Slug Catcher is the name of a unit in the

gas refinery or petroleum industry in which slugs at the

outlet of pipelines are collected or caught. A slug is a
large quantity of gas or liquid that exits the pipeline.

Slugs
Pipelines that transport both gas and liquids together,
known as two-phase flow, can operate in a flow regime
known as slugging flow or slug flow. Under the influence
of gravity liquids will tend to settle on the bottom of the
pipeline, while the gases occupy the top section of the
pipeline. Under certain operating conditions gas and
liquid are not evenly distributed throughout the pipeline,
but travel as large plugs with mostly liquids or mostly
gases through the pipeline. These large plugs are called
slugs.
Slugs exiting the pipeline can overload the gas/liquid
handling capacity of the plant at the pipeline outlet, as
they are often produced at a much larger rate than the
equipment is designed for.
Slugs can be generated by different mechanisms in a
pipeline:

Terrain slugging is caused by the elevations in the

pipeline, which follows the ground elevation or the sea
bed. Liquid can accumulate at a low point of the
pipeline until sufficient pressure builds up behind it.
Once the liquid is pushed out of the low point, it can
form a slug.
Hydrodynamic slugging is caused by gas flowing at
a fast rate over a slower flowing liquid phase. The gas
will form waves on the liquid surface, which may grow

to bridge the whole cross-section of the line. This

creates a blockage on the gas flow, which travels as a
slug through the line.
Riser-based slugging, also known as severe
slugging, is associated with the pipeline risers often
found in offshore oil production facilities. Liquids
accumulate at the bottom of the riser until sufficient
pressure is generated behind it to push the liquids
over the top of the riser, overcoming the static head.
Behind this slug of liquid follows a slug of gas, until
sufficient liquids have accumulated at the bottom to
form a new liquid slug.
Pigging slugs are caused by pigging operations in
the pipeline. The pig is designed to push all or most of
the liquids contents of the pipeline to the outlet. This
intentionally creates a liquid slug.
Slugs formed by terrain slugging, hydrodynamic slugging
or riser-based slugging are periodical in nature. Whether
a slug is able to reach the outlet of the pipeline depends
on the rate at which liquids are added to the slug at the
front (i.e. in the direction of flow) and the rate at which
liquids leave the slug at the back. Some slugs will grow
as they travel the pipeline, while others are damped and
disappear before reaching the outlet of the pipeline.

Purpose of the slug catcher

A slug catcher is a vessel with sufficient buffer volume to
store the largest slugs expected from the upstream
system. The slug catcher is located between the outlet of
the pipeline and the processing equipment. The buffered
liquids can be drained to the processing equipment at a
much slower rate to prevent overloading the system. As

slugs are a periodical phenomenon, the slug catcher

should be emptied before the next slug arrives
Slug catchers can be used continuously or on-demand.
A slug catcher permanently connected to the pipeline will
buffer all production, including the slugs, before it is sent
to the gas and liquid handling facilities. This is used for
difficult to predict slugging behaviour found in terrain
slugging, hydrodynamic slugging or riser-based
slugging. Alternatively, the slug catcher can be bypassed
in normal operation and be brought online when a slug is
expected, usually during pigging operations. An
advantage of this set-up is that inspection and
maintenance on the slug catcher can be done without
interrupting the normal operation.

Slug catcher design

Slug catchers are designed in different forms,

A vessel type slug catcher is essentially a

conventional vessel. This type is simple in design and
maintenance.
A finger type slug catcher consists of several long
pieces of pipe ('fingers'), which together form the
buffer volume. The advantage of this type of slug
catcher is that pipe segments are simpler to design for
high pressures, which are often encountered in
pipeline systems, than a large vessel. A disadvantage
is that its footprint can become excessively large. An
example of a large finger-type slugcatcher can be
seen in Den Helder, The Netherlands, using Google
Maps.
A Parking Loop slug catcher combines features of
the vessel and finger types. The Gas/Liquid

Separation occurs in the Vessel, while the Liquid is

stored in the parking loop shaped fingers.
A basic slug catcher design contains the buffer volume
for gas and liquid. A control system is used for controlled
outflow of gas and liquid to the downstream processing
facilities. The inlet section is designed to promote the
separation of gas and liquids.