Installation of a Deliquidiser onto BP ETAP

D. Stanbridge1, T. Hendriks1, S. Elkington2

1
2

CDS Engineering, Arnhem, The Netherlands

BP, Aberdeen, Scotland

Introduction
In May of 2003 an inline Deliquidser was installed into the process train on BP ETAP. The Deliquidser is a
new cyclonic inline technology that has been jointly developed by Statoil and CDS Engineering. Within the
ETAP process the Deliquidiser was installed upstream of the HP Gas Cooler Discharge Drum, V33301, as
this vessel was carrying over condensate to the downstream Glycol Contactor, V34001. This was known
since the condensate skimming connection installed on V34001 was constantly open. This condensate
carryover has caused numerous problems with Glycol Contactor and Glycol regeneration operation. The
financial consequences of these problems are shown below.
Glycol Losses - 28,000 (over six months)
Glycol filter changes - 11,448 (over six months)
Poor operation of Glycol system - restriction in daily Production of 30 MMSCFD at 2734.3 per MMSCF
(average Q1 gas price for 2002) costs 82,029/day. (N.B. Oil losses have not been included If gas is
not realised the oil will not be recovered also.)
In order to resolve this problem two solutions were looked at. The first was the more conventional approach
of a vessel upgrade. In this way new internals would have been installed into the existing HP Gas Cooler
Discharge Drum, V33301. However after carrying out a performance study of this vessel it was determined
that even with new internals the vessel would still carryover a substantial amount of liquid to the downstream
Glycol Contactor. The reason for this is that a very high liquid load is present at the inlet of the scrubber. With
an associated high gas flow and the relatively small diameter of the vessel high vertical gas velocities would
exist. This high gas velocity will lead to a large amount of the incoming liquid to travel up the vessel with the
result that the mist elimination equipment would become overloaded. The predicted liquid carryover from the
vessel for all the options is shown below on Graph 1.
Carryover vs V33301 Solutions

160.0

Carryover (USG/MMSCF)

140.0
120.0
100.0
80.0

60.0
40.0
20.0
0.0

Carryover

Graph 1

Existing Internals

Proposed Internals

Deliquidiser

151.0

12.0

0.5

The carryover stated for

the Existing Internals
is that calculated at 420
MMSCFD. At the design
rate of 554 MMSCFD
the anticipated
carryover is much
higher.
The carryover for the
two proposed solutions
is calculated at the
design rate of 554
MMSCFD.

Additional drawbacks to the traditional approach are as follows.

The risks involved in completing this work are higher because it involves confined space entry
A lengthy production outage would be required to prepare the scrubber execute the modifications
and complete re-instatement testing.
The design would need to meet the stringent vessel codes, increasing the design costs.

The traditional approach moreover does not guarantee success. A similar approach was attempted in 1999
and was unsuccessful.
The Deliquidiser is installed into the inlet piping upstream of the vessel. In this case its purpose is to remove
the bulk of the liquid in the feed stream before it enters the vessel. The unit was designed to operate at 62
barg with a gas flow of 554 MMSCFD (566753 kg/hr) at a density of 62.43 kg/m. The corresponding
hydrocarbon condensate flow was 52 m/hr at a density of 564 kg/m. In addition there was an extra 4.9m/hr
of water at a density of 997 kg/m. The downstream vessel has an internal diameter of 1780 mm that leads to
a design gas load factor of 0.358 m/s.

Description
Figure 2 shows the Deliquidiser installed on BP ETAP. It was fabricated from 20 Schedule 40 pipe and was
designed in accordance with ASME B31.3.

Deliquidser

Gas recycle line

Liquid collection boot

Figure 2

Figure 3 shows more details of the liquid outlet piping that was routed from the Deliquidiser to the vessel. It
should be noted that due to the lack of suitable nozzles on the V-33301 vessel a new manway cover was
supplied with a nozzle welded into it. It is through this new nozzle that the liquids from the Deliquidser enter
the V33301 vessel.

HP Gas Cooler
Discharge Drum
(V-33301)

Deliquidiser

Liquid bypass line

4 connection to
manway

Main liquid
drainline

Figure 3
The Deliquidiser technology offered many advantages.

The installation eliminated the need for vessel entry and the associated personnel exposure to
hazard offering intrinsic safety inline with BPs drive for safer behaviour.
The installation could be incorporated within the annual shutdown without requiring additional
production deferment. The technology would be installed in the upstream pipe work thus eliminating
the need for vessel modifications.
The design would be to piping rather than vessel codes reducing the design cost.
The modification could be easily reversed if unsuccessful.

The use of the Deliquidiser technology on ETAP is only the second application worldwide and is a first for BP
and the UKCS. Like all technological advances there was some initial resistance from the management
team to the creative approach. The technology had been offered to BP for use in similar circumstances in
the past but previously the decision had always been in favour of the traditional approach. The project team
recognised the distinct advantages that the new technology offered and built a cohesive argument in support

of the creative solution.

shutdown.

Project approval was subsequently received for installation in the May 2003

Figure 4 shows a schematic sketch of the deliquidiser. The liquid laden gas stream enters from the left. If
necessary a mixer element (1) is installed to ensure that the flow that enters the deliquidiser unit is
homogeneous. A stationary swirl element (2) causes a liquid film to form on the wall of the Deliquidiser (3).
Downstream of the swirl element is an annular outlet section that is formed by a smaller diameter pipe (4)
within the larger diameter outer pipe. The liquid film enters the annular space formed by the two pipes and
drops into the liquid collection boot (5) for removal. It is through this smaller diameter pipe (4) that the gas is
removed. To aid in the liquid removal, a small amount of gas flows into the liquid boot. This gas is then
recycled back into the main flow through the swirl element via the external gas recycle line (6). This gas
recycle loop is made possible because the static pressure within the liquid collection boot is higher than that
found at the swirl element. The gas that leaves the Deliquidiser through the pipe (4) is still spinning and to
ensure that this spin does not have a negative effect on the downstream equipment an anti-swirl element (7)
is fitted. In addition as the gas pipe (4) has a smaller diameter than the main pipe an expander cone (8) is
fitted to ensure that the gas becomes equally distributed over the pipe diameter. To handle wide flow
variations and/or slugging, control valves (9) are installed within the external gas recycle line and the outlet
from the liquid collection boot.

5
9

Figure 4

Control Philosophy
Figure 5 illustrates the ETAP Deliquidiser installation (M33301) upstream of the HP Gas Cooler Discharge
Drum (V33301). As described above the separated liquid in the Deliquidiser is drained to the liquid boot. This
boot is connected to the HP Gas Cooler Discharge Drum by a main liquid drain line and a bypass line. The
liquid line is connected to a 4 nozzle at the manway of the downstream vessel. On the inside of the manway
a 4 to 6 expander is present that reduces the incoming fluid velocity in the vessel.

The purpose of the control valve in the liquid line is to balance the liquid side pressure drop with the gas side
pressure drop of the Deliquidiser. The control source is the level transmitter fitted to the liquid collection boot
of the Deliquidiser.
Should the incoming liquid to gas ratio change then this valve will compensate for it accordingly. It is in this
way that a constant liquid level is maintained in the liquid collection boot of the Deliquidiser. To elaborate on
this a little further the gas side of the Deliquidiser has a certain pressure drop. The purpose of the control
valve is to ensure that the liquid side has an equivalent pressure drop. If the valve was not installed then the
gas side pressure drop would become a lot higher than the liquid side pressure drop and therefore a lot of
gas will go out with the liquid from the Deliquidiser. This would either lead to severe disruption of the liquid
level in the downstream vessel and / or choke the control valve located in this liquid line.

Figure 5

Performance of the Deliquidiser

The following list summarise the performance improvements that were seen after the installation of the
Deliquidiser.

The water dewpoint of the gas has reduced from -20C to -52C. This is shown in the performance chart
included below (Ref: Chart 6). The reason for this is that since there is less entrained condensate
present in the gas stream, the mass transfer efficiency is higher.
Glycol Dehydration system efficiency has gone from 26% to 97%. This efficiency is calculated by looking
at how often the gas water dewpoint has been in specification prior to as compared to after the
installation.
The glycol regeneration system was topped up every month with the normal usage being calculated at
th
approximately 20 tonnes per month. The system has only been topped up once since start-up on 28
May and therefore the system needs to be monitored for a couple of months to see if there is any
improvement to the glycol losses.
The lean and rich glycol filters in the glycol regeneration system used to be changed out every 3 weeks.
To date this level of usage has not been seen but again the system needs to be monitored for a few
more months in order to check that this is a consistent result.

An interesting point to note from the performance chart below is that it is preferable not to use dP cells for the
control of the liquid level in the liquid collection boot. The reason for this is twofold in that the rotation of the
fluids inside of the body of the Deliquidiser and pressure pulsations in the system can affect the reference
pressure in the liquid collection boot. From the outset of the project it was intended to install a float type
transmitter on the liquid collection boot but this was not delivered in time for the platform shutdown and
therefore a temporary dP transmitter arrangement was installed in its place. It is intended to install the float
type transmitter at a later date.
Deliquidiser Operation

CDS Deliquidiser installed on ETAP in May

2003 S/D. System restarted on 28/05/03.

100

80

60

40

Deliquidiser boot level now in

automatic control. But current level
instrument sees pressure variations.

20

Deliquidiser installed and Gas export dewpoint is now well

within CATS specification. System is currently operating at
a Gas export dewpoint of 52oC.

-20

-40

-60
01/05/2003 00:00:00
Stn. Moisture Dewpoint T

Chart 6

81.43 Day(s)
HP KNOCK OUT M-33301

21/07/2003 10:26:19

TI 360043E
-51.61914
DEG C
LT 333009
40.38965
%