Removing water from natural gas in the dehydration process prevents the formation of gas hydrates and fouling of critical downstream components. It is critical for reducing corrosion, maximizing pipeline and process efficiencies, dewatering for LNG production, and protecting water sensitive catalysts in refinery processes.

In desiccant operations, the wet hydrocarbon gas enters the top of the adsorption tower and flows downward through the adsorbent, where the water is adsorbed. The essentially dry hydrocarbon gas exits at the bottom and is ready for processing or sale. Most desiccant systems have two or more adsorption towers. Bed regeneration is accomplished by flowing heated dry gas upward so that contaminants adsorbed within the bed can be removed.

To maintain their effectiveness, desiccants must be protected from free water and liquid hydrocarbon contamination. Free water causes long term fracturing and dusting of the desiccant granules, while hydrocarbons burn onto the granules during regeneration, progressively reducing moisture removal capability.

To achieve natural gas production quotas and scheduled campaign lengths via reliable treatment of wet gases, a premium solution is critical. High efficiency SepraSol^TM Plus liquid/gas coalescers and Medallion^TM HP liquid/gas coalescers provide 99.999% liquid aerosol removal at 0.3 microns per the DOP test and 1 ppb downstream per the modified ANSI/CAGI-400-1999 test procedure.

For maximum protection against bed damage due to ingession of liquid water, the SepraSol Plus liquid/gas coalescer assembly utilizes a dual stage Separation.  This knockout sump pretreatment to media coalescence final treatment   accepts most slugs without bypass or loss of removal efficiency. The full element oleophobically and hydrophobically-treated SepraSol Plus coalescers also recover from slugs very quickly, minimizing the pressure drop across the assembly. This coalescer removes micron and sub-micron size liquid droplets of water and hydrocarbons to provide on-spec water content and extended desiccant life by maintaining dehydrator efficiency and capacityand  minimized bed pressure drop increase.

The DGF Dry Gas Particulate Filter prevents damage to downstream process equipment due to entrainment of desiccant fines in the dry gas stream. The filter protects downstream equipment by removing desiccant fines and other contaminants from the dry hydrocarbon gas stream before it enters the pipeline, compressor, liquefaction or other process.

Extended filter life and simple maintenance protocols save time that can be spent on value-add process improvements. Reliable, consistent output from Pall systems optimizes critical processes so you don't spend time worrying about your filters and coalescers.

Pall's molecular sieve solutions deliver reliable and consistent output from gas plant adsorbent dehydration. For more information, click here to see purchase information or talk to a Pall expert.