SPE Projects, Facilities & Construction
Volume 5, Number 4, December 2010, pp. 183-191

SPE-139443-PA

Scrubber Separation--Droplet Entrainment in High-Pressure Gas/Liquid Separation

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DOI  More information 10.2118/139443-PA http://dx.doi.org/10.2118/139443-PA

Citation

  • Patruno, L.E., Marchetti, J.M., Dorao, C.A., Jakobsen, H.A., Svendsen, H.F., and Tayebi, D. 2010. Scrubber Separation--Droplet Entrainment in High-Pressure Gas/Liquid Separation. SPE Proj Fac & Const  5 (4): 183-191. SPE-139443-PA. doi: 10.2118/139443-PA.

Discipline Categories

  • 4.2.1 Compressed Natural Gas (CNG)
  • 4.4.3 Mutiphase Measurement
  • 4.8.4 Subsea Processing
  • 6.3.2 Multi-phase Flow

Keywords

  • population balance, droplet, entrainment

Summary

This work presents experimental results on droplet entrainment in two different geometries: a stratified liquid film and a wire flooded by liquid. The experiments feature the system pressure ranging from 900 to 1600 kPa (130 to 220 psia) and surface tension of the system in the range of 24 mN/m.

The resulting droplet-size distribution after a liquid-entrainment event plays a major role in the modeling of the gas/liquid scrubbers. When a mesh pad-based separator gets flooded, the high-speed gas running throughout the mesh can re-entrain the liquid and carry over liquid droplets into the dry-gas processing facility.

Conventional correlations for liquid entrainment overestimate the resulting droplet size because they were derived from higher-surface-tension systems. In addition, a correlation for the entire droplet-size distribution is presented.

© 2010. Society of Petroleum Engineers

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History

  • Original manuscript received: 19 February 2010
  • Meeting paper published: 2 May 2010
  • Manuscript approved: 7 May 2010
  • Published online: 18 November 2010
  • Version of record: 9 December 2010