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processing operations
High efficiency coalescers reduce running costs and shutdown time by
removing contaminants in feed streams to each gas processing step
M
any different contam-
inants exist within
the boundaries of
gas processing operations.
Contaminants can enter a pro-
cess through poor inlet sep-
aration, can be created in the
process by corrosion of iron
pipelines/vessels, or can be
formed by reaction with impu-
rities and chemical additives. Solids are captured Drops merge into
They can also come from phase while small drops
pass through
larger drops as
media pores widen
changes such as condensation Large coalesced
from gases or cooling of hydro- drops fall due to
gravity
carbon liquids. Contaminants
can be in the form of solid par- Figure 1 Coalescing mechanism
ticles, sticky gels, difficult to
break emulsions or fine liquid ent separation equipment and cially to separate either liquid
aerosols. These contaminants, varied rating systems used. aerosols from a gas stream or to
even in trace quantities, will Selection of appropriate sepa- break liquid-liquid emulsions.
negatively affect gas processing ration equipment needs to be They can be constructed from
plant operations where main- balanced by separation per- fibres made of various materi-
tenance cycles are shorter than formance requirements versus als, including glass, metal, pol-
they should be, operating costs capital and operating expenses. ymers and fluoropolymers. The
are higher than necessary, and However, high efficiency liq- coalescer media can be config-
unscheduled shutdowns caus- uid-liquid and liquid-gas coa- ured as pleated sheets or as a
ing lost production are all too lescers, which provide excellent depth type, but have in com-
common. As such, understand- contaminant removal, have mon a pore gradient that goes
ing the nature of these contami- found widespread accept- from smaller to larger sizes in
nants can help in developing an ance in gas processing plants the flow direction and an outer
appropriate mitigation strategy. in recent years for a number of coarse sleeve material to com-
Many in the industry have a applications. plete the coalescing process.
hard time selecting the appro- A schematic of the coalesc-
priate separation technology Coalescer technology ing mechanism showing the
due to the amount of differ- Coalescers are designed espe- growth or coalescence of drop-
Plant Type of Flow rate TSS, Nature *Free water, Condensate visual Chloride,
location separator Am3/h, BPD mg/l of solids ppmw appearance mg/l
Plant A – Middle East Gravity separator 165 (24 900) 6 FeS, CaSO4 1800-4800 Hazy 240-310
Plant B – Middle East Glass fibre coalescer 62 (9360) 16 FeS 75 Slightly hazy Not measured
Plant C – North Africa Knock-out drum with mesh pad 70 (10 570) 3 FeS, CaSO4, SiO2 400-500 Hazy 5470
Plant D – North Africa Gravity separator 25 (3770) 12 Iron oxides 2000-7000 Hazy 25 000-32 000
* Free water content evaluated from water volume separated by pilot coalescer
Table 1
nace performance. The use of that existing separators are una- export line. Plant C had severe
liquid-gas coalescers to pro- ble to remove effectively, either fouling issues in the stabiliser,
tect low NOx burners has been due to intrinsic performance which required regular shut-
successfully demonstrated,8 limitations or sometimes due down for water wash every 3-4
leading to greatly reduced to plant capacity increase that months. Plant D experienced
maintenance and consistent fur- has made the existing separa- fouling of the reboiler and
nace performance. tor under-sized. The water car- deposits on the column’s trays,
ry-over issue can be evaluated causing distortions.
Gas pipeline transmission through a field survey using the The condensate was tested
Sales gas transmission will described field pilot methods. downstream of existing separa-
involve the use of multiple Four different plants in the tors which consisted of gravity
metering/compressor stations Middle East and North Africa settlers, knock-out drums with
along the way for long dis- region were facing various pro- mesh pads and glass fibre car-
tance pipelines. Here, liquid duction issues in the stabilisers tridge coalescers (see Table 1).
hydrocarbons and water can and entered troubleshooting Results of tests downstream
condense from the natural gas programmes which included of the pilot high efficiency Pall
stream and, along with trace surveys for the evaluation of PhaseSep polymeric coalescer
acid gases (CO2 and H2S), lead the condensate contamina- are also reported (see Table 2).
to the formation of black pow- tion.10 More specific production
der (corrosion products). The issues were reported as follows. Crew Energy’s Septimus gas
black powder and liquids can Plant A experienced issues with plant, Canada
lead to fouling in metering and heat exchanger plugging and This plant is located in British
compression stations and affect reduced capacity of the stabi- Columbia and was built in 2009.
the ability to accurately meas- liser, as well as corrosion issues It was designed for a gas flow
ure flow rate. The use of gas in the export tanks and pipe- rate of 50 MMSCFD and cur-
particle filters and liquid-gas line. Plant B experienced too rently produces and processes
coalescers has been demon- frequent replacements of the approximately 38 MMSCFD of
strated to effectively protect gas molecular sieve driers used for gas and 100 m3/day (630 b/d)
pipeline metering/compression final condensate dehydration of condensate.10 The liquefied
stations.9 and off-specification products, petroleum gas (LPG) and con-
causing corrosion issues in the densate are recovered through
Field experience
Hydrocarbon condensate Performance of Pall pilot scale coalescer
treating
Water carry-over from separa- Plant location *Free water, ppmv Condensate visual appearance
tors and the subsequent ingress Plant A – Middle East <16 Clear and bright
of water, salts and solids in
Plant B – Middle East <12 Clear and bright
Plant C – North Africa Not measured Clear and bright
downstream equipment are Plant D – North Africa Not measured Clear and bright
quite common. The reasons for *Measured by Aqua-Glo method at outlet of pilot coalescer
carry-over include the presence
of condensate/water emulsions Table 2
Liquid
particle filter
Carbon
bed
Cooler
Treated gas
Acid gas
Liquid
particle filter
Liquid/gas Reflux
coalescer drum
Cooler
Lean amine
pump
Mobile filter
skid Reflux amine
pump
Amine Lean/rich heat Amine
Sour Liquid/gas contactor exchanger regenerator
feed gas coalescer
Light
hydrocarbon Hydrocarbon
Hydrocarbon, g/L
3 MEA
condensate and the brine col- MDEA (M)
lected from the coalescer out- DEA
2 TEG
lets exhibited a low value of
9.5 dyne/cm at the operating
temperature.
1
Based on the successful
results and field data collected
from trials, Pall supplied a 0
S M S M S M S M S M S M S M S M
coalescer system comprised
of duty standby 8in diame-
ter horizontally configured Figure 7 Results of Pall Scientific & Laboratory Services field trials for
20 micron absolute rated pre- hydrocarbons in different amines
filter vessels, followed by a
single 12in diameter horizon- and to protect the regenerator residence time from a 22-min-
tally configured coalescer ves- from fouling or flashing over ute average down to poten-
sel equipped with two 40in Pall hydrocarbons to the sulphur tially only nine minutes. The
PhaseSep coalescer cartridges. plant. Particulate filters are amine is used to treat several
The coalescer system was put used to protect the rich amine amine contactors that are a
online in December 2010. After liquid-liquid coalescer and up- source of liquid hydrocarbon
four months of operation of the and downstream of the lean and solid contaminant ingres-
coalescer system, the plant did side carbon bed. Mobile filter sion. Liquid hydrocarbons
not report any salt carry-over skids can also be brought in to can flash in the amine regen-
issue. control upsets and more rap- erator and cause problems in
idly reduce solids in the amine the sulphur plant. In order to
Acid gas removal circuit. alleviate these concerns, Pall
Acid gases are typically Amine best practices are to ran a pilot coalescer study on
removed from natural gas by limit the total suspended solids the rich amine with PhaseSep
an alkanol amine solvent that to <1 ppm and keep the hydro- liquid-liquid coalescers and 10
is thermally regenerated. The carbon levels as close to zero micron absolute pre-filters.
acid gas and base solvent form as possible through use of high The results from the pilot test
a fairly weak bond and separate efficiency coalescers and 10 showed that there were 86-193
upon heating. The amine sol- micron absolute filtration. ppmw hydrocarbons and an
vent is then able to be reused. Field test data from Pall’s average of 5 ppmw of solids
A simplified process diagram is Scientific & Laboratory Services upstream on the test unit. The
shown in Figure 6 with call-outs group for hydrocarbon levels in Pall unit was able to reduce the
for coalescers and filters to treat amines measured at 24 sites is liquid hydrocarbons down to
contaminants. given in Figure 7, showing the near saturation level and the
In Figure 6, liquid-gas coa- need for improved separations. solids down to an average of
lescers are used at the inlet to <1 ppmw. A photograph of the
the amine contactor to pre- Marsulex, Montreal, Canada amine at the inlet to the test pre-
vent foaming, and at the con- Marsulex (part of Suncor) oper- filter, the inlet to the coalescer
tactor outlet to recover any ates an amine unit in Montreal and after the coalescer is shown
carry-over amine. Liquid- tied to several refineries.11 in Figure 8.
liquid coalescers are used on Concerns over the rich amine A commercial full flow
the rich amine after the flash flash drum’s capability were PhaseSep liquid-liquid coa-
tank to remove any hydro- raised when a plant capacity lescer was installed along
carbons in the amine solvent expansion would reduce the with a duplex pre-filter sys-