Analysis Of Element Sulfur Deposition In Gathering And Transportation System On Sour Gas

As the world’s energy consumption is becoming more and more, natural gas is moreand more used in industrial fields because it is a clean, high efficiency and useful energy. Inrecent years, we have exploited some gas reservoirs of high H2S content.The elemental sulfur precipitated in the mining process, enter along with the natural gas anddeposit in the gathering system, which will eventually block and even damage the surfacegathering pipeline equipment.To explore the law of sulfur deposition in gathering and transportation system on sourgas, this paper has developed a procedure to calculate the thermodynamic properties ofnatural gas. On this basis, the calculation of the elemental sulfur vapor fugacity coefficienthas been completed. The saturated solubility value of the sulfur in sour gas has beenobtained under a certain pressure and temperature conditions. The relationship betweensaturated sulfur content of sour natural gas and the pressure and temperature determine theposition in which the pressure and temperature conditions that the sulfur could deposit.Sulfur particles precipitated from sour gas grow by continuous Brownian coagulationcollision. In this paper, the particle size distribution of sulfur has been studied.Elemental sulfur will not immediately deposit after precipitating from sour natural gas.After a period of time, the sulfur may deposit only in certain equipment in the gathering andtransportation system. Therefore, the simulation of gas and solid phase flowing has beenperformed to simulate the sulfur particle trajectory in three different bends in gathering gasstation. The three bends are upstream flat bend，horizontal upward bend and anti-Z-bend.The impacts on sulfur deposition rate are analyzed with elements as pressure, temperature,particle diameter and velocity.