Gas compressor cleaning

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11224900-B2
Application number	US-201816478605-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 17, 2018
Priority date	Jan 17, 2017
Publication date	Jan 18, 2022
Grant date	Jan 18, 2022

Abstract

A method of cleaning deposited solid material from a fouled portion of a gas compressor whilst the gas compressor is in situ in a natural gas processing system is provided. The method comprises the steps of supplying a liquid cleaning agent to a gas inlet of the gas compressor, the liquid cleaning agent being capable of removing the deposited solid material; passing the liquid cleaning agent through the gas compressor to a gas outlet of the gas compressor, wherein at least a portion of the cleaning agent remains in a liquid state as it passes through the fouled portion of the gas compressor; and recovering a fluid containing removed material that is output from the gas compressor so as to prevent the removed material reaching one or more gas processing stages of the gas processing system downstream of the gas compressor.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of cleaning deposited solid material from a fouled portion of a gas compressor whilst the gas compressor is in situ in a natural gas processing system, the method comprising:
supplying a liquid cleaning agent to a gas inlet of the gas compressor, the liquid cleaning agent being capable of removing the deposited solid material;
passing the liquid cleaning agent through the gas compressor to a gas outlet of the gas compressor in order to remove deposited solid material from the compressor, wherein at least a portion of the cleaning agent remains in a liquid state as it passes through the fouled portion of the gas compressor; and
recovering a fluid output containing the removed deposited solid material from the gas compressor so as to prevent the removed deposited solid material reaching one or more gas processing stages of the natural gas processing system downstream of the gas compressor,
wherein recovering the fluid output from the compressor comprises supplying the fluid output from the gas outlet of the gas compressor to a separator that outputs a gas phase output and a liquid phase output, the liquid phase output comprising the removed deposited solid material output from the compressor,
wherein the separator is a second separator downstream of the gas compressor and separate from a first separator located upstream of the gas compressor, and
wherein, during a cleaning operation, the liquid phase output from the second separator is supplied to the gas inlet of the gas compressor.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the cleaning agent is a hydrocarbon liquid or other produced liquid from the natural gas processing system.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the liquid cleaning agent is mixed with a gas stream being supplied to the gas inlet of the gas compressor.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the gas processing system comprises a cooler located downstream of the gas compressor and upstream of the second separator that cools the fluid from the gas compressor causing liquid to condense.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first separator outputs a gas phase output and a liquid phase output, wherein the gas phase output is supplied to the gas compressor during normal operation of the gas processing system.

6. The method according to claim 5 , wherein the gas phase output from the second separator is not re-combined with the liquid phase output from the first separator during normal operation of the gas processing system.

Assignees

• Equinor Energy As

Inventors

• Brenne Lars
• Kibsgaard Svend Tarald
• Bjørge Tor
• Underbakke Harald

Classifications

• B08B9/00

  Cleaning hollow articles by methods or apparatus specially adapted thereto · CPC title

• B08B3/04

  Cleaning involving contact with liquid · CPC title

• F04D31/00

  Pumping liquids and elastic fluids at the same time · CPC title

• B08B9/02

  Cleaning pipes or tubes or systems of pipes or tubes (apparatus for cleaning metal pipes by chemical methods C23G3/04) · CPC title

• B08B3/02 Primary

  Cleaning by the force of jets or sprays · CPC title