Fouling Effects on Wet Gas Compressor Performance: An Experimental Investigation

Achieving profitability in mature areas such as the Norwegian continental shelf forces the oil and gas industry to apply innovative solutions to increase oil recovery and to reduce both operational and investment costs. Wet gas compressors are promising machines for increasing oil recovery from existing fields and to allow for production from small satellite fields in the proximity of existing infrastructure. A prerequisite for successful implementation of subsea wet gas compressors high reliability. Knowledge of possible failure modes is important. The effect of performance degradation due to fouling has been observed during wet gas compressor testing at K-Lab and has initiated further work to better understand and quantify the effects of fouling in wet conditions compared to dry conditions. A test campaign was conducted at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) to investigate the effect of fouled centrifugal compressor performance in both wet and dry conditions. The results documenting these effects are presented together with a proposed model for correcting the effects of fouling between dry and wet conditions.