Field test study on new type supersonic dehydrating facilities in natural gas purification plant

The traditional natural gas dehydrating technology has many disadvantages like small treatment capacity, bulky equipments, high cost, and huge handling works, etc. In 2000, the Shell Company started to apply the supersonic dehydrating technique to natural gas dehydration, which was thought to be the technical revolution in the field of natural gas dehydrating technology. In this technology, natural gas can be dehydrated by the occurrence of steam gas being condensed under the supersonic state. Both expander-booster compressor and separator are integrated into one whole unit with reliably designed parts in simple structure, no any moving parts, low operation cost, and even unnecessary staff on duty. In 2003, cooperating with Beijing University of Technology, SINOPEC Shengli Oilfield Company carried out initial studies and research on supersonic separating tubes, which have experienced a series of studies in succession on fundamental theory, mathematical simulation, and indoor experiment, and recently has carried through its field tests which testified its feasibility on the application of supersonic dehydrating technology. The field test concluded that at the entrance/exit of the supersonic separating tube natural gas dew point drop was measured to be the maximum up to above 35 ℃ and the minimum up to 10 ℃; the volume of the produced liquid in the tube was 17 mL/m3, and that of the whole system was 28-40 mL/m3 in total. It has proved that this new supersonic dehydrating technology for natural gas can not only reduce the dew point of natural gas but also recover light hydrocarbon at the same time.