Hydrate mitigation in a pipeline with vortex tubes
AssigneeSaudi Arabian Oil Company
InventorAhmad Noor Al-deen Hassan Rizq
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Abstract
A system to prevent the formation of hydrates in a pipeline includes a heater assembly. The heater assembly has a vortex tube mounted on an outer surface of a first section of the pipeline and a compressed gas source. The vortex tube is configured to separate gas from an inlet into a hot gas pathway and a cold gas pathway. The vortex tube includes an inlet, a cold gas outlet, and a hot gas outlet. The hot gas outlet of the vortex tube is fluidly connected to an opening defined in the first section of the pipeline. The hot gas outlet is configured to flow hot gas from the vortex tube into an interior volume of the pipeline. The compressed gas source is fluidly connected to the inlet of the vortex tube.
Claims17
A method to prevent formation of hydrates in a pipeline, the method comprising:
- receiving first temperature signals from a temperature sensor arranged in a pipeline, wherein the first temperature signals indicate a temperature of a natural gas fluid flowing through the pipeline,
- determining, based on the first temperature signals, that the natural gas fluid has a first temperature below 10° C., and
- in response to determining that the natural gas fluid has a first temperature between below 10° C., controlling a flow of a hot gas, different from the natural gas fluid, from a heater assembly mounted to the pipeline to an interior volume of the pipeline, wherein the flow of the hot gas prevents the formation of hydrates in the pipeline.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.