Gas and liquid separation is a crucial process in ensuring the quality and safety of the transported natural gas. The separation process involves removing any liquids, such as water and hydrocarbon condensates, from the natural gas stream before it enters the pipeline.
Typically gas is dried to meet a certain pipeline specification, often 4 lbs of water per MMSCF in colder climates like Canada and the Northern US, and often as high as 8 lbs/ MMSCF in warmer climates.
Often missed is that pipeline spec gas at a compressor station becomes a less homogenous product further down the line, typically a good distance from a compressor station where the heat initially imparted by compression is countered as gas cools in underground transit.
It is common for liquids to start dropping out 15 km or so downstream of compression. This liquid collects along the annulus of the pipe\ in higher velocity flows, or along the bottom on lower velocity liines.
Whichever the flow regime, effective gas and liquid separation is essential for several reasons in these instances.
First, it helps prevent corrosion and damage to the pipeline infrastructure, which can result from the presence of liquids.
Second, it ensures that the natural gas meets quality standards and specifications set by regulatory authorities and customers.
Finally, it helps optimize the efficiency of the pipeline operation by reducing the energy required to transport the gas and minimizing the need for maintenance and repairs.
To achieve efficient gas and liquid separation, pipeline owners use separation technologies, such as separators, scrubbers, cyclones and filters. These technologies are designed to remove liquids from the gas stream through processes such as gravity separation, coalescence, or filtration.
By prioritizing gas and liquid separation, pipeline owners can uphold the integrity of their infrastructure and deliver high-quality natural gas to consumers.
Innopipe In Action: A Real Life Example
10″ Innopipe systems, externally coated ready for subsurface installation in Indiana
We recently shipped five big 300 ANSI Innopipe units to a US distribution system operator for underground installation. These systems will be buried and be piggable allowing bi-directional use.
Their external coating will protect them from corrosion in addition to being designed to be more robust than anything they connect to.
Our client quickly realized how liquids can continue to form problems in transmission systems, even though “spec.” gas is going into the lines. The reality is that 4-8 lbs/ MMSCF/d translates to accumulations of water in low lying areas or colder locations.
Innopipe helps remove these accumulations to prevent slugs and corrosion while providing reliability to ensure an entire US state has uninterrupted gas supply for homes, industry and energy generation systems.
The key to Innopipe’s small footprint vs. conventional 2-phase separators lies in its ability to dramatically reduce retention time from the textbook 1 minute a “bubble in the pipeline” separator needs to stop, quiet, and then re-start an entire gas flow.
We separate the water from the gas by only dealing with the water and gas in the annulus of the pipe. In doing so, we save energy, create less mist, and don’t even touch most of your gas stream. We just deal with the wetted part.
Final thoughts
Current drip systems are ineffective in removing liquids and contribute to corrosion and black powder formation. Innopipe, our inline gas separator and piggable drip system that removes 99% or more of liquids delivers on this.
Innopipe offers effective liquids removal of liquids from natural gas streams, above or below ground.
For more information or case studies, contact us at [email protected] or call us at +1 (403) 215-3373, or visit https://innopipe.com for all global enquiries.