation and corresponding rotation of shaft on which the BLDT is mounted. In this manner, fluid flow over a BLDT can generate energy in the form of a shaft rotation that can be usefully harnessed to control, or at least partially control, an industrial process.

(19) Pressurized drive fluid refers to a drive fluid that is under sufficient pressure at one point compared to another point so as to generate fluid flow between the points. For example, to power a BLDT, the fluid is pressurized upstream of the BLDT compared to downstream of the BLDT, so that fluid flows over the BLDT, thereby providing mechanical rotation of the BLDT.

(20) Compressing refers to increasing the pressure of a gas, such as by introducing additional gas to a fixed volume or by reducing the volume of the gas. Accordingly, compressing may be achieved by one or more of a pump and a compressor. Various compressors may be used to compress gas (referred herein as a compressible gas). Examples of compressors include centrifugal, axial-flow, reciprocating and rotary. Alternatively, a pump may be used to force additional gas into a fixed volume. Compressor pump refers to any component capable of compressing a fluid, such as gas or air.

(21) Mechanical power refers to a device that is powered by mechanical motion arising from flow of fluid over a BLDT. Electrical power, in contrast, refers to a device requiring electricity to function. Chemical power refers to a device that is powered by a chemical process, such as by combustion. Because electrical and/or chemical power requires external input from an energy source, that power is referred to as an external energy source. One advantage of the processes and systems described herein is that the mechanical power can significantly reduce, or avoid altogether a need for external power, but instead leverages an inherent property of the industrial process itself, namely flow of a pressurized fluid (referred herein as a drive fluid). Accordingly, the mechanical power of the present invention is referred to as an internal energy source.

(22) Pneumatic device refers to a device that is mechanically controlled by the use of a pressurized gas. Examples of pneumatic devices useful in a number of industrial processes provided herein include: pressure regulator, pressure sensor, pressure switch, pumps, valves, compressors or actuator.

(23) Closed loop refers to a material, such as a fluid, that is not lost to the environment, but instead is contained within the industrial process and either fed back into the process for re-use or is captured and fed to a collector or an outlet and provided to a sales pipeline.

(24) A compressor that is electric free and gas free refers to a compressor that is capable of solely operating by virtue of the BLDT within the industrial process. In other words, the energy required to power the compressor is internal and no external energy source is required or needed. This results in significant energy savings, including for industrial processes that may be in geographically isolated areas, or in areas where an available external energy source (e.g., the grid), is not readily accessible.

Example 1: Drying a Hydrocarbon-Containing Gas

(25) One example of a process for drying a hydrocarbon-containing gas is provided by the process flow chart of FIG. 1. Compressed air 100 is introduced 110 to a vortex tube 120. The compressed air 100 may be directly from a compressor or indirectly from a compressor such as via storage tank. The vortex tube 120 separates the compressed air into a hot air stream 130 and a cold air stream 140. The cold air stream 140 is introduced to a heat exchanger 160. Hydrocarbon containing gas (e.g., wet hydrocarbon containing gas) 150, such as from a source 145 is introduced to the heat exchanger 160. Functionally, the cold air stream 140 decreases the temperature of the hydrocarbon containing gas in the heat exchanger, thereby condensing natural gas vapors in the hydrocarbon containing gas to liquid hydrocarbons (referred herein as natural gas liquids or NGL) 170 that are collected 175 from the heat exchanger. Hydrocarbon containing gas from which NGLs have been condensed is referred to as dry hydrocarbon containing gas 180, and is collected 185 from the heat exchanger 160. Cold air stream 140 is accordingly heated and exits the heat exchanger as a heated air stream 190 that may be vented to atmosphere or recirculated such as being used in another aspect of an industrial process where heating is required or beneficial.

(26) FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of a vortex tube 120. Compressed air 100 is introduced to vortex tube via compressed air conduit 110. Chamber 127 generates a vortex that transits along vortex conduit 128 with an outer portion of the vortex released as hot air stream 130 at a second end 131 and cold air stream 140 corresponding to inner portion of the vortex released at the first end 141 of the vortex tube. A vortex tube control valve 129 provides the ability to control the temperature of hot air stream 130 and cold air stream 140, such as by controlling the fraction of inlet air released at the hot air stream 130 end. As discussed, by increasing the pressure of compressed air 100 introduced to vortex tube 120, the temperature of the cold air stream 140 is further decreased. In an aspect, operating conditions and vortex tube geometry is selected so as to provide a cold air stream temperature out of the vortex tube that is less than about 0 F.

(27) FIG. 3 is a schematic of the process outlined in FIG. 1 where a vortex tube 120 is used to provide cold air stream 140 to a heat exchanger 160 having a thermal transfer zone 159 by cold air stream conduit 142. Compressor 90 compresses air, such as atmospheric air provided at air inlet 80. Compressed air conduit 95 fluidically connects the compressor and a compressed air storage tank 101. Compressed air 100, such as from a compressed air storage tank 101, is provided to vortex tube 120 via compressed air conduit 110. Various flow regulation means, such as valves or controllers as indicated by 105, are used throughout the system as desired, to provide appropriate regulation of a physical parameter, such as flow-rates or pressures. In FIG. 3, valve or controller 105 controls the flow or pressure of compressed air to vortex tube 120. Cold air stream 140 from the vortex tube 120 is introduced to heat exchanger 160 at a second inlet 162. Wet hydrocarbon containing gas 150 is introduced from a hydrocarbon source 145 to the heat exchanger 160 at a first inlet 161. Thermal contact between the cold air stream 140 and wet hydrocarbon containing gas 150 lowers the temperature of the gas 150, thereby condensing vapors in the hydrocarbon containing gas 150, to generate natural gas liquids (NGL) 170, such as from heavy chain hydrocarbon vapor within the hydrocarbon containing gas. The resultant hydrocarbon containing gas is referred to as dry hydrocarbon containing gas 180 and is removed from heat exchanger 160 at first outlet 163 for further processing, storage, sales or combustion. Thermal contact between cold air stream 140 and hydrocarbon containing gas 150 correspondingly heats the cold air stream to a heated air stream 190 which exits heat exchanger 160 at second outlet 164. Condensed NGL 170 is removed from the heat exchanger at third outlet 165 and sold or, as illustrated, stored in a NGL storage tank 175 for later sale or for further processing.

(28) The term heat exchanger is used broadly and refers to any device or system that provides cooling of a fluid by another fluid that is of higher temperature. In its most simple form, the heat exchanger may be flow conduits that are in physical contact to provide heat transfer. In such an aspect, the terms inlet and outlet reduce to a position in each conduit wherein there is a substantial heat transfer between the fluids. This can be defined as measurable change in the temperature, such as a change that is at least 1 C., at least 5 C., or a range that is between about 1 C. to 10 C. Accordingly, there are defined two inlets and two outlets, with an inlet/outlet pair for the hydrocarbon stream conduit (150 180) that will be cooled and another inlet/outlet pair for the air stream conduit (140 190) that provides the cooling. A third outlet is provided to remove condensed liquid from a position where liquid condensate locates (e.g., 165 or other convenient location within the conduit defined by 150 and 180 having reduced temperature).

(29) One advantage of the systems and processes provided herein is that they are compatible with other low-energy systems, where minimal externally input energy is required to drive and control the system and simultaneously, revenue-producing product may be generated and collected. Systems provided herein are cost-effective in that efficiencies are realized by avoiding the refrigerant liquids required in conventional cooling systems. Instead, the systems provided herein use compressed air and a vortex tube. In particular, referring to FIGS. 1-3, no external energy sources are required, as the flow of various fluids under pressure provide the cooling effect. In other words, the most energy-intensive requirement is to ensure there is sufficient compressed air 100 introduced to the vortex tube 120. The other aspects of the system summarized in FIG. 3 rely mainly on passive forces such as fluid pressures or gravity to drive fluid flow.

(30) To keep external energy requirements low or absent, the compressed air may be obtained by incorporating the low-energy systems disclosed in U.S. Pat. Pub. Nos. 2013/0071259 and 2013/0068314, each filed Sep. 14, 2012 specifically incorporated by reference for the air compression, control devices and processes described therein. For example, a boundary layer disk turbine (BLDT) may be used to drive a compressor 90, thereby obtaining compressed air without an external energy power source as further explained in Example 2 and FIGS. 4-6 discussed below.

Example 2: Self-Powered Compressor to Compress Fluids

(31) FIG. 4 summarizes certain steps of a process for compressing a fluid, such as air for use in the process and devices described in Example 1. Briefly, pressurized drive fluid drives a disk turbine (e.g., BLDT) 500 and is looped back into the fluid flow at an appropriate location in the process 510. For example, FIG. 5 illustrates the outlet flow conduit 235 from the BLDT connected back to a line from the pressure vessel 210 or another line 211, such as a sales line or a hydrocarbon-containing gas line that is introduced to heat exchanger 160 of FIGS. 1 and 3. Because the fluid remains in the industrial process and is not, for example, vented to atmosphere, the connection is referred to as a closed-loop 200. The BLDT drives a compressor pump 520 through any coupling means, direct or indirect. The compressor pump compresses a compressible fluid 530, such as air to provide compressed air 100. Depending on the desired application 550, the compressed air may be stored in a retention tank or pressure tank 101 (see FIG. 3) for use in cooling a hydrocarbon containing gas and/or directly to power a pneumatic process control in the system. On demand, the compressed fluid in the retention or pressure tank or directly from the compressor pump powers a pneumatic device, or is directed to a vortex tube 120. Examples of a pneumatic device or controller include a dump valve, motor valve, level controller, temperature or pressure controller.

(32) In an aspect, the pneumatic control by a BLDT is part of a staged-separation process. For example, referring to FIG. 4, the pressurized drive fluid 500 can be derived from a high-pressure well-head stream, or can be a from a separation tank that provides a lower drive fluid pressure, or a combination thereof. In this manner, the processes and devices provided herein can be used at any point in the hydrocarbon recovery industrial process, ranging from relatively upstream points near the well-head to more downstream processing, storage and sales points; anywhere where self-control of a pneumatic device and/or cooling using compressed is desired. In this aspect, a number of BLDT can be introduced throughout the industrial process, thereby providing control of pneumatic devices and cooling throughout hydrocarbon production, processing and recovery. One important aspect of the industrial processes provided herein is a compressor pump that is powered by fluid flow, wherein the fluid flow is an inherent part of the industrial process and external energy input is not required to generate the flow or power the compressor. This aspect is referred to as a self-powered compressor as no external source of energy is required to drive the compressor, but the inherent high pressure of the drive fluid is harnessed to generate mechanically-based compression. The action of the compressor can itself be harnessed to provide useful control of various aspects of the industrial process without relying on an external energy source (see, e.g., the process flows summarized FIGS. 1-3 of Example 1). This can significantly reduce the cost of the process by not only minimizing external power consumption, but by avoiding additional components, increasing reliability of the process, and reducing unwanted emissions. A particularly relevant application of the self-powered compressor aspect is to provide compressed air on-demand for use in any of the processes provided herein for recovering NGL from a hydrocarbon containing gas, as indicated by 100 of FIGS. 1-3.

(33) FIG. 5 is a schematic that summarizes a method and system where a BLDT is used in a process to compress a fluid, and optionally provide pneumatic control. A pressure vessel 210 contains a source of pressurized drive fluid 220 and controller 212. Pressurized fluid 220 provides a flow of a pressurized drive fluid 230 over a BLDT 240 that is mechanically coupled to a compressor pump 250 (which may correspond to compressor pump 90 of FIG. 3) by mechanical coupling 245. In this fashion, the pressurized drive fluid 230 flowing over the BLDT 240 mechanically powers compressor pump 250. Compressor pump 250 compresses a compressible fluid 420, such as air. Compressed fluid 430 is directed into a retention tank 101 (which may correspond, for example, to tank 101 of FIG. 3). The compressed fluid can be used in a subsequent process, such as the compressed air 100 of FIGS. 1-3 for cooling hydrocarbon containing gas, to run controls, including a pneumatic device such as a level controller 280 and/or a dump valve 290. The dump valve regulates the amount of liquid removed from pressure vessel 210. In this example, the drive fluid may be a hydrocarbon gas such as a natural gas that is contained in a closed loop 200 and fed to an outlet flow conduit 235 or collecting line 211. The hydrocarbon gas in collecting line 211 may correspond to hydrocarbon containing gas source 145 of FIG. 3. The pneumatic control being powered or controlled may also be at other locations in the industrial process, such as another valve controlling the process, or other separation, retention or processing tank or pipeline. Optionally, flow regulator 212 and/or valve 222 can control pressures or flow-rates, including the relative flow-rates between BLDT inlet conduit 233 (first flow-rate) and bypass conduit 244 (second flow rate). Similar regulators or valves may be used to control relative flow rates between the cold air stream 140 and hot air stream 130, such as by controlling vortex tube control valve 129.

(34) FIG. 6 provides an example of a self-powered compressor, similar to that employed in FIG. 5. Referring to FIG. 6A, a pressure vessel 210 contains a source of pressurized drive fluid 230, such as hydrocarbon vapor flashed from hydrocarbon liquid 225, such as from a hydrocarbon production facility (e.g., a well) or a hydrocarbon storage or holding tank. The hydrocarbon vapor may be obtained directly from the well, or may be generated from gas flashing from a liquid phase downstream in the industrial process. The pressurized fluid (also referred to as drive fluid) 230 is introduced to fluid conduit 200 that fluidically connects the vessel 210 and a BLDT 240 by controller 12. Fluidically connected refers to conduit 200 configured to provide flow of pressurized drive fluid from the vessel 210 to and over the BLDT 240 under a pressure gradient or differential, as indicated by P. Mechanical motion of BLDT 240 by drive fluid 230 flowing through conduit 200 drives compressor pump 250 that is capable of compressing a compressible fluid 420, such as air from an air source. In an aspect, the air source is ambient air in the vicinity of the compressor pump 250 fluid inlet. Compressed air 430 can then be used to power a pneumatic device 320 as discussed above, and in U.S. patent application Ser Nos. 13/617,313 and 13/617,167. With respect to the instant application for drying hydrocarbon gas, the compressed air 430 may correspond to compressed air 100 introduced at step 110 to the vortex tube 120, as outlined in FIG. 1 and illustrated in FIGS. 2-3.

(35) For simplicity, FIG. 6A illustrates output of compressed air 100 ready for use in the process illustrated in FIG. 1. Use of appropriate valves and controllers provides the ability to adjustably select the pressure of the compressed air, as desired, for introduction to the vortex tube. The system, however, may be used for multiple functionality, such as controlling multiple pneumatic devices and/or for introduction to multiple vortex tube(s) as desired, such as by providing compressed air 430 to multiple devices. FIG. 6B illustrates an embodiment where compressed air 430 is stored in a pressure tank 330 (e.g., corresponding to tank 101 of FIGS. 1-3). The pressure tank 330 is fluidically connected to a vortex tube 120 by outlet conduit 340. In this manner, a large reservoir of pressurized fluid, including pressurized air, can be maintained and used on-demand by operation of controller 312 or 314. The positions of the inlet and outlet to any of the vessels disclosed herein, including tanks 210, 101 (FIG. 3) or 330, are not important, but instead are located as desired, including along a side, top or bottom of the tank, as desired. A pressure sensor 313 can measure and monitor pressure in the tank 330 and be used to control the BLDT/compressor by a controller 315 so that compression occurs when the pressure measured by sensor 313 is below a first user-selected set-point and, similarly, compression ends when the pressure is above a second user selected set-point, such as a second set-point greater than the first set-point.

(36) Integrating the systems and processes described in Examples 1 and 2 with each other, provides a robust, simple and cost-effective manner for further processing hydrocarbon containing gas without expending additional energy. Accordingly, the systems provided herein are particularly suited for applications where the electrical grid is not readily available and are further advantageous in that there are no or minimal moving components and cooling fluid is readily available from the surrounding ambient air. Accordingly, maintenance and upkeep of the systems are extremely minimal.

(37) Any of the devices and processes described herein further comprise, depending on the application, components known in the art for controlling industrial processes including, valves, regulators, rig-out, sensors (pressure, temperature, flow-rate), conduits or flow lines, piping, containers, containment vessels, separators, filters, mixers. Each application includes corresponding safety devices, valves, primary and secondary pressure and flow controllers and corresponding pressure and flow rates. Each application may vary in configuration or geometry, while maintaining the overall central aspect of the invention, including aspects described as: a pressurized fluid to drive a BLDT that is looped back into the fluid flow at an appropriate location in the process.

(38) All references throughout this application, for example patent documents including issued or granted patents or equivalents; patent application publications; and non-patent literature documents or other source material; are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties, as though individually incorporated by reference, to the extent each reference is at least partially not inconsistent with the disclosure in this application (for example, a reference that is partially inconsistent is incorporated by reference except for the partially inconsistent portion of the reference).

(39) All patents and publications mentioned in the specification are indicative of the levels of skill of those skilled in the art to which the invention pertains. References cited herein are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety to indicate the state of the art, in some cases as of their filing date, and it is intended that this information can be employed herein, if needed, to exclude (for example, to disclaim) specific embodiments that are in the prior art. For example, when a compound is claimed, it should be understood that compounds known in the prior art, including certain compounds disclosed in the references disclosed herein (particularly in referenced patent documents), are not intended to be included in the claim.

(40) When a Markush group or other grouping is used herein, all individual members of the group and all combinations and subcombinations possible of the group are intended to be individually included in the disclosure. Every formulation or combination of components described or exemplified can be used to practice the invention, unless otherwise stated. Whenever a range is given in the specification, for example, a temperature range, a time range, or a pressure range, all intermediate ranges and subranges, as well as all individual values included in the ranges given are intended to be included in the disclosure.

(41) As used herein, comprising is synonymous with including, containing, or characterized by, and is inclusive or open-ended and does not exclude additional, unrecited elements or method steps. As used herein, consisting of excludes any element, step, or ingredient not specified in the claim element. As used herein, consisting essentially of does not exclude materials or steps that do not materially affect the basic and novel characteristics of the claim. Any recitation herein of the term comprising, particularly in a description of components of a composition or in a description of elements of a device, is understood to encompass those compositions and methods consisting essentially of and consisting of the recited components or elements. The invention illustratively described herein suitably may be practiced in the absence of any element or elements, limitation or limitations which is not specifically disclosed herein.