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For questions regarding incorrect/outdated entries or suggestion for adding additional terms, please contact Martin Erne
A vessel or equipment used to heat or expand a liquid into its vapor phase.
The refrigeration exchanger is sometimes referred to as an evaporator.
The cooling obtained from the expansion of a gas. See "Joule-Thompson".
Expansion refrigeration is used to cool a gas when a pressure drop is required by the process.
A centrifugal axial flow device through which a high pressure gas's volume is increased to produce work from the pressure, energy, gas, or steam.
Expansion turbines are commonly referred to as "Turboexpanders".
The process of separating one material from another using effort or force.
The extraction of hydrocarbons from underground resevoirs is considered the upstream sector of the oil & gas industry.
A vessel from which a stream is batched or continuously fed for further processing.
Feed tanks are commonly found at the front end of fractionation plants to stabilize the feed stream to process.
Equipment through which a stream passes before the fluid reaches a plant or sales point.
Field processing units may be separator systems, adsorption units, dehydration units, etc.
The temperature at which half of a material has distilled during an ASTM D-86 distillation test.
Also referred to as mid-boiling point.
A pipe having an extended external surface to increase the contact area with outside fluid.
Fin-tubes aid with the heat exchange process.
The max temperature at which compounds in a mixture evaporate during distillation.
The final boiling point is one of the six criteria to meet the Texas Railroad Commission well classification requirements.
A furnace in which natural gas or other fuel is burned to provide energy in the form of heat.
Fired heaters are important to refineries and petrochemical plants because they heat and vaporize hydrocarbon fluids to create necessities like gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel.
Capable of being ignited.
Most hydrocarbons are flammable.
Hydrocarbons in a vapor phase that are burned for the purpose of disposal.
A process upset in the plant caused an increase in flare gas.
The lowest temperature at which vapors from a liquid will ignite.
It is important to be aware of the flash point identified on the MSDS for evaluating safety precautions in an area where flammable materials are used.
A vessel used for liberating the gas out of a liquid product.
Flash tanks are used to further stabilize the liquid product.
The liberation of gas from liquids due to changes in pressure and/or temperature.
Flashing occurred when the liquid was discharged from the final stage of separation to storage tanks.
Water borne production facilities where natural gas is converted into liquid hydrocarbons to form a more practical means for storage or transport.
Floating LNG (FLNG) production processing and storage ships offer a way to develop offshore natural gas on the open sea. These facilities extract, process, liquefy, and store gas from the seabed. The vessels also offload the materials to a tanker and are taken to the market.
An overload condition of a process column or vessel which is characterized by excessive buildup of liquids.
Flooding in a tray tower of a distillation column can lead to lower efficiency and the separation performance is decreased dramatically.
A means of improving oil recovery by introduction of a fluid to build reservoir pressure.
Carbon dioxide or water can be used in reservoir flooding to improve the oil recovery. This is a means of secondary recovery.
Gas initially produced from an underground reservoir.
The reservoir had a low ratio of formation gas to condensate.
A factor used in heat transfer calculations that represents the resistance to the flow of heat caused by buildup of a foreign substance in the flowing fluids.
A fouling factor was applied to correct the reading of the thermal mass meter affected by buildup.
Difference in value of natural gas liquid products as a liquid and as fuel value in natural gas. These are used to determine optimum recoveries in a gas plant.
Frac spread is driven by current commodity values.
The process used to describe separation of hydrocarbon components into two or more products through distillation.
Fractionation is required because produced natural gas normally contains associated natural gas liquids.
The plant where the fractionation process is performed.
The fractionation facilities were just recently refurbished to handle the richer natural gas streams being processed.
The column that separates hydrocarbon components into two or more products through the distillation process.
A new fractionator was installed as part of the overall plant upgrade.
A specially constructed and calibrated valve designed and used solely for determining the water content in the propane product. See ASTM D-2713.
The propane product was within specifications as indicated by the freeze valve test.
