Gas separation – Means within gas stream for conducting concentrate to collector
Patent
1985-09-23
1987-04-28
Spitzer, Robert
Gas separation
Means within gas stream for conducting concentrate to collector
55182, 55343, 55356, 55426, 166267, B01D 1900
Patent
active
046611274
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to a submersible liquid/gas separator apparatus capable of being taken to a required location and sunk into position adjacent a submerged gas pipeline for separating intermittent slugs of liquid from gas in the pipeline.
Natural gas taken from sub-sea wells at locations remote from land and at considerable under-sea depths conveniently is piped through submerged pipelines to a discharge/collection location on land. Increasingly natural gas so found and produced is wet natural gas, which is natural gas interspersed, under certain conditions in the pipeline, with liquid hydrocarbon mixture. Thus gas conveyed under pressure along the pipeline is interspersed at times with slugs of liquid, which liquid must be separated from the gas and collected for disposal at some stage prior to use of the natural gas.
Conventionally this separation and collection is done by slug catchers located on land. These conventional slug catchers are large and utilize long multiple parallel pipes connected together by manifolds. By virtue of their large size and flexible configuration they take up a large amount of space and require considerable support at many points, which makes them unsuitable for use anywhere other than on land.
If a large slug catcher is needed offshore where the sea has considerable depth, it is extremely expensive to provide such an installation on a fixed platform above the sea, for any slug catcher configuration. In order to avoid the extreme expense of locating a slug catcher on such a fixed platform offshore, it is desirable to provide a slug catching apparatus which is compact and rigid, thereby allowing it to be taken out to sea and sunk into position on the sea bed or on foundations on the sea bed, near the well head or pipeline.
According to the present invention there is provided a liquid/gas separator apparatus capable of being taken to a required location and sunk into position adjacent a submerged gas pipeline for separating intermittent slugs of liquid from gas in the pipeline, including at least one hollow elongated separator pressure vessel having at least one inlet for receiving, from a pipeline, liquid/gas to be separated, at least one gas outlet for discharging separated gas to another pipeline, and a plurality of liquid outlets for liquid separated from liquid/gas in the separator vessel, and including a plurality of hollow elongated liquid accumulator pressure vessels each substantially rigidly interconnected, in spaced side-by-side substantially co-planar relationship, either by lateral pipes or by a collector pipe extending substantially horizontally at a lower level than the bottoms of the accumulator vessels and connected to each accumulator vessel by upwardly extending connecting pipes, and each accumulator vessel being substantially rigidly connected to the liquid outlets of the overlying transversely substantially horizontally extending separator vessel, by upwardly extending drain pipes, the drain pipes and lateral or connecting and collector pipes structurally linking, and providing fluid flow communication between, the vessels, so that in operation liquid separating out in the separator vessel passes downwardly from the separator vessel through the liquid outlets and communicating drainpipes into the accumulator vessels and from one accumulator vessel to another through the lateral pipes for liquid level equilisation purposes, or between the accumulator vessels and the collector pipe via the connecting pipes for liquid level equalisation and/or collection purposes.
The use of the lateral or connecting and collector pipes and the drainpipes as structural members minimizes the external structural framework required in apparatus of the invention.
Advantageously the apparatus is floatable.
Preferably the separator and accumulator vessels are cylindrical in shape and advantageously the accumulator vessels are arranged parallel to one another. Conveniently the accumulator vessels are arranged so that in operation their longitudinal axes incline slightly downwardl
REFERENCES:
patent: 1559115 (1925-10-01), Marker et al.
patent: 2193209 (1940-03-01), Sandberg
patent: 2507273 (1950-05-01), Schultz
patent: 2710071 (1955-06-01), Kinser et al.
patent: 2990796 (1961-07-01), Cole et al.
patent: 3246451 (1966-04-01), Glasgow
patent: 3318074 (1967-05-01), Keller, Sr.
patent: 4073734 (1978-02-01), Lowrie
patent: 4187089 (1980-02-01), Hodgson
Spitzer Robert
Stone & Webster Engineering Limited
LandOfFree
Submersible liquid/gas separator apparatus does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Submersible liquid/gas separator apparatus, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Submersible liquid/gas separator apparatus will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-474879