87th Annual Convention Grapevine, Texas, USA March 2-5, 2008 SUPERSONIC GAS CONDITIONING - COMMERCIALISATION OF TWISTER TECHNOLOGY

Abstract

Twister is a proven gas conditioning technology. Condensation and separation at supersonic velocity provides several unique benefits as the short residence time within the Twister tube prevents hydrate problems, thereby eliminating the use of chemicals and associated regeneration systems. The simplicity and reliability of this static device with no rotating parts, operating without chemicals, ensures a simple, environmentally friendly facility, with a high availability, suitable for de-manned operation. The first commercial offshore Twister application on the Petronas/Sarawak Shell Berhad B11 facility offshore East Malaysia has now been in continuous operation, with more than 98% availability, for over four years. A complete Twister gas conditioning module has been supplied to Shell Nigeria for chemicalfree fuel gas treatment for a gas turbine driven power plant and a contract has been signed with Petrobras for an onshore Twister system. These plants will be commissioned during Q1 and Q2 2008, respectively. This paper presents an overview of how Twister supersonic technology is utilised to remove Natural Gas Liquids, including the results of two studies evaluating the performance of Twister against both a JT system and a turbo-expander for NGL recovery, together with initial development details for LPG extraction. A brief introduction is also included regarding the development of Twister technology for H2S removal.