Is the Souders-Brown equation sufficient for

scrubber design? An experimental

investigation at elevated pressure with

hydrocarbon fluids

Trond Austrheim, Lars H. Gjertsen

Statoil ASA, 7005 Trondheim, Norway

Alex C. Hoffmann

Dept. of Physics and Technology, University of Bergen, Allegt. 55, 5007 Bergen,

Norway

Abstract

Scrubber design practice today is largely based on experimental data generated at

ambient conditions with air-water systems. This paper reports experimental results

for gas scrubber performance at pressures up to 92 bar using two types of hydro-

carbon liquids: Exxsol D60 and a synthesized “live” natural gas condensate. The

scrubber has a configuration very commonly used in industry with three types of

internals in series: a vane inlet, a mesh pad and a cyclone deck. Results for the sepa-

ration efficiency and the pressure drop of the internals separately and combined are

shown graphically. The relevance of the Souders-Brown K-value, commonly used

as scrubber design parameter, is elucidated both theoretically and in light of the

results. The results show that the Souders-Brown value is rather good in practise

Preprint submitted to Elsevier 9 June 2007

for design of inlet vane and mesh pad, and that results for the two hydrocarbon

systems agree reasonably, but also that better design rules are required for high-

pressure separation of hydrocarbon liquids.

Key words: Gas scrubber, Souders-Brown equation, inlet, mesh pad, axial flow

cyclone, high pressure, hydrocarbon fluids

1 Introduction

While conventional oil production is expected to reach a plateau within the

near future, the production of natural gas and associated products is expected

to increase and become increasingly important as new gas fields are being

developed and oil fields enter tail-end production.

Development of oil and gas fields moves toward more marginal and remote

fields worldwide, often offshore and in deep waters. This requires more cost-

effective processing, and the trend is toward remotely controlled sub-sea pro-

cessing. In addition to reducing the need for expensive top-side facilities and

pumping of multiphase mixtures, sub-sea separation makes it possible to re-

claim natural gas at high pressure reducing needs for recompression before

pipeline transport.

However, remote subsea separation requires more robust design of separation

equipment. Expenses due to failures caused by faulty design and/or operation

of separators are much larger. In addition to this, separators may need to

be more compact for installation sub sea, since they need to be carried and

∗ Corresponding author

2
submerged from ships, that can handle only a limited weight. This adds extra,

rigorous demands on the quality of the design.

Today, much design is based on experimental results obtained in air-water

systems under ambient conditions. Design for the rigorous duties mentioned

above requires data for high-pressure operation on hydrocarbon fluids, and

even “live” natural gas fluids.

Very little public-domain research literature is available with information

about the performance of scrubbers acting on hydrocarbon fluids and elevated

pressures.

To the authors’ knowledge, no tests under high-pressure conditions are re-

ported in the public domain for conventional scrubber internals. For compact

separation equipment, a few results are found. The Gasunie scrubber (Oranje,

1990) was tested with processed natural gas at operating pressures up to

40 bara, but no information was given about the liquid phase.

More recently, Chin and Standbridge (2003) tested an in-line degasser using

a mixture of methane and diesel up to 40 bara, but no information was given

on the physical properties of the fluid. In a sense their fluid was “live” since

some diesel will evaporate and some methane will dissolve in the liquid. This

system, however, only covers a small part of the gas-liquid properties existing

in real scrubbers.

Rawlins and Ting (2002) reported results for a long-term field test of an IRIS-

unit (a demister mounted directly in a pipe-line, having a separation principle

similar to an axial-flow cyclone) at 77 bara pressure. The IRIS was mounted in

a well stream consisting of natural gas, condensate and associated water from

3
the well. Up till now, these are, to our knowledge, the most challenging con-

ditions under which a natural gas separator has been tested in the published

literature. In addition Rawlins and Ting also did some more systematical test-

ing in a large-scale lab where processed natural gas and decane was used as

the fluid system.

The aim of this project is to provide data generated in a standard scrubber

configuration at a full range of pressures on realistic fluids, and make a first

assessment on the impact on scrubber design methods. It builds on an inves-

tigation of scrubber performance at low pressures, showing that the nature of

the liquid used has a significant impact on the separator performance (Aus-

trheim et al., 2006).

2 Theory, the Souders-Brown Equation and its Significance

The most used expression for sizing of gas scrubbers is the one developed

by Souders and Brown (1934) for sizing of fractionating columns. This involves

an empirically quantified factor known as the Souders-Brown value, the K-

value, or the Gas Load Factor (GLF). Here, the term K-value will be used.

The basis of the Souders-Brown expression is a force balance resolved in the

vertical direction on a spherical droplet in an upward flowing gas in a gravity

field. When the droplet is held stationary, while moving at its terminal velocity

relative to the gas ug,set , the flow force, Fr , balances the gravity force, Gd :

1 π
Fr = Cd Ad ρg u2g,set = Gd = d3d g(ρl − ρg ), (1)
2 6
πd2d
where Cd is the drag coefficient, Ad is the projected area of the droplet, 4

with dd the droplet diameter, and ρg and ρl are the densities of the gas and

4
liquid, respectively. Equation (1) can be rearranged to:
! !
ρg 4gdd
ug,set = . (2)
ρl − ρg 3Cd

The right-hand-side of the equation is defined as the K-value:

!
4gdd
K= . (3)
3Cd

Thus, if Cd is constant, designing and operating a column at a constant K-

value means that a droplet of a given diameter will just not be transported

upward and out of the column, irrespective of the fluid properties.

ρg ug,set dd
In practice Cd varies with the droplet Reynolds number, Rer = µ
,

except for high values of Rer , where Newton’s law states that it is constant

and about equal to 0.43. At low Rer , the well-known relation of Stokes states

that:
24
Cd = ,
Rer
while a general empirical expression due to Putnam (1961), valid for Rer <

1000 is:
" #
24 Re2/3
r
Cd = 1+ . (4)
Rer 6
The validity range of the Putnam expression is sufficient for most gas scrubbers

in practice.

The paper of Souders and Brown focuses on terminal settling in a gravity

field, and shows that a column has to be designed for a lower gas velocity at

higher pressures in order to avoid flooding. To investigate the wider physical

significance of the K-value, we can study the unsteady equation of motion of

a particle.

If we write the equation of motion for a spherical droplet neglecting, as is

5
often done, the added mass and the history integral terms while taking into

account gravity, the equation of motion for a spherical droplet is:

d#u π 1
m = Cd d2d ρg |u#r | u#r + m#g
dt 4 2 (5)
I II III

Where #u is the particle’s absolute velocity, and #ur its velocity relative to the

gas. The terms are from left to right: I: particle mass times acceleration, II:

fluid drag force and III: body force (due to gravity).

The drag, II, tends to make the droplets follow the gas stream, and can thus

be said to oppose separation. The two other terms can be seen as forces that

will make the particle move relative to the gas, and therefore as “separating

forces” that may separate the particles from the gas stream. We consider two

types of separation equipment based on gravity and impaction, respectively:

• In separation in a gravity field, term I is normally zero, and the “separat-

ing force”, III, depends only on particle mass and the acceleration due to

gravity, but not the fluid velocity. This is the situation scaled correctly by

K, as shown above.

• In separation based on impaction or centrifugation, on the other hand, the

gravitational term, III, is often negligibly small and term I constitutes the

“separating force”. In cyclones, for example, where the particle rotates with

the same tangential velocity as the gas, vθ , the magnitude of the acceleration
$ $ $ $
$ d$u $ v2 $ u$
$ dt $ is rθ . In fact, in all such equipment $ d$
dt
$ is approximately proportional

to the fluid velocity squared.

We thus see that the variation of the “separating force” with gas velocity

is quite different for the two types of separation equipment, and that the

Souders-Brown value is not relevant for impaction equipment at all.

6
In practice, when designing a column to avoid that the upward velocity en-

trains droplets, the recommended K-value is K < 0.1 m/s for low-pressure

applications; often a safety margin of 50% is added for vessels without inter-

nals. For increasing pressures the critical K-value has been seen to decline.

This is not surprising, since increasing pressure in oil/gas applications is often

accompanied by a decrease in interfacial tension and thereby a decrease in

the droplet sizes. Gas Processors Suppliers Association (GPSA) (1998) rec-

ommend (for separators with a mesh pad) decreasing the K-value with 25%

for 85 bar pressure.

Obviously, if a separator is equipped with separation equipment, e.g. a mesh

pad or cyclones, it can operate at a higher K-value than that required if

it simply separates by settling under gravity against the flow in an empty

separation space. In fact, the K-value at which a given separator can operate

without entrainment can be seen as a measure of its compactness, and in

practice some scrubbers can operate at K-values up to 0.3 m/s (Gjertsen

et al., 2003).

3 Experimental Facilities

The experimental rig used for this work is specially designed for scrubber test-

ing with live natural gas fluids, but can in theory be used for all kinds of fluids.

Separation efficiency and pressure drops can be determined for various types

of separation equipment—both total scrubber configurations and individual

internals—over a wide range of gas flows and liquid loads at pressures up to

100 bara and temperatures ranging from −40 to +50◦ C.

7
The difference between a hydrocarbon model fluid (nitrogen/Exxsol) and a

natural gas system was investigated. These are described in more detail be-

low. Three different operating pressures were used: 20, 50 and 92 bara. All

experiments were carried out in the temperature range 20–25◦ C.

A 3-D sketch of the scrubber investigated is shown in Figure 1. The inlet vane

distributes the incoming two-phase flow over the cross-section, and separates

some of the liquid from the gas. The mesh pad may act as a further separator

at low liquid loading, or as a coalescer for the cyclone deck at high loadings,

the gas loading dominates in determining how the vane pack acts. The deck

of axial flow cyclones (AFCs), or once-through cyclones, working in parallel is

the last separation step.

Fig. 1. Diagram of the scrubber configuration investigated here. At the bottom the

vaned inlet, in the middle the mesh pad, and at the top the cyclone deck consisting

of two cyclones working in parallel

8
3.1 The rig

The rig has been designed to generate data under actual field conditions, and is

built inside a container in which both the atmosphere and the process itself are

temperature controlled by a climate control system. The test rig is remotely

operated with a PC-based control system.

The rig is built as a closed circulation loop. Liquid is initially charged and

gas subsequently used to pressurize the rig. Liquid can also be charged under

pressure by use of a piston pump. The rig is designed to operate at pressures

from 1 to 100 bara. A gas blower with an adjustable speed motor circulates the

gas in the loop at flowrates ranging from 0 to 60 m3 /hr at 100 bara. The gas

blower is submerged in a temperature-controlled glycol bath which provides

control of the gas temperature in the loop. Liquid can be injected into the

gas stream through either two injection points in the inlet piping or through

a nozzle within the test scrubber at rates ranging from 0.05 to 1.0 m3 /hr.

A sketch of the main process can be seen in Figure 2. The liquid captured

in the test scrubber can be drained to two separate drain tanks, while the

entrained (or lost or overhead) liquid is captured by a bulk scrubber, which is

a scrubber equipped with a mesh pad, of twice as large a diameter as the test

scrubber. If the gas flow is high or the droplets are very small, some liquid

might escape this bulk scrubber as well, the remaining liquid will then be

separated by a tangential cyclone scrubber and a large filter coalescer further

downstream.

The captured and overhead liquid fractions are measured by liquid accumula-

tion measurements using differential pressure cells detecting the liquid level in

9
the drain tanks, bulk scrubber, tangential cyclone scrubber and filter coalescer.

Gas Tangential Bulk scrubber

circulator cyclone
scrubber w/meshpad

w
FT
Test
dP scrubber
Filter
Coalescer w

dP
dP
w

Liquid flow Drain

tanks
w

2 3
Main gas flow
Gas w
booster
dP dP

Liquid reservoir FT
Gas
bottles
dP
Liquid Piston Pump

Fig. 2. A sketch of the experimental rig used. The main gas flow-loop is marked by a

thickened line. The inlet (49.24 mm ID) and drainpipes on the test scrubber (150 mm

ID) are visible, and the 5 window sections are indicated by “w”. Other internal

diameters: Bulk scrubber: 298.7 mm; tangential cyclone scrubber: 202.7 mm; filter

coalescer: 460 mm; drain tank 2: 298.6 mm; drain tank 3: 295.4 mm

The circulated gas and liquid rates are continuously monitored by Coriolis

meters. The test scrubber is equipped with five window sections at different

heights. The height of the test scrubber is two meters from the inlet to the

top. This design offers the possibility of testing total scrubber configurations

with a large range of distances between the internals.

Figure 3 shows the scrubber arrangement used. A cyclone deck consisting of

two cyclones working in parallel is placed in the top of the test scrubber.

Below the deck is a mesh, or mesh pad, which in turn is placed above an inlet

10
vane. In contrast to a real scrubber, the drain pipe from the cyclone deck does

not extend down to the liquid sump in the bottom of the test scrubber, but

penetrates the scrubber wall and the liquid is thereby collected in a separate

drain tank.

Cyclone Deck
dP
250 mm
dP

Nozzle dP

Drain pipe
865 mm
Mesh
150 mm dP

485 mm
Inlet Vane

Inlet Pipe

Fig. 3. The setup in the test scrubber (ID 150 mm), the right-hand figure shows the

pressure drops measured

The setup for the pressure drop measurements is shown in the right-hand

figure. The pressure differential cells are in contact with the system pressure

through 1/4” tubing that penetrate the scrubber wall. This tubing extends one

cm into the process vessel and thereby through any possible liquid film on the

wall, except in the cyclone drain chamber, where the 1/4” pipe is connected

through the top plate of the cyclone deck.

Measurements were carried out over the mesh pad and the cyclone deck. Cy-

clone deck pressure drop measurements were divided in two parts:

(1) Pressure drop from inlet underneath to the drain chamber and

11
(2) Pressure drop from the drain chamber to the outlet.

The sum of these two should be equal to the total pressure drop as can be seen

from Figure 3. To minimize the influence of any dynamical contribution to the

measured pressure above the cyclone deck, a vortex breaker was installed to

attenuate a strong swirl that was observed during experiments in another rig.

3.2 Internals

The internals used for droplet separation, i.e. the cyclones, mesh pad and

inlet vane are of the same type as those used in another rig operating at low

pressure, and have been described in detail in another paper Austrheim et al.

(2006).

In summary it can be said that the two cyclones in the deck were designed in

accordance with the cyclones used in the work of Verlaan (1991). They have

an internal diameter of 5 cm, and a height of 25 cm. They are of the axial-flow

type with swirl vanes (exit angle 45◦ ), and are equipped with vertical slits in

the wall for improved liquid separation. The cyclones were modified with a

vortex finder as described in Austrheim et al. (2006).

The mesh pad, constructed in stainless steel, AISI 304, by Costacurta S.p.A

Vico is identical to the Style A investigated by Brunazzi and Paglianti (1998).

The wire diameter is 0.27 mm and the void fraction 0.98. The mesh pad is

made by knitting wires to form a two-layer mesh that is rolled up spirally to

form a cylindrical pad.

The inlet vane distributes the incoming gas through a series of vanes at the

12
sides over the column cross-section, as shown in Figure 4.

Fig. 4. Detail of the vaned inlet. The liquid-laden gas enters through the inlet to

the left and exits though the vanes on the sides. Some of the liquid is separated by

the vanes

3.3 Fluids and fluid properties

Since the fluids used are an important distinguishing feature of this study,

they are described in some detail here. In this and the following sections we

use the term “fluid” for the liquid and gas phases together.

Two different fluid systems have been used in the tests. The simplest system

consisted of Exxsol D60 as liquid and nitrogen as gas. The rig was filled with

Exxsol D60 to the required level and then nitrogen was used to pressurize

the rig. Independently of the pressure, the Exxsol D60 mainly remains in the

liquid phase while the nitrogen mainly remains in the gas phase.

The more complex natural gas fluid system consisted of a mixture of methane,

13
ethane and pentane. The rig was initially filled with pentane to a minimum

level and then a mixture of premixed methane and ethane gas was used to

bring the rig to the required pressure. The gas and liquid phase were then

circulated until equilibrium was established. The composition of each phase

could be calculated on basis of the initial amount of liquid pentane and the

actual temperature and pressure at equilibrium knowing the total volume of

the rig. The total volume of the rig was determined by adding a precisely

known amount of nitrogen gas to the rig and then measuring the ensuing

increase in pressure.

3.3.1 Properties for the Nitrogen-Exxsol D60 Test Fluid

Exxsol D60 is not an exact composition since it is a paraffin distillation cut,

but the composition is quite constant, and the supplier therefore gives typical

values for its properties. In Tab. 1 a typical composition of the nitrogen/Exxsol

system is given. The different fractions are groups of components with the

specified number of carbon atoms that have been lumped to one fraction with

a characteristic molecular weight. This composition has been used as a basis

for calculations of the fluid properties of the Exxsol/nitrogen mixture used.

The gas density was calculated using the Soave-Redlich-Kwong equation of

state (EOS) Soave (1972) with the volume correction suggested by Peneloux

and Evelyne (1982). The density of nitrogen with a small amount of dis-

solved Exxsol turned out to be almost linear in pressure at 20◦ C, ranging

from 1.14 kg/m3 at 1 bara to 113.67 kg/m3 at 100 bara.

For the liquid density, measurements on Exxsol D60, saturated with nitrogen

at operating temperature and pressure, were carried out in a high-pressure

14
Table 1

The fluid (liquid and gas combined) composition of the nitrogen/Exxsol fluid

Component Fraction Mol. wt. Liq. Dens.

[mol%] [g/mol] [kg/m3 ]

N2 33.034 28

C9 0.832 121 781

C10 13.517 134 792

C11 28.066 147 796

C12 19.376 161 810

C13 5.175 175 825

density cell supplied by Anton Paar. The density variations within the pres-

sure operating range were less than 1%. When increasing the pressure from

1.17 bara, the density drops off from its initial value of 784.4 kg/m3 , since more

gas dissolved in the liquid, but when the pressure exceeds 10 bara, the density

is more dominated by the pressure and increases smoothly with increasing

pressure to 790.6 kg/m3 at 100.0 bara.

The gas and liquid viscosity calculations are based on the corresponding states

principle in the form suggested by Pedersen and Fredenslund (1987).

The gas viscosity was calculated to increase almost linearly with pressure at

20◦ C from 0.0178 cp at 1 bara to 0.0203 at 100 bara. The supplier gives a typ-

ical value of 1.58 cP for the liquid viscosity of pure Exxsol D60 at 25◦ C and

atmospheric pressure, which is approximately 20% higher than the calculated

15
value. The uncertainty is likely due to both uncertainties in the prediction

model, the characterization of the heavy C9-C13 components, the molar com-

position of the actual sample and the fact that the calculations take into

account that nitrogen is dissolved in the Exxsol. The liquid viscosity was cal-

culated to vary little with pressure at 20◦ C being 1.34 cp at 1 bara, going

through a shallow maximum of 1.43 cp at about 30 bara, and decreasing to

1.30 cp at 100 bara. It was found to be quite a strong function of temperature,

being equal to 1.25 cp at 1 bara and 25◦ C.

The interfacial tension may be crucial to the performance of the rig, and var-

ied quite substantially with the pressure. The calculated interfacial tension

is shown in Figure 5. The calculations are based on the simple procedure

that Weinaug and Katz (1943) used for a Methane-Propane mixture, the ac-

curacy of which depends on the accuracy of the density calculations. Since

the uncertainty in the density calculations can be quite large, the interfacial

tension should ideally be measured. High-pressure interfacial tension measure-

ments are very challenging, however, and therefore only a few measurements

were performed, for pressures ranging from 2 to 6 bara. These measurements

show an interfacial tension between 24 and 25 mN/m at 20◦ C, so the cal-

culations seem to under-predict the interfacial tension by up to 10% in the

low-pressure range.

3.3.2 Fluid Properties for the Synthetic Natural Gas

The nitrogen/Exxsol D60 model system can be considered as two separate

phases where only small amounts of liquid are dissolved in the gas phase

and vice versa. The natural gas system on the other hand, is a live gas, a

16
 24

Interfacial Tension [mN/m] .

23
20oC
22 25oC

21

20

19

18

17

16

15
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Pressure [bara]

Fig. 5. The calculated interfacial tension of Exxsol D60 and nitrogen

three-component system in two-phase equilibrium. The physical properties

of the natural gas system are much more dependent on pressure than the

nitrogen/Exxsol system where only the gas density varies significantly with

pressure.

For the tests with synthetic natural gas, mixtures of methane, ethane and

pentane were used. The rig was filled with an initial amount of liquid pentane

at 20◦ C, then a premixed gas consisting of 85 mol% methane and 15 mol%

ethane was used to pressurize the rig. The rig was operated at three different

pressures, 20.1, 50.2 and 92 bara, when the synthetic natural gas was used.

All tests were performed at temperatures within the range 20-23◦ C.

The total fluid compositions were calculated with the SRK EOS Soave (1972)

with Peneloux volume correction Peneloux and Evelyne (1982) for each oper-

ating pressure. Since all the pentane is filled initially and only methane and

ethane is added, the fluid composition varies with pressure, the fluid becom-

ing lighter with increasing pressure, as seen in Tab. 2. In Figure 6 the phase

envelopes for the fluid compositions corresponding to the three different test

17
pressures are shown, and the operating points are indicated.
Table 2

The calculated fluid compositions for the three different operating pressures at 21◦ C

Fluid Composition 20.1 bara 50.2 bara 92 bara

Methane [mol%] 45.6 64.6 73.6

Ethane [mol%] 8.0 11.4 13.0

N-Pentane [mol%] 46.4 24.0 13.4

160
20.1 bara
140 50.2 bara
92 bara
Critical point
120
Pressure [bara]

100

80

60 Operating
points
40

20

0
-50 0 50 100 150 200

Temperature [oC]

Fig. 6. The figure shows the calculated phase envelopes for the three fluid compo-

sitions given in Tab. 2. The operating points are also indicated

The calculated composition was used as a basis for fluid properties calcu-

lations. In order to verify the fluid composition calculations, a gas sample

from the rig was taken at 92 bara and analyzed in a gas chromatograph. The

analysis was then compared to the calculated gas composition at the actual

pressure and temperature for the sample. The calculations were in good ac-

cordance with the analysis, the relative deviations in the methane, ethane and

n-pentane mol percentages being 0.6, -3.2 and -5.4%, respectively.

Due to the large amount of fluids required, completely pure fluids could not

18
be used, and some trace elements were present, nitrogen and propane being

the most abundant with 0.87 and 0.23 mol%, respectively. These have been

ignored, and compositions normalized to methane, ethane and pentane.

The fluid properties of the synthetic natural gas were calculated using the

same methods as described for the nitrogen/Exxsol D60 fluid. They are listed

in Tab. 3.
Table 3

The calculated gas and liquid properties at gas-liquid equilibrium at 20◦ C for the

three fluid compositions given in Tab. 2

Calculated Fluid Properties 20.1 bara 50.2 bara 92 bara

Gas Density [kg/m3 ] 17.2 45.2 97.0

Liquid Density [kg/m3 ] 602.2 551.3 469.5

Gas viscosity [cP] 0.011 0.012 0.015

Liquid Viscosity [cP] 0.207 0.150 0.096

Interfacial Tension [mN/m] 11.4 6.8 2.2

The properties in Tab. 3 are based on calculated compositions, and thus con-

tains two uncertainties: in the composition calculation and in the properties

calculations. To assess these, the same pentane to methane/ethane ratio as

in Tab. 2 was added to pressurized sample cylinders, and the liquid and gas

density of these samples measured with the Anton Paar high-pressure density

cell. A comparison of the measured densities with the calculated properties

in Tab. 3 includes errors from both the composition and the properties calcu-

lations. In addition, the actual gas composition in the sample cylinders was

analyzed in a Gas Chromatograph (GC), and the analyzed composition used as

19
input in a second density calculation. Comparing this second calculation with

the gas density in Tab. 3 eliminates most of the uncertainty in the composi-

tion calculation. All of the comparisons were favorable, the relative deviations

never exceeding 2.5% for the gas phase and 3.5% for the liquid phase.

Measurements of the other fluid properties i.e. viscosity and interfacial tension,

are not available. However, despite the simplicity of the model of Weinaug

and Katz (1943), it should be suitable for this mixture. Weinaug and Katz

developed the model by use of methane and propane—two components that

have very much the same chemical properties as the components used in this

project. Also, the density calculations have been seen to be fairly good. The

density calculations are used as input in the interfacial tension calculations.

4 Results and Discussion

In this section separation efficiency for the inlet vane/mesh pad and the cy-

clones is given. The gas and liquid loads have been varied systematically. Cy-

clone decks are normally delivered with cyclones of fixed sizes that operate in

parallel, the number of the cyclones varying with the scrubber cross-sectional

area. The liquid load to the cyclones has therefore been expressed as the liquid

rate per cyclone. The size of the inlet sections and the mesh pads, however,

do vary with the cross-sectional area of the vessel and the liquid load in these

experiments has therefore been expressed as the volumetric liquid content in

the gas. The gas load has been systematically varied so that the same K-values

has been tested for the different test pressures and fluid systems.

Some of the liquid at the scrubber inlet will be separated by the inlet vane,

20
some will impinge on the wall to form a film that drains and some will coalesce

in the mesh pad and drain as large droplets by means of gravity against the

upward flowing gas. It is not possible to differentiate between the different

mechanisms and the combined efficiency of the inlet vane and the mesh pad

is therefore given instead. The combined efficiency is hereafter referred to as

the primary separation efficiency.

4.1 Performance of the Inlet Vane and Mesh Pad

The inlet vane and the mesh pad are expected to do the main separation,

while the cyclone deck should separate any remaining liquid in the gas stream

from the mesh pad. The combined efficiency of the inlet vane and mesh pad

is therefore referred to as the “primary separation efficiency”. The primary

separation efficiency of the scrubber was tested by injecting liquid in the inlet

pipe two meters upstream of the inlet vane, and was calculated as:

Q(carry-over) + Q(drain tank 2)

η =1− (6)
Q(injected)

The reason for injecting the liquid pipe two meters, i.e. approximately 40

diameters, upstream of the inlet vane was to allow the flow pattern to be

fairly developed by the time the liquid reached the inlet vane, so that the

liquid distribution at the inlet vane would be comparable to conditions in a

process plant, where, for example, some of the liquid may be flowing in the

form of a film on the inner surface of the inlet tube.

The K-value in Equation (3) was varied identically for all three test pressures

and both fluid systems when testing the primary separation performance. The

K-value was controlled by adjusting the cross-sectional superficial velocity in

21
the scrubber. In Figure 7 the liquid concentration, or liquid loading, has been

kept constant at 0.2 vol% in all experiments (thus the mass fraction of liquid

in the stream decreases with increasing pressure) and the resulting primary

separation efficiency has been plotted as a function of the K-value.

100

90

80

70
Efficiency [%]

60
N2/Exxsol
50
20 bar
40 50 bar
92 bar
30 Natural gas
20 bar
20
50 bar
10 92 bar

0
0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3

K-value [m/s]

Fig. 7. The primary separation efficiency (combined efficiency of the inlet vane and

mesh pad) as function of the K-value for two different fluid systems with 0.2 vol%

liquid at three pressures

The primary efficiency is above 95% for all experiments below K = 0.14 m/s.

Most experiments in this region have efficiency close to 100% but some of

the experiments, especially the 92 bara natural gas case show lower efficiency.

The uncertainties for the primary separation efficiency at these loadings were

typically below ±0.5%. During these experiments below K = 0.14 m/s the

mesh pad was operated below flooding conditions so the measured carry-over

is most probably related to small droplets that penetrate the mesh pad.

The sudden break in the curves is due to flooding of the mesh pad. The breaks

in the curves generally occur at similar K-values, although at slightly lower

K-values for the nitrogen/Exxsol system than for the natural gas system, even

22
though the physical properties of the latter system are more severe in terms of

separation efficiency. There are two possible reasons for this slight difference:

• The K-value over-compensates for the liquid density so that the resulting

superficial gas velocity is reduced too much when experiments with two

different liquid densities are compared. It is not clear how the K-value ex-

actly relates to the phenomenon of flooding in the mesh pad anyway (see

section 2), although it is likely to be a relevant parameter, since flooding is

liquid build-up in the mesh, which depends on the gas lift.

• Since the superficial gas velocity is less at the same K-value in the natural

gas cases, the absolute amount of liquid is also less, since the experiments

are compared in terms of equal liquid concentration and not absolute liquid

rate. The flooding velocity in packed columns decreases with increasing

liquid load Sherwood et al. (1938) and this has been found to be valid also

for mesh pads Bürkholz (1989), but is not accounted for in the expression

for K.

The deviation in break point in the curves in Figure 7 is probably a combi-

nation of the two mentioned effects. The deviation is better illustrated by the

pressure drop, as will be shown below.

Figure 8 shows the primary separation efficiency as a function of liquid loading

for a fixed K-value at K = 0.15 m/s. The results show that the primary

efficiency increases with increasing liquid load (but also an increasing absolute

liquid carry-over). Verlaan (1991) found that the efficiency of the vaned inlet

itself is likely to decrease with increasing load, so this effect must be mainly

due to effects in the mesh pad.

During the nitrogen/Exxsol experiments, the condition of the mesh pad was

23
 100

95

Efficiency [%]
90

85

80 20 bar
50 bar
75
92 bar

70
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4
Liquid Concentration [vol%]

Fig. 8. The primary separation efficiency as a function of liquid loading at

K = 0.15 m/s.

well above the flood point at this K-value, while during the natural gas ex-

periments the flood point generally occurred at higher K-values. The primary

efficiency results at K = 0.15 m/s with natural gas were therefore very in-

fluenced by how far the flooding process had developed. The results at this

K-value are therefore not included in the plot.

The pressure drop over the mesh pad is shown in Fig 9. This is very much

related to the amount of liquid that builds up in the mesh pad, which again

depends on the gas lift. Therefore it is relevant to plot the results against the

K-value. At the lowest K-values the pressure drop is dependent on the gas

velocity and density. As the K- value increases, a sudden increase in pressure

drop can be seen. This increase occurs when liquid starts to build up in the

mesh pad, so the sharp break in the pressure drop curve is actually a good

way of identifying the flood point.

The pressure drop in the nitrogen/Exxsol D60 fluid system is much higher

than the corresponding pressure drop in the natural gas fluid system. The

24
difference between the two fluid systems is mainly the lower liquid density,

liquid viscosity and surface tension in the latter system. The explanation for

the lower pressure drop in the natural gas system is probably a combination

of less liquid hold up in the mesh pad and that less energy is required to lift

the less dense liquid. For instance, the natural gas condensate density at 92

bara is only 60% of the liquid density for Exxsol D60.

When the mesh is completely flooded, the increase in pressure drop ceases,

and the further development of the pressure drop is the competing effects of:

on the one hand the gas lift becoming so strong that the amount of liquid

build-up in the mesh decreases due to entrainment and, on the other hand,

the increasing flow force.

The flood point for the nitrogen/Exxsol experiments occur at approximately

the same K-value—independent on operating pressure. This shows that the

K-value can be a reasonable way of pressure scaling for simple model fluid

systems where the physical fluid properties, except for the gas density, do not

change much.

However, the results also show that scaling with the K-value on basis of ex-

periments on simple gas-liquid model systems, even when the model liquid

is a hydrocarbon-based one as here, is less than optimal when designing sep-

arators for natural gas fluids. Reasons for the mismatch between the flood

points between the two different systems are discussed above, and include

over-compensation of the liquid density in the K-value, dependency on actual

liquid rate and lack of connection between flood point and other physical fluid

properties than the densities.

We can thus make some concluding remarks about the primary separation effi-

25
 9

8 N2/Exxsol
20 bar
7 50 bar

Pressure Drop [mbar]

92 bar
6 Natural gas
20 bar
5 50 bar
92 bar
4

0
0.07 0.09 0.11 0.13 0.15 0.17 0.19 0.21 0.23 0.25
K-value [m/s]

Fig. 9. The pressure drop over the mesh pad as fictions of the K-value for the two

different fluid systems at a constant liquid loading of 0.2 vol%

ciency and its scaling. We showed in Section 2 that the K-value is not relevant

for describing the separation in internals based on inertial separation, such

as the inlet vane and mesh pad. However, as we demonstrated in an earlier

paper Austrheim et al. (2006), the limitation in efficiency under these present,

realistic, operating conditions is likely to be re-entrainment rather than insuffi-

cient separation of small droplets. Containment involves the upward transport

of re-entrained droplets from the vane and mesh pad against the force of grav-

ity, a process described correctly by the K-value. Design is, indeed, often done

on basis of the K-value. The design criterion normally handled for scrubbers

with these two types of internals is K ≤ 0.15 m/s.

Figures 7 and 9 show that this normally handled design criterion is rather

good. All the curves break at a K-value of around 0.15 m/s. Nevertheless,

studying the plots in detail reveals that designing on basis of the K-value

does not fully account for the differences between the two fluid systems or the

differences between the pressures. Additionally, Figure 8 reveals considerable

26
differences in the separation efficiency with differing liquid loads at a constant

K-value of 0.15 m/s, showing that design on basis of the K-value does not

account for the effect of liquid load sufficiently well.

4.2 Performance of the Cyclone Deck

If the load, for which the inlet vane and the mesh pad are designed, is exceeded

the cyclone deck should separate the remaining liquid in the gas stream before

the gas exits the scrubber.

We measured the liquid load to the mesh pad in volume percent liquid. This

is a convenient measure for designers, since mesh pads vary in size with the

scrubber cross-sectional area. Cyclones, however, are normally of a fixed size

(often 50 or 80 mm diameter), and only their number vary with the cross-

sectional area of the scrubber. For this reason the liquid load to the cyclones

can more conveniently be measured as the liquid flow rate per cyclone, and

this is the measure we use in this section.

The cyclone separation performance was tested by introducing the liquid

through the nozzle below the two cyclones (Figure 3). The Delavan Spray

Technology nozzle employed in this study was a single phase nozzle (type

1/4” BN6) that produces a solid cone spray pattern; it was placed around

150 mm below the cyclone deck. The gas and liquid flow is assumed to be

evenly distributed to the cyclone deck, due to the small cross-sectional area

of the scrubber.

A certain fraction, the size of which depended on the gas load and pressure, of

the liquid injected through the nozzle separated before it reached the cyclone

27
deck. For this reason the rate of liquid injection had to be adjusted to obtain

a fixed liquid flow reaching the cyclone deck at the varying gas loads and

pressures. A computer program continuously calculated the liquid rate to the

cyclone based on the measured liquid rate to the drain tank and the measured

liquid carry-over rate from the test scrubber (see Figure 2). The separation

efficiency of the cyclone was also calculated on basis of this information as:

Ql,co
ηcyclone = (1 − ) × 100% (7)
(Ql,drain + Ql,co

where Ql,drain is the liquid rate that is drained from the cyclones and Ql,co is

the total liquid rate measured in the bulk scrubber, tangential cyclone and

the filter coalescer.

The separation efficiency at the three pressures with a constant liquid flow

to the cyclones of 45 l/hr per cyclone is plotted against the superficial gas

velocity in the cyclone in Figure 10.

100

95

90
Efficiency [%]

N2/Exxsol
85 20 bar
50 bar
92 bar
80
Natural gas
20 bar
75
50 bar
92 bar
70
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Superficial gas velocity [m/s]

Fig. 10. The cyclone efficiency when the liquid flow to the cyclones was kept constant

at 45 l/hr per cyclone

For all cases, the efficiency decreased with increasing gas flow. If the cause of

liquid loss was due to limited capture efficiency of droplets around the cut-size

28
of the cyclones, the efficiency would be expected to increase with gas velocity

in the cyclones, not decrease. This would indicate that liquid re-entrainment

from the cyclones is the cause of liquid loss.

For 20 and 50 bara, the performances for the two fluid systems were much the

same. When the pressure was increased to 92 bara, however, the efficiency was

radically lower for the natural gas fluid, indicating that the different physical

properties of the two fluid systems is crucial for the performance.

The differences in physical properties are mainly in the interfacial tension, the

liquid density and the liquid viscosity. In those cases where the natural gas

case has slightly better efficiency than the corresponding nitrogen/Exxsol case,

the gas density of the natural gas is lower, which might cause the difference.

The dynamic gas pressure, (1/2ρg vg2 ), increases if the superficial gas velocity is

kept constant while the pressure (and hence gas density) is increased. The gas

flow capacity of the rig is related to the gas dynamic pressure and therefore

the cyclones were generally tested at lower velocities at high pressure than at

low pressure, as can be seen in the figure. 3 m/s superficial gas velocity was

the only velocity that was tested at all three pressures. At this velocity, the

K-values in the vessel were 0.11 and 0.26 m/s at 20 and 92 bara, respectively

for the nitrogen/Exxsol, while it was 0.12 and 0.34 m/s for the corresponding

natural gas experiments.

In Figure 11, the same results are plotted against the K-value. It is clear from

this plot that the K-value does not describe the performance of the cyclone

deck well. We will discuss this issue further toward the end of this section.

The amount of liquid influences the performance and therefore another set

29
 100

95

90

Efficiency [%]
N2/Exxsol
20 bar
85
50 bar
92 bar
80
Natural gas
20 bar
75 50 bar
92 bar

70
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8

K-value in cyclone [m/s]

Fig. 11. The cyclone efficiency for constant liquid flow of 45 l/hr per cyclone plotted

against the K-value

of experiments were carried out wherein the liquid load was varied while the

superficial gas velocity was kept constant at 3 m/s. The result is plotted in

Figure 12.

100

N2/Exxsol
95 20 bar
50 bar
92 bar
Efficiency [%]

90
Natural gas
20 bar
85
50 bar
92 bar
80

75

70
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140

Liquid flow per cyclone [l/hr]

Fig. 12. The cyclone performance at varying liquid flows. The superficial gas velocity

was constant, 3 m/s, for all experiments in the plot

In all cases except those below 20 l/hr, the efficiency can be seen to drop off

with increasing liquid flow. At the low liquid flows, a larger fraction of the liq-

uid was observed to be distributed as a fine mist and the separation efficiency

30
of small droplets may influence the efficiency in addition to re-entrainment.

Also in these data, the efficiency is much lower for natural gas than for nitro-

gen/Exxsol at 92 bara.

Some results at high liquid loadings were corrupted due to capacity problems

in the liquid drainpipe from the cyclone deck. These are not shown.

The pressure drop measurements are shown in Figure 13 in the form of the
∆p
Euler number, Eu = 1/2ρv 2
, where v is the superficial axial velocity in the

cyclone body.
10

9.5
Euler number[-]

N2/Exxsol
8.5 20 bar
50 bar
92 bar
8 Natural gas
20 bar
50 bar
92 bar
7.5
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8

Liquid Concentration in Cyclone Inlet [vol%]

Fig. 13. The cyclone pressure drop as function of liquid concentration, or liquid

loading, in the cyclone inlet

The general tendency is that the pressure drop is slightly larger in the nitro-

gen/Exxsol experiments than in the natural gas experiments. This is probably

due to the higher liquid density in the Exxsol system, which makes it more

energy consuming to carry the liquid through the cyclone. There is a weak

tendency for the pressure drop to increase as the liquid load increases.

Figure 11 shows the K-value to be unsuitable for design of the cyclone deck.

31
The same remarks made about the relevance of the K-value to the separation

efficiency of—and re-entrainment from—the inlet vane and mesh pad apply

to the cyclone deck. However, our investigation indicates that another design

strategy may be suitable.

Stepping back to the more general case, one can distinguish three strategies for

designing cyclone demisters (or any inertial-impaction internal for demisting),

based on scaling, each with their region of relevance:

(1) Considering the separation efficiency for small droplets close to the cy-

clone cut size. This is based on keeping the Stokes number constant:

(ρl − ρg )d2 vg
Stk =
18µg D

where D is the cyclone diameter and vg is some characteristic gas velocity,

for instance the axial superficial velocity in the cyclone body. We cannot

go into details about the physical significance of this here, but only state

that in a cyclone it is a measure for the movement of the particle relative

to the gas in the centrifugal field, and refer to reference Hoffmann and

Stein (2002) for more information. If ρl − ρg and µg do not vary much

with pressure, designing for a constant Stokes number in a given cyclone

implies keeping the gas velocity constant. Some cyclone vendors focus on

this.

(2) Considering the upward transport of re-entrained droplets from the cy-

clone installation against gravity. For this, as we have discussed, the K-

value is the relevant design and scaling parameter. This strategy is rel-

evant if re-entrainment limits separation efficiency, and the re-entrained

droplets are so large that their transportation in the scrubber against

gravity, rather than the actual shearing off of liquid from the wall of the

32
 cyclones, limits the degree of carry-over.

(3) Considering the degree of re-entrainment from the cyclone installation.

Assuming that re-entrainment is governed by the friction between the

gas and a liquid film on the cyclone wall, the frictional stress acting at

the interface, τi can be written in terms of the velocity of the gas flowing

over the film, vg and the friction factor at the interface, fi :

ρg vg2
τi = fi (8)
2

where we have assumed that the liquid velocity is low compared to the

gas velocity. If conditions are such that fi is constant, then operating the

cyclone—for instance at varying pressures—for constant re-entrainment

involves keeping the gas dynamic pressure, or twice its value, ρvg2 con-

stant. Such a criterion is handled, for instance, in Perry et al. (1997)

and by Brunazzi et al. (2003), and it is recommended in the NORSOK

standard NORSOK (2001) that ρvg2 should be kept below 6000 Pa for

scrubbers containing an inlet vane. Such a strategy can be relevant if,

for instance, re-entrainment limits separation efficiency and re-entrained

droplets, once formed, are easily carried with this gas from the cyclone

installation due to their small size and/or the flow-configuration down-

stream of the cyclone installation.

The different scaling rules thus focus on different considerations, and may lead

to very different cyclone scaling. Consider an example: a cyclone has been

tested in a laboratory at ambient conditions and was found to perform at its

optimum when the superficial gas velocity was 10 m/s. How should the gas

velocity be scaled with increasing pressure? Or said with others words: How

many cyclones are required to operate in parallel in order to handle a certain

33
gas volume at a certain pressure? In Figure 14 the superficial gas velocity

is plotted as function of the gas density for all the scaling rules mentioned

above. As can be seen, scaling to keep the gas dynamic pressure constant and

to keep the K-value constant results in approximately the same velocity, while

Stokesian scaling to keep the cut size the same as under laboratory conditions

results in a superficial gas velocity three times higher than in the lab when

the gas reaches a density of 100 kg/m3 (approximately 100 bara operating

pressure). Choosing Stokesian scaling over one of the other scaling rules may

result in 60 times as high required gas velocity compared to scaling on basis

of constant gas dynamic pressure or K-value.

100
Superficial velocity [m/s]

10

1
Const K-value (for the natural gas fluid)
Const. gas dynamic pressure
Const superficial velocity
Const Stk (HP-rig fluid)
0.1
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Gas density[kg/m3]

Fig. 14. The figure shows how the superficial gas velocity changes with changing gas

density when the different scaling methods are used. The bases for all the curves

are a superficial gas velocity of 10 m/s at 1 kg/m3 gas density and 1.8×10−5 kg/ms

gas viscosity.

The first of the three strategies mentioned above are for the case where cyclone

efficiency is limited by the escape of small droplets below the cyclone’s cut size.

This is not the case in this present investigation and this strategy therefore

is not relevant here. It is, however, the relevant strategy in the majority of

34
demisting and dedusting cyclone technology applications and we are therefore

required to mention it for completeness of our discussion.

Keeping the K-value constant implies that the gas velocity should be lowered

with increasing pressure. However, the results in Figure 11 showed that the

performance data were not brought onto one line when plotting them against

the K-value. We may therefore infer that a better strategy in required. This

only confirms what we suspected, since scaling on basis of the K-value is

relevant for the settling of droplets against gravity, not for the separation of

inertial separation equipment.

The strategy of keeping the shear force, as given in Equation (8) constant

at increasing pressure is probably a better way of scaling since the efficiency

seems to be determined by re-entrainment rather then insufficient separation of

small droplets. However, the method outlined above only accounts for changes

in the gas density, while changes in the physical liquid properties in the liquid

film are not accounted for. The lower the density, viscosity and interfacial

tension of the liquid in the film, the easier the film would be expected to be

ruptured by a given shear force acting from the gas flowing above it. Hence,

a scaling method that accounts for both the changing shear force due to the

flow of the gas and the changing liquid film properties is required.

4.3 Total Scrubber Efficiency

The total scrubber efficiency for varying gas loads with 0.2 vol% liquid is shown

in Figure 15. All experiments show efficiencies higher than 85%. The trend is

that increasing operating pressure is accompanied by decreasing efficiency.

35
For instance, with natural gas at 92 bara, the liquid carry-over is an order

of magnitude larger than the carry-over at 20 bara, at the same K-value of

0.26 m/s.

100

95
Efficiency [%]

90

85

80
N2/Exxsol Natural gas
20 bar 20 bar
75 50 bar 50 bar
92 bar 92 bar

70
0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3

K-value [m/s]

Fig. 15. The total scrubber efficiency with 0.2 vol liquid concentration in inlet pipe

at varying gas loads

At low K-values (below mesh flooding velocities) the total scrubber efficiency

and the primary efficiency in Figure 7 are much the same. This shows that

the majority of the small droplets that penetrate the mesh pad also penetrate

the cyclones.

The total efficiency of this standard scrubber configuration with K = 0.15 m/s,

which is the maximum value recommended by the NORSOK-standard for this

type of scrubber, is shown in Figure 16. At this K-value the efficiency does not

depend significantly on liquid concentration. However, this behaviour should

not be extrapolated to liquid concentration levels higher than the tested range,

as other effects related to maximum liquid rate in cyclone deck can play an

important role. The efficiency at this K-value, is very influenced by the fact

that the operating conditions is near flooding conditions for the mesh pad.

36
Especially the low liquid concentrations in the figure are sensitive to small

changes in the process and this is probably the explanation for the spread

in the results for 92 bara nitrogen/Exxsol. At higher K-values the process

conditions are more stable.

At the most severe condition tested, K = 0.26 m/s, the total scrubber effi-

ciency was also more or less independent of the liquid loading, except for the

highest loading tested (1.0 vol%), which was probably due to the problems

with draining tube capacity mentioned before, rather than a real effect. The

efficiency was about 85%, which, together with the earlier mentioned primary

separation efficiency under the same conditions of about 1/3, shows that the

cyclones separate roughly 50% of the liquid under these conditions.

100

99

98

97
Efficiency [%]

96

95

94

93
N2/Exxsol Natural gas
92 20 bar 20 bar
50 bar 50 bar
91 92 bar 92 bar
90
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2

Liquid concentration [vol%]

Fig. 16. The total scrubber efficiency at the maximum K-value recommended by

the NORSOK-standard (K = 0.15 m/s)

37
5 Conclusions

The atypical behaviour of the natural gas system below mesh flooding in

Figure 7 is quite significant for scrubber design. Figure 5 and Tab. 3 show that

the interfacial tension of the natural gas system is considerably lower than that

of nitrogen/Exxsol at 92 bara. It is possible that a significant fraction of the

liquid is in the form of very fine droplets, below the mesh cut-size of 15 µm.

The results show that the Souders-Brown value is rather good in practise

for design of inlet vane and mesh pad, and confirm the design criterion of

K ≤ 0.15 m/s normally handled for scrubbers with these two types of inter-

nals. However, the results do show a significant difference in the separation

for the two types of liquids used, and also a significant influence of the pres-

sure (Figure 7). Furthermore, the K-value does not account for the effect of

liquid loading as indicated by both the efficiency and the pressure drop plots

(Figures 8 and 9).

The cyclones perform very differently at high pressure for the two fluids used,

even though they were both hydrocarbon-based. The data given in this paper

show that the interfacial tensions differ very widely between the two fluid sys-

tems at 92 bara pressure, they are around 16 mN/m for Exxsol and 2 mN/m

for natural gas. This may well account for much of the difference in perfor-

mance. We note that the surface tension of water is around 72 mN/m. Fig-

ures 10, 11 and 14 illustrate that scaling rules for cyclone design are at present

not sufficient.

38
Acknowledgement

Financial support from the Research Council of Norway through the HiPGaS

programme, and the industrial sponsors Statoil AS, ConocoPhillips, Norsk

Hydro AS, Vetco, FMC Kongsberg Subsea and Aker-Kværner is highly ap-

preciated.

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