METHOD OF CLEANING GASES FROM FINELY-DISPERSED DROPPING LIQUID AND SOLID AEROSOL PARTICLES Russian patent published in 2003 - IPC

FIELD: oil and gas production industry; cleaning compressed gases and air at compressor stations and in natural and petroleum associated gas preparation systems. SUBSTANCE: proposed method consists in successive short-term regeneration of parallel filter element stacks and simultaneous continuous cleaning of gases during continuous operation of pipe lines including stoppage for maintenance jobs not concerning gas cleaning process; gas flow is passed through filter element stacks operating in parallel; filter elements are made from lyophilic multi-layer material; in performing this procedure solid aerosol particles and finely- dispersed drops are entrapped and coalescence of drops takes place on frontal surface of finely-dispersed layer applied on coarse-porous layer of multi-layer filter material with no breaks in structure at drag velocity of U = Q/S = 30-300 cm/s and ratio of gas velocity along coarse-porous surface at filter element outlet V to drag rate of gas cleaning V/U≤25, where Q is volumetric flow rate of gas and S is geometric area of frontal surface of filter element stack; entrapped liquid is continuously removed to rear (relative to flow) outer surface of coarse-dispersed layer followed by its flowing to drainage system; proposed method includes recording of gas-dynamic resistance of filter element stacks and regeneration of filter elements. When gas-dynamic resistance of filter element stack increases to ΔP = (0,05-0,5)•P_f, where P_f is internal pressure of mechanical break of filter element, filter element is subjected to regeneration for cleaning it from solid particles and drops of viscous liquid settled on frontal surface and in finely-dispersed layer by return pumping of entrapped, filtered and/or prepared preliminarily liquid through pores of filter elements; liquid is fed from drainage systems to inner cavities of filter elements; during regeneration gas flow is shut off; regeneration is effected successively for all filter elements. In case of insufficient degree of regeneration, return pumping of liquid is perform at two stages at varying pressure and regenerating time in various ranges. To enhance efficiency of regeneration of filter elements, liquid for return pumping is preliminarily heated to temperature below its boiling point or decomposition point. Besides, ionogenic and/or non-ionogenic surfactants are added at concentration of 5%. EFFECT: enhanced efficiency. 4 cl, 1 dwg