Condensate Distillation with D2892 crude oil distillation

Condensate is a by product of raw natural gas composed of light hydrocarbons which can be condensed when below their dew point.  There are 3 primary sources of condensate.

• Crude oil wells - natural gas can exist in a pocket on top of the crude oil or may be dissolved in the crude oil.
• Dry gas wells - These wells produce mostly natural gas with little high hydrocarbons
• Condensate wells - These wells are a combination of natural gas and light hydrocarbons

D2892 can be used to distill condensate with a vapor pressure below 12 PSI (82.7 kPa).  Distilling condensate with higher vapor pressures is possible but the data is outside of the ASTM D2892 method.

The distillation of condensate follows the same pattern as crude oil except that the atmospheric fractions are much larger.  Larger receives and butane traps are needed so that they are not overfilled.  More cooling is needed for the butane traps to compensate for the larger butane fraction.