Offshore Dehydration: Shell (SSB) B-11, Malaysia

Up to a third of the world’s natural gas reserves contain high concentrations of sour gas, with the Middle East a region where such fields are prevalent. John Young, CEO, Twister BV, discusses a new technology that can help to make the development of sour gas fields safe and commercially viable.

Whether greenfield or brownfield, onshore or offshore, gas separation remains a complex but vital industrial process in the oil & gas value chain. Yet, three key challenges define gas separation today – safety, sustainability and economics.

Increased Demand & Increased Infrastructure Pressures. Whether greenfield or brownfield, onshore or offshore, gas separation remains a complex but vital industrial process in the oil & gas value chain, characterized by a number of current challenges.

Offshore oil and gas production facilities are becoming increasingly complex, particularly in regard to acid gas and sour field developments, EOR and LNG production. With advanced hydrocarbon recovery techniques and transportation, the need for optimized configurations and processing to minimize plot space and weight while still meeting project goals is vital.

The Twister™ Supersonic Separator is a unique combination of physical processes producing a completely revolutionary gas conditioning system. Condensation and separation at supersonic velocity is the key to achieving a significant reduction in both capital and operating costs.

The Twister™ Supersonic Separator efficiently condenses and separates water and hydrocarbons from natural gas in a chemical-free, environmentally-friendly, safe, compact process with minimal operating costs as no moving parts are required in the Twister tube.

Twister simultaneously condenses and separates water and hydrocarbons from natural gas by efficiently forcing the liquid droplets to the outer wall of the Twister tube and removing the dry stream in a simple pipe-in-pipe separator.

Twister recovers C3+ natural gas liquids. Twister expands much more deeply into the phase envelope than a turbo-expander and JT system for pipeline gas and thus recovers significantly more NGL than a turbo-expander and JT system when no hydrate inhibition chemicals are used.

Twister™ Supersonic Separator is a proven gas conditioning process. Condensation and separation at supersonic velocity is the key to achieving step change reductions in both capital and operating costs. Twister technology has no moving parts and does not require chemicals, ensuring a simple processing facility with a high availability, ideal for subsea gas processing.

The Twister™ Hydrate Separator is a green technology that can be used to separate hydrates and liquids from natural gas without using chemicals. Hydrates are melted using heating coils. Cyclonic separation ensures a compact and low-weight design with high separation efficiency. Operating benefits include the elimination of chemical logistics, storage, regeneration and environmental emission recovery systems.

Today, up to a third of the world’s natural gas reserves contain high concentrations of sour gas, with the Middle East a region where such fields are prevalent. In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), for example, which holds the world’s fifth largest gas reserves - approximately 214 trillion cubic feet – a large proportion is sour.

The increase in global oil and gas demand is pushing operators to constantly increase production from existing assets. Within these facilities, the separation of oil, water, gas and added chemicals plays a key role in meeting export gas specifications.