Helium extraction out of vented gas feasibility study at Tatneft cryogenic unit

Location — Republic of Kazakhstan
Facility — Minnibay GPP
Customer — PAO "Tatneft"
Year — 2015

The goal of the project is to define a financial feasibility of vent gas helium and methane extraction unit construction.

The scope of works included process options development then choosing the best possible option, feed study, capex and opex estimates, financial modelling of the project.

Result:

Four process options were compared (mixture cycle, nitrogen cycle, expander cooling, mixed cycle), general process guidelines were developed, the design was finalized and prepared for implementation.

Helium extraction out of vent gas in the volume of 420 thousand scm a year, with an option of liquid helium production.

The payback period of the project is 3 years.