Primary Gas Treatment
Separation
Mechanical separation
Separators are usually installed at the well, to remove the liquids before natural gas is transported in flow lines to a central treating facility, where the gas from various wells is treated. The selection of the separator depends on the amount of free liquid in the gas. For small quantities of liquid, one usually selects a vertical separator, when liquid quantities are larger a horizontal separator is used. A wellhead separator is usually not a very perfect separator. Since the gas will be treated later on to remove vapours, a little carry-over of the liquids is acceptable.
Integrated scrubber
As glycol tends to foam in the presence of liquid hydrocarbons, upstream of the glycol dehydration unit, the gas should pass through a high efficiency separator to ensure that all liquid hydrocarbons are removed. Under most conditions, ESCHER’s integral scrubber in the lower part of the contactor is sufficient for this purpose.
