Abstract
This article examines the advantages of stabilizing crude oil and gas condensate to extract the most volatile hydrocarbons (C1–C4). Stabilization reduces light fraction losses due to evaporation by up to 80% and prevents corrosion of equipment and pipelines along the route from the Karachaganak oil and gas condensate field to refineries. A comparative analysis of effective stabilization methods is presented, including three-stage separation, distillation in a stabilization column, and their combination. Phase equilibrium constants and distillate fractions were calculated using the bisection method implemented in the Pascal programming environment. Based on the calculations, optimal parameters for the three-stage separation process were determined: first stage — 1 MPa, 35 °C; second stage — 0.3 MPa, 35 °C; third stage — 0.1 MPa, 35 °C. These parameters reduce the vapor pressure of stabilized condensate to 66.7 MPa. The three-stage scheme offers advantages such as simplicity and relatively low capital and operational costs. To enhance stabilization efficiency, it is proposed to combine vapor streams from the second and third stages and direct them to a distillation column with 11 sieve trays. The optimized column operation (3.6 MPa, top temperature 26.5 °C, bottom temperature 81 °C) ensures effective separation into methane, ethane, and heavier hydrocarbons (C3+), which are returned to the stabilized condensate stream. The methane-ethane fraction is considered a promising feedstock for the petrochemical industry.