Multi Billion Dollar Market to Separate Liquids from Oil and Gas
The market to remove liquids from oil and gas is close to $2 billion per year
and includes the range of devices to remove both small and large droplets as
well as water in emulsified solutions. This is the conclusion reached by
the McIlvaine Company in Liquid Separation from Oil and Gas.
Water and other liquids need to be removed from natural and synthetic gas.
Common applications are:
·
Gas processing plants
·
Pipeline compressor stations
·
Storage
·
LNG liquefaction /Regas plants
Natural gas processing consists of separating hydrocarbons and fluids from the
pure natural gas to produce ‘pipeline quality’ dry natural gas to be fed to gas
transportation systems. High
efficiency cartridge L/G coalescers are used for vapor removal from the gas
stream during processing and transportation. Typically, they are used downstream
from other separation equipment.
Gravity Separator – also known as knock-out drum, droplet removal >300 μm; for
bulk separation or first stage scrubber. The force used to separate solids and
liquids from gas is gravity.
Centrifugal Separator– also known as cyclone separator, when properly sized can
remove droplets down to 8-10μm.
Mist Eliminators – there are three types of mist eliminators:
Vane, also known as baffle, chevron or plate type, closely spaced blades
arranged to provide zigzag gas flow paths, using inertial impaction for droplet
removal >10μm; sturdier than mesh pads and impose less pressure drop, sometimes
used in combination with mesh pads.
Mesh pad–most typical structure is knitted mesh pad in tightly packed layers;
media composites of plastics or glass coalesce droplets > 1.0 μm, media of metal
or plastic wire for droplets > 5.0 μm; large vessel required since operated at
low velocity.
Fiber mist eliminators are in cylindrical form (candles) or flat panels and
capable of separating particles >
0.5 μm.
Coalescer cartridges are capable of high efficiency on particles > 0.1 μm.
The u usual configuration is vertical, where gas travels upward and flows
from inside to outside of cartridge, where submicron droplets coalesce into
larger droplets, then drain down.
Liquid/Gas (L/G) cartridge coalescers can operate at peak performance at reduced
flow rates (i.e., during partial shutdowns).
Different stages of separation are required. A knock-out drum will remove the
larger droplets, followed downstream by a mist eliminator and/or a high
efficiency cartridge coalescer. The different stages can be in separate vessels
or in one vessel.
A high-efficiency vertical liquid/gas coalescer such as Pall’s product is
designed for inlet gas with liquid aerosol contamination entering at the bottom
of the housing into a first-stage knock-out section. Here any slugs or large
droplets are removed by gravitational settling. The gas then travels upward
through a tube sheet and flows radially from the inside of the cartridges
through the coalescer medium to the annulus. The inlet aerosol distribution
ranges from 0.1 to 300 μm, and after passing through the coalescer medium, is
transformed into enlarged coalesced droplets ranging from 0.5 to 2.2 μm.
Liquid-liquid coalescers can be segmented into stationary and mobile.
In the stationary segment, the major players, accounting for
approximately 30 percent of the revenues, are Pall, PECOFacet, ParkerVelcon,
Jonell, Pentair, Faudi Aviation, Kaydon, Vokes and Sulzer.
Major companies supplying coalescing filters in the mobile sector include
Mann+Hummel, Mahle, Donaldson and Racor.
Two of the largest media companies are Lydall and Hollingsworth and Vose (H&V).
Lydall Filtration/Separation, Inc. offers their LyPore® Unity™ liquid/liquid and
liquid/gas coalescing media grades for efficient separation of both water from
other liquids and oil and water from air streams.
All grades are constructed with borosilicate microfiber glass that offers
the highest level of coalescence at the lowest pressure drop.
Lydall's fluoropolymer oil and water repellency treatment processes
ensure exacting separation of target compounds and long element life.
LyPore® Unity™ grades can be pleated or wrapped and are available in a
wide range of efficiencies, repellency levels, and binders.
Hollingsworth & Vose (H&V) manufactures a comprehensive line of coalescer media
solutions for applications that require gas-liquid and liquid-liquid separation.
H&V offers a choice of fiberglass, cellulose and synthetic media combined
with specialized organic binders.
H&V microfiber glass media fibers are naturally oleophobic, so oil droplets
adhere but do not swell them. The cellulose coalescer media is an economical
alternative to glass. For applications requiring additional structural
integrity, these media are also available with lamination.
For more information on Liquid
Separation from Oil and Gas, contact
Bob McIlvaine at:
rmcilvaine@mcilvainecompany.com
#847-784-0012, ext. 112.
OEM Networking Directory Has the Contacts at Consulting and Supplier Companies
If you sell systems, scrubbers nozzles, packing or corrosion resistant materials
you will use the McIlvaine OEM
Networking Directory daily. Check it out at: 53DI
OEM Networking Directory.
Daily Project Posting In McIlvaine Oil, Gas, Refining Supplier Program
McIlvaine posts project information on a daily basis. The purchaser can
purchase the complete program
N049 Oil, Gas,
Shale and Refining Markets and Projects
or just the Bi-weekly Alert
71EI Oil, Gas,
Shale, Refining E-Alert.
PROJECTS
The following projects each will result in millions of dollars of orders for
flow control and treatment products. Each project has been rated. The
opportunity size is rated from 1-10 with 1 being small and 10 being very large.
The timing for flow and treatment orders has been provided by year, e.g. T 16 =
timing of order is 2016.
McDermott Wins RasGas EPCI Deal (T16)
McDermott International said it has been awarded a brownfield contract by LNG
producer RasGas offshore Qatar. Under the agreement, McDermott will provide
engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) of a flow
assurance and looping project consisting of 74 miles of 6- and 8-inch pipeline
and topside modifications, offshore Qatar, according to a company’s statement
issued on Monday. Work is scheduled for completion by the end of the third
quarter of 2017. The two companies also have an engineering service agreement
under which McDermott has executed several concept studies and front end
engineering design (FEED) projects, according to the statement. Engineering,
procurement and fabrication is expected to be performed by McDermott’s teams
based in Dubai, U.A.E.
Shell to Expand Louisiana Alpha Olefins Complex (T16)
Shell Chemical has made a final investment decision (FID) to increase its alpha
olefins (AO) production at its chemical manufacturing site in Geismar,
Louisiana, the company announced on November 30. The expansion will make the
Geismar site the largest AO producer in the world. The project will include a
$717 million capital investment. Shell will construct a fourth AO unit, adding
425,000 tons of annual capacity. The chemical site is used in the production of
stronger and lighter polyethylene plastic for packaging and bottles, as well as
engine and industrial oils and drilling fluids. Construction of the new unit
will begin in the first quarter of 2016 and the unit is expected to begin
operations in 2018. The new capacity brings the total AO production at Shell’s
Geismar site to more than 1.3 MMtpy. The Geismar site, with a strong track
record of reliable and safe performance, also produces alcohols, ethoxylates,
ethylene oxide and ethylene glycols.
Saudi Aramco Has Ambitious Plans to Spend up to $150 Bln Through 2019
PetroRabigh, a JV between Saudi Aramco and Sumitomo Chemical, recently announced
the launch of engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) tenders for its
mega-expansion project. The EPC contracts are for a 220-Mtpy polyether polyols
plant, a 17-Mbpd naphtha treating unit and a 106-Mtpy sulfur recovery unit. The
EPC contracts are expected to be awarded in 1Q 2016. This project is one among
many that Saudi Arabia is developing to build up its refined fuels and
petrochemical offerings to the global market. The country will also witness over
$60 B in downstream petrochemical investment through the end of the decade.
Keystone XL and Alberta Oil Sands Go Under While Utah MCW Project Moves Ahead
The decision to kill Keystone XL was an economic one: with the major oil sands
projects that were to supply the pipeline going under, it no longer makes sense.
Now, some $60 billion of Canadian oil sands projects are in big trouble, unable
to withstand high production costs and low oil prices. Shell has moved to scrap
its 80,000-barrel/day Carmon Creek project. And earlier this year, three major
Canadian companies said they would halt new projects and expansions, and Total
and Statoil have also thrown in the towel. Breaking away from this trend, one
North American oil sands project is thriving, led by MCW Energy Group. The
project debuted in Utah with a breakthrough technology that offers not only low
production costs that can withstand price volatility, but also gives us the
previously impossible: a clean way to produce oil sands. Once washed with MCW's
patented solvent, the sand comes out 99.9 percent clean before it is returned to
the Earth. Major Canadian oil sands projects require $80 oil to break even.
MCW's clean oil sands extraction plant at Asphalt Ridge, Utah, is producing 250
barrels per day for only $27-$30 per barrel. This is low enough to turn a profit
even in today's market. And when the company finishes building its second
5,000/bpd plant, we're looking at costs closer to $20 per barrel. The plant is
right in the heart of Utah's Green River Formation at Asphalt Ridge, which alone
is believed to hold some 1 billion barrels of recoverable oil. Experts estimate
that production using this new technology in Utah is more profitable than any
other oil sands project in North America, and more profitable than today's shale
production.
ICA Fluor Awarded $1.1 Bln Miguel Hidalgo Refinery Upgrade Contract in Mexico
(08, T16)
ICA Fluor, the industrial construction joint venture of Empresas ICA, S.A.B. de
C.V. and Fluor Corporation, announced November 18 that they have signed a
contract with Pemex Transformacion Industrial to supply detail engineering,
procurement and construction (EPC) services for the utilities and offsites that
are part of the Tula Refinery upgrade at Hidalgo, Mexico. The total contract
value is $1.1 billion. This contract results from the joint efforts of Pemex
Transformacion Industrial (formerly Pemex Refinacion) and ICA Fluor to continue
with the modernization process of the Tula Refinery.
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Bob McIlvaine
President
847-784-0012 ext 112
rmcilvaine@mcilvainecompany.com
www.mcilvainecompany.com