Comparative Analysis of Natural Gas Purification Efficiency for Low Degree of Expansion Using a Throttle and a High-Flow Three-Flow Vortex Tube.

The main application of high-flow Ranque–Hilsch three-flow vortex tubes (TVT) is the low-temperature separation (LTS) of natural gas with vortex tubes used as cold generators and direct separators. In this study, we compare the purification efficiencies of TVT and the throttle at the LTS unit used at the Beregovoye field characterized by a low degree of gas expansion (pressure drop from 85 bar to 60 bar). We observed that the gas temperature and its dew point temperature was lower for TVT compared to that for the throttle used at the LTS. Moreover, use of TVT increased the degree of gas purification even at low degrees of gas expansion. This ensured the implementation of Gazprom Company standard 089–2010 for the summer conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]