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Solutions for gas production

Each gas production plant has unique challenges based on its location and the properties of the gas to be processed. With decades of global experience and an often game-changing breadth of solutions, Alfa Laval is uniquely prepared to help meet these.

In applications such as gas compression, fractionation and treatment, it’s the mix of our solutions that is our strength. With many strong technologies to draw from, we can develop the optimal and most cost-effective solution for virtually any process – whether it’s land-based or offshore.

Alfa Laval’s dependable systems, deep experience and demonstrated engineering know-how are instrumental in this context. In settings where so much is at stake, it is so important to have a dependable and proven partner.

Broad, reliable application portfolio

Alfa Laval’s solutions for smarter gas production can be found in nearly every process step, land-based and offshore, offering ways to increase safety, reliability and profitability.

Here is a brief look at our offering:

Gas wellhead compression

At the wellhead, compression skids are often used to bring natural gas to the required pipeline pressure. Transportable and unmanned, the skids call for robust, purpose-built equipment that secures high performance within a compact skid. Alfa Laval ACE air-cooled heat exchangers are versatile and compact cooling solutions, developed with harsh applications like wellhead compression in mind. With a finned-tube technology that withstands high temperatures and pressures, they can be flexibly configured and engineered for a truly customized approach.

Gas compression

For demanding gas compression processes, Alfa Laval is the only vendor with a full portfolio of compression technologies. These allow robust, cost-effective solutions adapted to the pressures, cooling medium and maintenance needs.

On land, optimized solutions usually involve Alfa Laval ACE, Olmi and Niagara air-cooled heat exchangers. Offshore applications may involve Alfa Laval printed circuit heat exchangers (PCHE), Alfa Laval Olmi shell-and-tube heat exchangers, or our extremely robust welded plate-and-shell heat exchangers, Alfa Laval DuroCore and DuroShell.

For the first step in the compression train, many customers use our semi-welded plate heat exchangers.

Gas pipeline compression

Located at regular distances, the unmanned compression stations that secure pressure in a gas pipeline must operate reliably with minimal maintenance. Dependable cooling is provided by our Alfa Laval ACE, Niagara and Olmi air-cooled heat exchangers, as well as by our extremely robust welded plate-and-shell heat exchanger Alfa Laval DuroShell. With our maintenance-free filter, we can remove free liquids or particles before the gas enters the compressors.

Separation and stabilization

As well stream components are isolated, detrimental contaminants must be removed from the condensate before reaching downstream equipment. Along the way are opportunities to recover energy and to design an overall process with minimal footprint and fouling.

Alfa Laval offers a range of high-efficiency gasketed plate heat exchangers as well as other reliable equipment for this process. Alfa Laval OF disc-stack separators can be used to separate by means of centrifugal force, ensuring the removal of water and all contaminants.

Gas treatment

Gas sweetening is often a challenge, especially under sour and lethal service conditions. Alfa Laval contributes to the engineering of robust, maintainable AGRUs and SRUs with an optimal cost of ownership.

Our thermal solutions for gas treatment duties range from air-cooled heat exchangers and wet surface air coolers to plate-based heat exchangers in gasketed, semi-welded, welded and fusion-bonded designs. Chief among them is Alfa Laval Compabloc, which has become the industry standard for gas sweetening duties.

NGL fractionation

Distilling NGL into pure components with high value greatly increases potential revenues. The fractionation process itself, however, can be difficult to build and operate in an economical manner.

Alfa Laval provides a comprehensive range of thermal solutions for cost-effective fractionation, including gasketed plate heat exchangers and welded heat exchangers in both openable and non-openable configurations. For fractionation on land, air-cooled solutions like our Alfa Laval Niagara wet surface air coolers offer exceptional efficiency and operating flexibility.

MEG regeneration

Removing the water and contaminants absorbed by MEG in subsea pipes can be difficult to do in a compact manner, especially when uptime is in focus. Alfa Laval provides space-saving vaporization and separation capabilities that ensure reliability under varied conditions. Relevant thermal solutions include Alfa Laval Compabloc, but especially our welded spiral heat exchangers, whose inherent self-cleaning properties secure uptime in fouling liquid duties. Alfa Laval OF centrifugal separators complete the chain, ensuring thorough solids removal for high-purity MEG.

Regasification

After dramatic cooling for sea transport, LNG requires controlled heating at the receiving end to vaporize it for pipeline distribution. Alfa Laval provides a wide range of gasketed plate heat exchangers to support this process as well as more advanced technology.

Regasification often occurs offshore, creating extreme demands for compactness and durability. In these cases, the Alfa Laval printed circuit heat exchanger (PCHE) is superior, offering a footprint far smaller than that of shell-and-tube constructions.

Chemicals handling

As offshore development projects move to deeper and more remote areas, hull tanks are increasingly used to store chemicals for process and flow assurance. Framo submerged cargo pumps are an ideal solution for lifting these chemicals to topside processes.

Besides handling any chemical, the pumps can handle any variation of specific weight or viscosity. The chemical pumping system can be combined with a Framo offloading system, or installed with its own separate hydraulic power system. All Framo cargo pumping systems undergo full-scale testing prior to delivery to ensure easy installation during commissioning.

Tank cleaning

Regular use of Alfa Laval Gunclean Toftejorg high impact tank cleaning machines is recommended to clean areas around the pumps and to avoid corrosion caused by sediments in storage tanks for slop and condensate. These tank cleaning machines are developed to meet the toughest tank cleaning requirements using minimal cleaning media.