Patent ID: 7232505

Claim:
A method of regenerating a glycol solution containing water, hydrocarbons and dissolved salts, comprising the following stages: a) expanding said solution so as to release hydrocarbons and to obtain a hydrocarbon-poor solution, b) distilling in a distillation column the hydrocarbon-poor solution obtained in stage a) to obtain a glycol-enriched solution and a vapor comprising water and hydrocarbons, c) placing under vacuum a first part of the glycol-enriched solution obtained in stage b) under a pressure below 90,000 Pa abs. to obtain vaporized water and a glycol solution comprising precipitated salts, and d) separating the precipitated salts from the glycol solution obtained in stage c) to obtain precipitated salts and a salt-depleted glycol solution, wherein the salts comprise at least one compound selected from the group consisting of sodium chloride, potassium chloride, calcium chloride, sodium bicarbonate, sodium sulfate, potassium sulfate and calcium sulfate.