CDS Separation Technology

CDS-Gasunie™
cyclone scrubber

The CDS-Gasunie Cyclone Scrubber can be used for separation of liquids from gases and for the
protection of downstream equipment.
Solid particles (dust, sand, etc.) will also be removed, making the scrubber suitable for use as a
gas wellhead separator.
CDS-Gasunie™ cyclone scrubber
The CDS Gasunie scrubber was originally developed by
Gasunie Netherlands. Faced with undesirable condensate
formation in its gas transmission system, Gasunie tested
various types and makes of gas-liquid separators. On
several occasions tests demonstrated that a separator
that failed to meet the specifications was at fault, due
to condensate not being removed.
With the experience from testing and theory Gasunie
developed its own separation device and tested it in its
own high-pressure research facility. Full-scale tests carried
out under high pressure showed that even at very high gas
flow rates the catch efficiency was close to 100%.
In 1999 CDS Separation Systems together with Gasunie
considerably improved the Gasunie cyclone and now
over 200 CDS-Gasunie separators are in use worldwide.
The result of this project was that the pressure drop over
the original Gasunie cyclone was reduced by a factor two
while maintaining the same separation performance.
The improved separator is called CDS Gasunie Cyclone
Scrubber and is marketed by CDS Separation Systems.
The advantages of a CDS-Gasunie cyclone compared to a
conventional scrubber are:
Small size and weight as a result of high allowable gas
load up to K = 0.9 m/s.
High liquid / gas ratio’s can be handled, up to 10%
vol/vol
Maintenance friendly, no moving parts or small
channels – low fouling tendency.
CDS-Gasunie Cyclone
Scrubber
Gas flow meter
Multiphase flow meter
Portable Well Test Skid
Principal of CDS-Gasunie
design
The CDS-Gasunie Cyclone Scrubber can be used for
Separation of liquids (water, hydrocarbon, glycol, etc.)
from gases (natural gas and other),
For the protection of downstream equipment
(compressors, gas turbines, flow meters, etc.).
Solid particles (dust, sand, etc.) will also be removed,
making the scrubber suitable for use as a gas wellhead
separator.
Swirl blades to promote
gas-liquid separation
Kick-off fins to prevent
liquid creep
Conical blocking plate to
prevent re-entrainment
Anti-swirl blades to
prevent gas vortexing
How it works
The optimised blade geometry brings the combined phase
into rotation. The resulting centrifugal force moves the
liquid and solid particles towards the vessel wall, where
they form a liquid film flowing downwards to the bottom
of the vessel. The gas exits the vessel through the central
pipe connected to the gas outlet nozzle. The baffles in the
bottom of the vessel stop the rotation of the liquid, and
the blocking plate prevents liquids from being entrained
with the gas. In this way it is ensured, that no gas carry-
under or liquid carry-over can occur.
 Advantages Case study
Results in small size and low weight as a result of high
allowable gas load factor. It is therefore especially
attractive for offshore applications.
Maintenance friendly: No small channels or
downcomer pipes that are prone to fouling.
Excellent slug handling capabilities.
High turndown.
Available as retrofit package.
Over 200 references in a wide variety of applications

Benefits
Enables the debottlenecking of both liquid and gas In a development project performed by CDS Separation
constrained vessels Systems in association with Gasunie Research, the
Not susceptible to fouling conventional Gasunie type cyclone scrubber was analysed
Excellent slug handling capabilities and points for improvement were identified.
Small size and weight: attractive for offshore With the use of CFD and high-pressure tests at the Gasunie
applications Research facility, several geometrical improvements
Proven state-of-the-art patented technology regarding the fluid flow inside the separator were tested.
It was found that by optimising the separator internals,
Applications the pressure drop could be reduced by 50%.
Compressor suction scrubber During further high-pressure tests it was verified that the
Flare scrubber separation efficiency remained the same.
Knockout scrubber upstream of a filter coalescer The benefit of the optimised design is that when designing
Liquid knockout in a gas transmission pipeline for the same pressure drop and separation efficiency, the
Degassing separator for multi-phase flow meters separator vessel can be reduced in size, leading to savings
Portable test separator on capital investment cost.
Pre-separator upstream of production vessel A case study was carried out for a gas-liquid separation
section of a gas production plant. The gas comes straight
Economic benefits from the wellhead and enters a CDS-Gasunie type
No maintenance required separator.
High turndown Liquids (hydrocarbon and water), as well as sand, are
Often pays for itself through increased production separated from the gas. After cooling, the gas runs through
a second CDS-Gasunie type separator, before entering a
Demister Gas Capacity Comparison
compression module and the downstream gas treating
plant.
0,9 Taking the conventional Gasunie cyclone as a base case,
0,8
the vessel ID and Tan/Tan length could both be reduced to
84% for the new CDS-Gasunie design. This led to a lower
0,7 investment cost for the combined pressure vessel and
0,6 internal.
0,5
Results of case study
0,4
Gas Load Factor (m/s)

Conventional Design Optimised Design

0,3 ID 835 mm 700 mm
0,2 Tan/Tan 4,100 mm 3,438 mm
0,1
Relative Cost 1.00

0
Mesh CDS 350 CDS 250 SPIRAFLOW CDS-
Vane Vane Cyclone Gasunie Conventional Optimised Design
Cyclone Design

Demister Gas Capacity Comparison ID 835 mm 700 mm

Gas Load Factor (m/s)
Tan/Tan 4,100 mm 3,438 mm

Relative Cost 1.00 0.85

 © Copyright February 2011 | FMC Technologies

FMC Technologies
FMC Technologies CDS Separation Technology
1777 Gears Road Delta 101
Houston TX 77067 6825 MN Arnhem
USA The Netherlands
www.fmctechnologies.com/separation Phone: +1 281 591 4000 Phone: +31 (0)26 7999100