Separator Liquid Loading

[ashwani25]

I need help on calculating liquid loading for a horizontal passive filter separator using natural gas as the product medium. natural Gas SG 0.58. Is there any empirical formula that governs such calculation . Any industry standard that help calculate these parameter?

 

[EmmanuelTop]

What do you refer to by the term "liquid loading"? Water content of H2O-saturated gas? Or the maximum amount of free liquid water that can be handled by unit if surface area of the filter? Or maximum liquid particle size?

Dejan IVANOVIC
Process Engineer, MSChE

 

[ashwani25]

maximu amount of liquid condensate that can be handled by the equipment.

 

[zdas04]

Mark Bothemley with JM Campbell published an excellent 3 part series in the SPE Oil & Gas Facilities Journal in 2013. The first part is here I'm not sure if you have to subscribe to the journal to see their archives (so while the link works for me it may not work for non-SPE members). If the link doesn't work and you are going to be doing much of this then that series is worth the cost of SPE membership. Mark pulled a bunch of data together from a bunch of different courses and did a good job explaining why you would pick one parameter over another (I disagree with his mist pad sizing, but he uses generally accepted practices, I just haven't had much luck using a drag model in an impingement environment).

David Simpson, PE
MuleShoe Engineering

In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual. Galileo Galilei, Italian Physicist

 

[EmmanuelTop]

For filter separators, GPSA quotes that maximum liquid loading ranges from 0.17 to 0.35 m³/h per m² of filtration surface. This is the only figure I have ever come across. Design of these devices is usually proprietary so I would hesitate to accept any figure as the definite one - manufacturer has the final word and it better be supported with live references.

One common thing for all filter separators is that they require removal of bulk liquid upstream of the filter elements. I had an opportunity to witness how malfunctioning of a dramatically undersized vertical wiremesh separator upstream virtually cancels out performance of the downstream filter separator. Slugs of liquid water were literally passing through the filter elements.

Dejan IVANOVIC
Process Engineer, MSChE

 

[ashwani25]

Thanks Dejan for those numbers and thank you David for the reference, the link did work.