Definitions of words and terms used in the gas processing industry.
For questions regarding incorrect/outdated entries or suggestion for adding additional terms, please contact Martin Erne
The oil leaving the bottom of an absorber in lean oil processing plants.
Rich oil is the lean oil plus all the absorbed constituents.
A gauge that consists of a graduated glass tube containing a free float for measuring the flow of a fluid.
The rotameter was replaced with a digital flow meter in the latest model of the analyzer.
Gas which meets the specifications of the contract.
Water had to be removed from the wellhead gas to qualify it as sales gas.
The collection of a representative portion of a flowing stream for subsequent analysis to determine product quality.
GPA provides multiple options for properly sampling a natural gas stream.
A system which is located some distance from the plant for which performs a processing function.
Absorber or compressor systems are the more common examples of satellite systems.
Hydrocarbon compounds having essentially no unsaturated carbon valence bonds.
Most natural gas and natural gas liquids are comprised of saturated compounds.
Liquid which is at its boiling point or is in equilibrium with a vapor phase in its containing vessel.
As the pressure of saturated liquid is reduced, vapors are liberated.
Vapor at its dew point.
As the saturated vapor is cooled, liquids condense out.
A vessel with or without internals used to separate entrained liquids or solids from gas.
A scrubber may be used to protect downstream rotating equipment or to recover valuable liquids from a gas or vapor stream.
A vessel utilizing mechanical and/or thermal means of separating a stream containing two or more phases.
The separator is considered two-phase if gas is separated from liquid and three-phase if the liquid is further separated into an aqueous phase and hydrocarbon phase
A membrane used to separate two fluids.
The syringe penetrates the septum, and the sample is injected into the GC inlet, keeping the air from contaminating the sample.
An adsorption process which has adsorption cycles of relatively short duration.
A short-cycle unit is sometimes referred to as a "fast-cycle unit" or "quick-cycle unit".
(1) The reduction in volume and/or heating value of a gas stream due to removal of some of its constituents. (2) The reduction in volume of a liquid stream due to removal of or non-ideal mixing of some of its constituents. (3)The reduction in volume when two or more compounds of varying or different sizes are mixed.
Sometimes shrinkage can be referred to as the unaccounted loss of products from storage tanks.
Cessation of flow caused by upset conditions or human intervention.
The shut-in of a well, plant, pump, etc., occurs when either inlet or outlet valves are closed.
A tray with perforations in a fractionation column.
Sieve trays are the most economical, but least efficient, trays for fractionation.
Cycle using various components, such as nitrogen, ethylene, methane, propane, butanes and/or i-pentane in place of the pure hydrocarbon refrigerants utilized in the discrete cooling steps of a cascade refrigerant cycle1.
The SMR cycle is simpler and more efficient than the cascade cycle, and it can operate at lower pressures and temperatures. The SMR cycle is widely used for small-scale LNG plants with capacities between 50,000 gallons per day (gpd) and 500,000 gpd of LNG
A term rather loosely used to denote mixtures of oil produced at various places in the plant which must be rerun or further processed to be suitable for use.
The slop oil is recycled through the process to make it merchantable.
Gas which originates from the liquid phase in the oil reservoir.
The solution gas is formed as the oil pressure is reduced or oil temperature increased.
Gas containing an appreciable quantity of hydrogen sulfide and/or sulfur compounds.
Liquids can also be classified as "sour", such as off-spec propane, however the most common product to be defined as sour is natural gas.
See relative density.
Relative density is the preferred term.
Moisture not formed by the combustion reaction that is present due to humidity in the gas or air feeding the combustion.
Spectator water does not contribute to the gross heating value.
A name applied to fractionators, particularly those separating isomers.
The butane splitter tower pressure was decreased to lower the reboiler temperature to separate butane and isobutane.
A mixture of hydrocarbons that have undergone a change in phase from vapor to liquid due to changes in temperature and pressure, where the vapor pressure is less than a defined value.
The stabilized condensate is often sold at the truck loading station.
A name for a fractionation system that reduces the vapor pressure of a liquid product so that the resulting liquid is less volatile.
The temperature of the stabilizer reboiler was raised to lower the vapor pressure of the product.
The vertical chimney-like installation that is the waste disposal system for unwanted vapor streams.
The stack gas is continuously monitored for H2S.
