System for Extending Turndown in A Gas-Liquid Separator
AssigneeCameron International Corporation
InventorMichael R. Brown
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Abstract
An apparatus for extending turndown in a gas-liquid separator is presented. The apparatus includes a first mist extractor with a first operating range and a second mist extractor with a second operating range. The mist extractors are generally of the same type, with the second operating range being different than the first operating range. A gas stream containing entrained liquid droplets flows through the first mist extractor and then through the second mist extractor. Each mist extractor coalesces and captures the liquid droplets within its own operating range, expanding the overall operating range of the separator. Additional mist extractors may be added to cover any gap between the first and second operating ranges.
Claims8
An apparatus for extending turndown in a gas-liquid separator, the gas-liquid separator having a gas phase area located within it, the apparatus comprising:
- a first and a second mist extractor located in a gas-phase area of the gas-liquid separator and arranged in series with one another, said mist extractors being a same kind of mist extractor but having a different cross-sectional area A1 and A2, respectively, the cross-sectional area A2 of the second mist extractor being sized according to an equation A2=K1A1T2/K2TO where:
- K1 is a design upper limit K-factor of the first mist extractor,
- K2 is a design upper limit K-factor of the second mist extractor,
- T2 is a targeted turndown of the second mist extractor, and
- TO is a targeted turndown of the gas-liquid separator, TO≠T2.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.