Dry seal compressors are extensively used in upstream, midstream, and downstream operations of the oil and gas industry. They are employed in gas processing plants, refineries, petrochemical plants, liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities, and offshore platforms.
Most centrifugal compressors in offshore applications use dry gas seals to prevent the leakage of process gases. Unlike traditional oil seals, dry gas seals do not rely on a liquid lubricant, making them suitable for applications involving toxic, flammable, or environmentally harmful gases.
Seal gas prevents dirty, unfiltered process gas from entering the dry gas seal. Contaminated seal gas is one of the leading causes of premature failure of dry gas seals, therefore must be conditioned to be free of particulate and liquid contamination.
An international energy company had experienced many dry seal failures across their fleet of offshore compressor trains over recent years. Most of their compressors do not satisfy the API 692 standard for dry gas sealing systems which is increasingly being adopted in favour of its predecessor, API 614, to specify dry gas seals on new and upgrade projects.
The Challenge
To achieve the recommended seal gas conditions, API 692 specifies that :
- the filter specification to be 1 μm spherical particle size rating (per ISO 12500) with 99.9% removal efficiency (or Beta=1000) for seal and separation gas for contacting separation seals,
- Filters with a 10 μm spherical particle size rating with 99.9% removal efficiency for secondary seal gas and non-contacting separation seals.
- Coalescers used to remove liquid droplets from the seal gas should effectively remove a high percentage of liquid droplets of a certain size range
- To achieve this within a differential pressure drop (DP) range that doesn’t adversely affect the seal gas system’s performance.
The Solution
Having previously been part of a successful pilot trial for seal gas treatment at a Norwegian offshore platform in 2016, Pall further collaborated with a third party in 2021 to provide liquid/gas coalescers as part of a permanent solution for a seal gas processing skid for the same platform.
With the increasing adoption of API 692 standards in 2023, Pall's high-performance particulate filtration and coalescer technology is being more widely deployed to meet the industry's requirements.
For more information on Pall's Oil & Gas customized solutions, contact us today.
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