Is the Souders–Brown equation sufficient for scrubber design? An experimental investigation at elevated pressure with hydrocarbon fluids

Scrubber design practice today is largely based on experimental data generated at ambient conditions with air–water systems. This paper reports experimental results for gas scrubber performance at pressures up to 92 bar using two types of hydrocarbon liquids: Exxsol D60 and a synthesized “live” natural gas condensate. The scrubber has a configuration very commonly used in industry with three types of internals in series: a vane inlet, a mesh pad and a cyclone deck. Results for the separation efficiency and the pressure drop of the internals separately and combined are shown graphically. The relevance of the Souders–Brown K-value, commonly used as scrubber design parameter, is elucidated both theoretically and in light of the results. The results show that the Souders–Brown value is rather good in practise for design of inlet vane and mesh pad, and that results for the two hydrocarbon systems agree reasonably, but also that better design rules are required for high-pressure separation of hydrocarbon liquids.