GAS CONDITIONING UTILISING THE VORTISEP DEVICEAPPLICATION OF A NOVEL TECHNOLOGY ON AN INDUSTRIAL SCALE

摘要

The Vortex tube device provides a novel and useful addition to the range of equipment availablethe removal of components such as heavy hydrocarbons or water from natural gas. Vortex tubeequipment has been used industrially for a number of years for improved separation in comparison witha Joule-Thomson system, without entering into the cost and complexity of a true isentropic system suchas a turbo-expander unit. The relative advantage of the vortex tube compared to a Joule-Thomson orTurbo-Expander system is dependent upon the inlet conditions of the gas and available pressure drop,however, an optimum pressure drop of 25 - 35 % of the inlet gas pressure has been confirmed inpractice. It would appear from the present commercial scale applications that the advantage of theVortisep system, is where performance improvements over Joule-Thomson units at low capital cost, arerequired.