Baffled horizontal dehydrator

A gas dehydrator comprising:

• a longitudinally horizontal pressure vessel for containing a threshold level of liquid desiccant therein and having an inlet for admitting gas and desiccant and an outlet for discharging dried gas and wet liquid desiccant at opposite ends thereof;
• and
• a plurality of spaced-apart baffles dividing said vessel into a series of pneumatically discrete compartments, each of said baffles having a plurality of apertures therethrough, said apertures of alternate baffles being disposed in lower and upper portions thereof so as to define a sinusoidal primary gas flow path into and out of the liquid desiccant from said inlet to said outlet, and each of said baffles having an opening in a lowermost portion thereof so as to define a linear primary liquid desiccant flow path from said inlet to said outlet.

A method for dehydrating natural gas comprising the steps of:

• pumping liquid desiccant at a predetermined threshold level along a substantially linear path through a longitudinally horizontal pressure vessel;
• and
• feeding the gas from a pressurized source through the pressure vessel along a sinusoidal path having zeniths above the threshold level and nadirs below the threshold level to produce an output of dried gas and wet desiccant.