LNG plants receive natural gas, remove impurities and cryogenically liquefy it prior to transporting the gas to locations separated by great distances. During this process, the natural gas is first sweetened with an amine absorber to remove acidity and then dehydrated with a molecular sieve system (e.g. desiccant dehydration or glycol dehydration) to remove any excess liquids prior to the refrigeration and compression process. In order to protect the integrity and performance of processing equipment, the installation of safe, reliable and easy to maintain filter separators is critical to this process.

Operating instabilities at either stage can easily lead to lost production and substantial operating and environmental costs due to the following:

• The fouling, or the accumulation of unwanted material on solid surfaces, of inlet gas prior to reaching the amine system
• The introduction of hydrocarbon liquids into the amine contactor, reducing the surface tension of the aqueous solution, which in turn creates gas bubbles (foaming) in the amine solution
• Damage to rotating equipment (e.g. compressors)