Safe, sustainable gas processing at a fraction of the cost
Twister delivers reliable, high-yield separation solutions that are changing the natural gas processing landscape and providing a commercially viable, safer and more sustainable alternative to traditional separation systems. Twister technologies cover Dehydration, Hydrocarbon Dewpointing and Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) recovery - all from the same unit.
Twister™ Supersonic SeparatorA unique and innovative gas processing technology
The Twister Supersonic Separator is a robust, compact and revolutionary gas conditioning solution characterized by condensation and separation taking place at supersonic velocity. The unique combination of physical processes, aerodynamics, thermodynamics and fluid dynamics enable the Supersonic Separator to stand out as a true ‘game changer’, effectively condensing and separating water and heavy hydrocarbons from natural gas, and delivering significant reductions in both capital and operating costs.
Challenges solved:
Economics
Safety
Sustainability
Operational flexibility
Applications used in:
Offshore Gas Dehydration & Dewpointing
Onshore Gas Dehydration & Dewpointing
Offshore (Sweet) Gas Dehydration
Offshore Light Oil/Condensate Stripping with Gas Reinjection
Offshore Sour Gas Dehydration
- Effective application in sour gas
- No hydrate formation
- No emissions
- Compact and enclosed
- Simple / no rotating parts
- Reduced plot space
- Reduced maintenance
- Low cost infrastructure
- High availability
- Instantaneous start up
How it works
The Twister™ Supersonic Separator improves the HC dew pointing performance of existing JT-LTS plants
Efficiency
With the same pressure drop, the near-isentropic expansion achieves a much deeper cooling compared to a conventional JT process, generating higher NGL recovery and revenues.
Simplicity
Without the need for chemical regeneration, a single Twister Supersonic Separator will typically process 30 MMSCFD, simultaneously achieving required water and hydrocarbon dewpoints.
Reliability
Without moving parts virtually no maintenance is required during years of operation, ensuring unmatched system availability.
Safety
The Twister Supersonic Separator is categorized as piping. The small closed volume minimises the hydrocarbon inventory and, in the case of sour gas processing, H2S volumes.
Profitability
Higher NGL recovery generates more revenues. The low weight and compact design requires less plot space, allowing for smaller, more cost effective offshore structures.
The Twister Supersonic Separator inlet with saturated gas
Multiple static inlet guide vanes deflect the incoming gas and generate a concentric swirling flow, preparing the gas for high efficiency separation.
The flow is accelerated in a Laval nozzle in a near isentropic expansion to a high velocity. At the same time the radial contraction of the innerbody dramatically increases the circumferential velocity creating centrifugal forces up to 500,000g. The robust design ensures there are no vibration or noise issues.
The pressure and temperature decrease in the near-isentropic expansion, results in dropwise condensation of hydrocarbons and water. Due to the high centrifugal forces these droplets are moved to the wall. The high velocity results in a residence time, too short to form hydrates. This process ensures separation efficiencies unmatched in other static separation devices.
The liquid consisting of water and hydrocarbons are removed from the gas using a co-axial separator, the vortex finder.
The secondary outlet of the Twister Supersonic Separator with the segragated liquids and slip gas. This mixture is fed to a compact liquid de-gassing vessel (Twister’s proprietary Hydrate Separator) after which the gas is recombined with the dry gas stream from the primary outlet at the same pressure.
The high speed separated streams are slowed down in separate diffusers, recovering 80-85% of the remaining free pressure.
The primary outlet of the Twister Supersonic Separator with the processed dry gas stream.