Natural gas liquids (C2+, ethane-propane mix) to NGL pipeline

Activity Natural gas processing (amine CO2 removal, TEG dehydration, turbo-expander NGL recovery), US: the inventory of 1 kilogram of its reference product, attributional, cut-off.

Calculation maturity: not assessed Design maturity: Concept (research)Not independently reviewednatural-gas-processing-1:natural-gas-processing-100-mmscf-d-rich-shale-gas-to-sales-gas-and-c2-ngl:product:NGLPreliminaryReport a problem with this dataset

Research outputAn inventory from a research design at the design maturity its process states, not verified plant data: check its calculation maturity and review status before use. Background activities are referenced by name only; no background data is included. All caveats

What it is

Unallocated foreground LCI of Natural gas processing (100 MMscf/d rich shale gas to sales gas and C2+ NGL), case design, derived from the flowsheet by cheme assess lca.

Reference product: 1 kilogram of Natural gas liquids (C2+, ethane-propane mix) to NGL pipeline (70 bar(a), 15 degC, 58.3166 % C2H6 (mass))
Chemical: natural-gas-liquids
CAS: not available
Code: natural-gas-processing-1:natural-gas-processing-100-mmscf-d-rich-shale-gas-to-sales-gas-and-c2-ngl:product:NGL
Dataset: natural-gas-processing-100-mmscf-d-rich-shale-gas-to-sales-gas-and-c2-ngl version 0.1.0 · UUID 05bf4326-7837-5bf0-bc4e-744759841981
Activity UUID: not available (the library assigns none; use the code)
Database: cheme-as-code-atlas-preview-c3ab348 (version preview-c3ab348)
Process: Natural gas processing (amine CO2 removal, TEG dehydration, turbo-expander NGL recovery)
Geography: US · background inputs with a site rule link at the user's site location (default DE)
Time period: 2026 · valid until 2031
Technology: Sweet gas plant: inlet separation, MDEA CO2 removal (acid gas vented), TEG dehydration with molecular sieve polishing, GSP-type turbo-expander NGL recovery (90 % C2, 98 % C3), electric-motor residue compression; 100 MMscf/d (about 0.8 Mt/a) of Barnett-type rich shale gas · level current
Boundary: gate-to-gate foreground of the plant
Production volume: 549,675,680 kg/a (product:SALESGAS per hour x operation.hours_per_year (8000 h/a))
Classification: ISIC Rev.4 1920, 2011 (taxonomy/families.yaml (ISIC Rev.4) of the process's families)
System model: attributional, cut-off (docs/system-model.md, methodology 1.1.0)
Allocation: energy, 27.8 % of the dataset to this product (rule deviation, from study)
Hierarchy step 3 (WBCSD price ratio) cannot be applied: no sourced prices of sales gas and NGL are recorded for this concept design. Energy (LHV) is used because both co-products are fuels and feedstocks traded on their energy content, the physical relationship between them; mass would give nearly the same split since their LHVs differ by 3 % (D-014). To be revisited when open price data are sourced.
Rights: CC-BY-4.0: the ChemE-as-Code process library's own concept design (LICENSE-DATA)

Exchanges per 1 kilogram of Natural gas liquids (C2+, ethane-propane mix) to NGL pipeline

As exported: allocated and scaled to the reference product. Provenance: 2 given, 14 assumed, 5 estimated. Pedigree scores (1 best, 5 worst): reliability, completeness, temporal correlation, geographical correlation, further technological correlation.

Preliminary7 exchanges are not yet linked to a background dataset. They count no burden, so the inventory is incomplete: do not read a result from it as complete.

Input	Amount	Unit	Provenance	Pedigree	Linked to
Raw natural gas from field gathering (water-saturated, with free water) feed:RAWGAS S1, D-003, D-004 From stream S1	0.995	kilogram	given	3 4 1 1 3	unlinked unlinked, no technosphere mapping: no mapping (no chemical slug or factor id); add it to lci/mappings.yaml technosphere or to the process's lca/mappings.yaml exchanges
Demineralised make-up water (amine loop) feed:DMW S8, D-007 From stream S8	6.21e-4	kilogram	given	3 4 1 1 3	market for water, deionised (water, deionised, RoW) in your background (default ecoinvent-3.11-cutoff)
LP steam 450 kPa(a) from the site steam system (amine reboiler) feed:STEAM Q1, D-007 steam, LP, 147.65 degC, 4.5 bar(a) From stream Q1	0.011	kilowatt hour	assumed	4 4 1 1 3	Atlas: heat from steam, per kWh (Atlas unit proxy) (heat from steam, by energy, GLO)
Electric power (AC, grid) feed:POWER Q3, Q5, Q9, Q10, Q12; D-010 electricity From streams Q3, Q5, Q9, Q10, Q12	0.04068	kilowatt hour	assumed	4 4 1 1 3	market for electricity, medium voltage (electricity, medium voltage, DE, site location) in your background (default ecoinvent-3.11-cutoff)
Produced and separated water to disposal product:PWATER S3, S18; D-004 From streams S3, S18	0.006894	kilogram	assumed	4 4 1 1 3	unlinked unlinked, no technosphere mapping: no mapping (no chemical slug or factor id); add it to lci/mappings.yaml technosphere or to the process's lca/mappings.yaml exchanges
Cooling water return product:CW Q2, Q7, Q11; D-010 cold, 30 degC From streams Q2, Q7, Q11	0.06989	kilowatt hour	assumed	4 4 1 1 3	Atlas (plant): cooling water service, per kWh heat rejected (Atlas screening proxy) (heat rejected to cooling water, GLO) compatible: grade the input names cooling-water only; cooling-water (Heat rejected to cooling water, 25/35 degC) is taken; unit kilowatt hour; carrier cold, 30 degC from cold, 25 degC; system model cutoff (one database); allocation mass (single-output); boundary plant gate of a site utility: no utility market yet (docs/markets.md)
MDEA make-up (losses by vaporisation, entrainment, degradation) consumable:MDEA ASSUMED (D-007): of order 1 lb amine per MMscf treated, a practitioner rule of thumb; no open source found; 100 MMscf/d x 8000/24 d	1.913e-5	kilogram	assumed	4 4 1 1 3	unlinked unlinked, no technosphere mapping: no mapping (no chemical slug or factor id); add it to lci/mappings.yaml technosphere or to the process's lca/mappings.yaml exchanges
Disposal: MDEA make-up (losses by vaporisation, entrainment, degradation) (amine reclaimer residue and degradation products to hazardous waste incineration) disposal:consumable.MDEA ASSUMED (D-007): what is lost leaves as waste or traces in the gas	1.913e-5	kilogram	assumed	4 4 1 1 3	unlinked unlinked, no technosphere mapping: no mapping (no chemical slug or factor id); add it to lci/mappings.yaml technosphere or to the process's lca/mappings.yaml exchanges
TEG make-up (vaporisation and carry-over losses) consumable:TEG ASSUMED (D-008): of order 0.1 US gal TEG per MMscf dried, a practitioner rule of thumb; no open source found	1.786e-5	kilogram	assumed	4 4 1 1 3	unlinked unlinked, no technosphere mapping: no mapping (no chemical slug or factor id); add it to lci/mappings.yaml technosphere or to the process's lca/mappings.yaml exchanges
Disposal: TEG make-up (vaporisation and carry-over losses) (spent glycol and filter residue to incineration) disposal:consumable.TEG ASSUMED (D-008)	1.786e-5	kilogram	assumed	4 4 1 1 3	unlinked unlinked, no technosphere mapping: no mapping (no chemical slug or factor id); add it to lci/mappings.yaml technosphere or to the process's lca/mappings.yaml exchanges
Molecular sieve adsorbent (zeolite 4A), replaced every 4 years consumable:MOLSIEVE ASSUMED (D-008): two beds of about 20 t; no sizing at concept stage	1.275e-5	kilogram	assumed	4 4 1 1 3	market for zeolite, powder (zeolite, powder, GLO) in your background (default ecoinvent-3.11-cutoff)
Disposal: Molecular sieve adsorbent (zeolite 4A), replaced every 4 years (spent zeolite to landfill (non-hazardous for sweet gas)) disposal:consumable.MOLSIEVE ASSUMED (D-008)	1.275e-5	kilogram	assumed	4 4 1 1 3	market for inert waste, for final disposal (inert waste, for final disposal, RoW) in your background (default ecoinvent-3.11-cutoff)

Elementary flows

Flow	Direction	Compartment	Amount	Unit	Provenance	Pedigree
Ethane 8e30c990-5ed4-4f94-9d0e-2f5e4ff1a1f9 From streams S10, S16, S34	emission	air	8.47e-6	kilogram	assumed	4 4 1 1 3
Propane 3a6c936c-0276-4f11-9d98-1bd011387a6e From streams S10, S16, S34	emission	air	5.474e-6	kilogram	assumed	4 4 1 1 3
Methane, fossil 0795345f-c7ae-410c-ad25-1845784c75f5 From streams S10, S16, S34, S32	emission	air	3.115e-5	kilogram	assumed	4 4 1 1 3
Carbon dioxide, fossil 349b29d1-3e58-4c66-98b9-9d1a076efd2e From streams S10, S16, S34	emission	air	0.009237	kilogram	assumed	4 4 1 1 3
Nitrogen oxides 77357947-ccc5-438e-9996-95e65e1e1bce From stream S32	emission	air / non-urban air or from high stacks	2.201e-6	kilogram	estimated	3 4 3 1 3
Carbon monoxide, fossil 099b36ab-4c03-4587-87f4-2f81e337afb8 From stream S32	emission	air / non-urban air or from high stacks	1.849e-6	kilogram	estimated	3 4 3 1 3
Dinitrogen monoxide afd6d670-bbb0-4625-9730-04088a5b035e From stream S32	emission	air / non-urban air or from high stacks	4.841e-8	kilogram	estimated	3 4 3 1 3
PM to the environment (estimated) emission:PM unlinked unlinked, no biosphere mapping: emission of PM (fossil) has no biosphere3 flow identity and is not in lci/mappings.yaml biosphere From stream S32	emission	not linked	1.673e-7	kilogram	estimated	3 4 3 1 3
NMVOC, non-methane volatile organic compounds d3260d0e-8203-4cbb-a45a-6a13131a5108 From stream S32	emission	air	1.21e-7	kilogram	estimated	3 4 3 1 3

The streams are the plant's own flows: an amount here is allocated and per 1 kilogram of Natural gas liquids (C2+, ethane-propane mix) to NGL pipeline, so it differs from the stream's flow, and it can sum several streams.

Where these numbers come from: each exchange names its source above; the dataset is processes/natural-gas-processing-1/lca/dataset.yaml in library version c3ab348.

Used by

No other activity of this database links to it.

How good it is

Review

Not reviewed: no LCI review record yet

Data quality

DQR 1.67 · PEF-style DQR 2.25

TeR 3 · GeR 1 · TiR 1.0026 · P 4 · C 4 · weakest TeR · primary data 0 %

Mass and carbon closure

Assessed (lca/manifest.json balance, tolerance 5 %: design maturity concept (sourced screening))

lci-carbon-origin: not-assessable
lci-element-balance: not-assessable
lci-mass-balance: closed

element balance not assessable: no composition for consumable:MDEA (no composition), disposal:consumable.MDEA (no composition), consumable:TEG (no composition), disposal:consumable.TEG (no composition), consumable:MOLSIEVE (no composition), disposal:consumable.MOLSIEVE (no composition)
carbon balance not assessable: no composition for consumable:MDEA (no composition), disposal:consumable.MDEA (no composition), consumable:TEG (no composition), disposal:consumable.TEG (no composition), consumable:MOLSIEVE (no composition), disposal:consumable.MOLSIEVE (no composition)

Change report

Not available: this build has no change report against an earlier release.

KPI benchmark positions

Not available: no benchmarked KPI for this dataset.

How to use it

Downloads

cheme-as-code-atlas-preview-c3ab348.xlsx · bw2io ExcelImporter workbook (bw2io 0.9 Excel layout) · the whole database
code natural-gas-processing-1:natural-gas-processing-100-mmscf-d-rich-shale-gas-to-sales-gas-and-c2-ngl:product:NGL
cheme-as-code-atlas-preview-c3ab348-olca-jsonld.zip · openLCA JSON-LD (olca-schema) (2) · the whole database
process 05bf4326-7837-5bf0-bc4e-744759841981 (processes/05bf4326-7837-5bf0-bc4e-744759841981.json) · the dataset's unallocated multi-output process; this product's allocation factor is in it
cheme-as-code-atlas-preview-c3ab348-multifunctional.json · Brightway 2.5 multifunctional database (JSON, for the multifunctional package) (cheme-as-code/lci-multifunctional/v1) · the whole database
code natural-gas-processing-1:natural-gas-processing-100-mmscf-d-rich-shale-gas-to-sales-gas-and-c2-ngl · the dataset unallocated, with all its products; this product is its desired_code
cheme_as_code_lci-0.1.0-py3-none-any.whl · the installer

A file with this activity alone is not available: each file above is the whole database, and the line under it says how to find this activity there.

import bw2data as bd
from cheme_as_code_lci import install

bd.projects.set_current("my-project")   # holds your licensed background + biosphere3
install("cheme-as-code-atlas-preview-c3ab348.xlsx", background="ecoinvent-3.11-cutoff", location="DE")
activity = bd.get_activity(("cheme-as-code-atlas-preview-c3ab348", "natural-gas-processing-1:natural-gas-processing-100-mmscf-d-rich-shale-gas-to-sales-gas-and-c2-ngl:product:NGL"))

While any exchange of the database has no mapping, install() writes nothing and only lists the unlinked exchanges. So the last line finds no activity until the gaps are mapped: the download section gives the ways to use the database now.

How to cite

Natural gas liquids (C2+, ethane-propane mix) to NGL pipeline, from Natural gas processing (amine CO2 removal, TEG dehydration, turbo-expander NGL recovery) (dataset natural-gas-processing-100-mmscf-d-rich-shale-gas-to-sales-gas-and-c2-ngl 0.1.0), ChemE-as-Code Process Atlas LCI database preview-c3ab348, activity natural-gas-processing-1:natural-gas-processing-100-mmscf-d-rich-shale-gas-to-sales-gas-and-c2-ngl:product:NGL. Cite the Process Atlas paper (in preparation, 2026), by Artur M. Schweidtmann and Jana M. Weber, and the ChemE-as-Code Process Atlas LCI database version preview-c3ab348.

DOI: none yet (the Process Atlas paper is in preparation)

For the data, cite the Process Atlas paper; for the platform that builds and checks it, the ChemE-as-Code paper.

Schweidtmann, A. M. & Weber, J. M. (2026, in preparation). Process Atlas: an open, git-native, reproducible library and life cycle inventory of chemical processes (working title).

BibTeX

@unpublished{schweidtmann_process_atlas,
  author = {Schweidtmann, Artur M. and Weber, Jana M.},
  title = {{Process Atlas: an open, git-native, reproducible library and life cycle inventory of chemical processes (working title)}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://atlas.cheme-as-code.org},
  note = {in preparation}
}

Schweidtmann, A. M. (2026, in preparation). ChemE-as-Code: An Open-Source Platform for AI-Accelerated Chemical Process Engineering (working title).

BibTeX

@unpublished{schweidtmann_cheme_as_code,
  author = {Schweidtmann, Artur M.},
  title = {{ChemE-as-Code: An Open-Source Platform for AI-Accelerated Chemical Process Engineering (working title)}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://cheme-as-code.org},
  note = {in preparation}
}