2012 Universal Vortex, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

UVI logo is used with permission

Gasficient Consulting Services is a representative ofUniversal Vortex, Inc. (UVI) (establishedin1996).UVI isan engineering
and manufacturing company that offers patented proprietary products and technology that provide the natural gas industry
with thermal and natural gas liquid (NGL) recovery solutions. These innovative solutions not only improve the security of
naturalgassupplytheyalsoprovideenergysavingsandthusreducegreenhousegasemissions.
Introduction
A Vortex Tube (VT) is a specially designed cylindrical device used to reduce the pressure of (expand) pressurized gas.
During pressure reduction in a VT, and requiring no external energy source, the expanded gas undergoesenergyand mass
segregation(VortexPhenomenon)formingcoldandhotflows.

TheVTenergyandmasssegregationprovidestheopportunityforusingthegasstreamstocaptureordissipateheat:
Due tothevery lowtemperatures the cold stream cancapture heatfromambientair,orfromwaste or lowgradeheat
sources, warming the gas stream thus reducing or eliminating the need for gas fired line heaters in pressure
reducingstationsorpressuretopowerapplications.
Alternatively,wherethegasstreamishasexcessheat,asonthesuctionsideofNGV
compressororforNGL
recovery,thehotstreamcanbeuseddissipateheatenergytoambientairorotherheatsinks.
The application examples above are indicative of the potential however there are innumerable natural gas processing and
industrial applications. We are unaware of any other product that, withoutexternalenergy(eg aheat pump uses electricity),
thatofferssimilarheatrecoveryfromwasteorlowgradeheatsources.
UVIsInnovations
UVI products and technology are proprietary and patented. These products and technology were developed and are
manufactured without any external (eg government, federal, provincial or state) support. As such, to date, no externally
fundedstudieshavebeencompletedandpublished.Howevertestimonialsandinhousestudiesbycustomersareavailable.
UVIs innovations provide increase theVT thermalefficiencyas wellastherangeofitsapplicability resulting in a broadrange
of applications for its products. UVIs selfheating design allows for use of the VT as a primarynonfreezepressure reducer
thus eliminating the need in the upstream gas preheat even for high dew point gases. Additional to the thermal benefits
UVIsproductsareextremelylownoise.

 2012 Universal Vortex, Inc. All Rights Reserved. UVI logo is used with permission

Products
UVIsvortextubeproductsarebasedonproprietary(USAandForeignPatents)vortexdesigns:
VPGH
(PRS).

Vortex PilotGasHeaterpreventspilot regulatorgas from freezingatnatural gastransmissionanddistribution pressureregulation stations

VPGHSPVortexPilotGasHeater,SinglePathasingleheatingchambertoserveonepilot.
VPGHDPVortexPilotGasHeater,DualPathtwoheatingchamberstosimultaneouslyservetwopilots.

 2012 Universal Vortex, Inc. All Rights Reserved. UVI logo is used with permission
VPR
Vortex Pressure Reducer ( a vortex tube product that provides pressure reduction as well as mass and energy separation. VPRsare
available in various configurations optimized for specific applications such as pressure reduction, heating, thermal conditioning of a gas stream or
naturalgasliquidsseparation.)

VPR.SHSS
VortexPressureReducer,SelfHeating,SingleStreamOutlet

VPR.SHSS.CNGVortexPressureReducer,SelfHeating,SingleStreamOutlet,CompressedNaturalGasApplications

VPR.SHDS
VortexPressureReducer,SelfHeating,DualStreamOutlet

OFV

One Flow Vortex Tube where the processed hydrocarbonfeedischilledundercombinedJTand vortex cooling i.e.totemperatureswell

belowthoseintheJouleThomsonvalve.
VSGH
Vortex Sample Gas Heater is a portable device for gas heating at spot sampling locations, thus to prevent sampling vapor from
condensing.

VVT
Vacuum Vortex Tube provides an energy division of the atmospheric air or any other gaseous medium that feeds the VVT under
atmosphericpressure.

Applications
UVIsproductsandtechnologyaresuitableforuseateachstepofgasdeliveryfromproductionwelltotheenduser:
PowerGeneration:
Typical installations use dual stream outlet vortex pressure reducers (VPR.SHDS) and a heat exchanger for warming the
VPRcoldoutlettoachievethegasrequiredtemperaturesatthedischarge:
Turbine Fuel Gas Thermal Conditioning Technology to eliminate the need for fuel gas upstream preheat,
simultaneouslymeetingthefuelgasthermalrequirements
Vortex Pressure To Power Technology to reduce or eliminate energy consumption to preheat gas upstream of a
pressuretopowerdevice(egturboexpander,gasletdownpowergenerator,expansionengine,etc)
CompressedNaturalGasforDistribution(egPeakShavingorEmergencyGasSupply):
Vortex SelfHeating Pressure Reducer (VPR.SH.SSCNG) eliminates gas preheat during pressure reduction for

 2012 Universal Vortex, Inc. All Rights Reserved. UVI logo is used with permission

compressed(eg3000psig)naturalgasdeliveredviatankersorcylindersforpeakshavingoremergencysupplies.
GasTransmission&Distribution:
Vortex pilot gas heating is achieved using a Vortex Pilot Gas Heater (VPGH) to heat pilot gas to prevent ice
formationinpilotgaslinesorpilotregulators
Vortex Pressure Regulating Station (VPRS) is an installation using vortex pressure reducers for pressurereduction
with pressure control using conventional pressure regulators orcontrolvalves operatingas theVPR monitor. Typical
installations use dual stream outlet vortex pressure reducers (VPR.SHDS) and a heat exchanger for warming the
VPR cold outlet to achieve the gas required temperatures at the Station discharge. Other VPRSuse single stream
outletvortexpressurereducers(VPR.SHSS)withorwithoutaheatexchanger.

GasProduction&Gathering
Nonfreeze choke ofgasflowis provided using a single stream,selfheatingvortex pressurereducer (VPR.SHSS)to
replaceachokevalve.

 2012 Universal Vortex, Inc. All Rights Reserved. UVI logo is used with permission

At a wellhead Vortex Gas Thermal Conditioning (VGTC) can prevent hydrocarbon vapor condensation in gas
gathering lines. The installation of a dual stream selfheating vortex pressure reducer (VPR.SHDS) and air source
heat exchanger(s) uses the energy and mass separationin the vortex tubetoprovide thermalconditioning (ie warm)
the gas flow and prevent separation of liquids. Typically this is done at a wellhead with a VPR.SHDS installed in
placeofachokevalve.

 2012 Universal Vortex, Inc. All Rights Reserved. UVI logo is used with permission

GasProcessing
Vortex Natural Gas Liquid Recovery or Vortex Low Temperature Separation (VLTS) is achieved using a One Flow
Vortex (OFV) pressure reducer to replace a JouleThomson valve at a JT based gas processing facility. Using the
OFV achieves lower temperatures and enhances natural gas liquid (NGL) recovery achieving up to 15% in NGL
outputincrease.

MarketPenetration
VortexPilotGasHeater(VPGH):
Used in Canada by the following companies: Gas Metro PR facilities (I believe, some 30+ Single Path units.),
Enbridge,SaskEnergy,AtcoGas,AltaGasandeitherATCOtransmissionorTransCanadapipelineCo.
There are by now some 2,000+ VPGH installations throughout the world (North and South America, Australia,
Europe,Chinaetc).MostoftheVPGHunitsareintheUSA.
A large amount of the VPGH operating in a relatively small area can be seen in Midwest USA andat East Coast
WashingtonGasfacilities(some120simultaneouslyrunningVPGH).
VortexPressureReducer(VPR)
The most common application to date has been for compressed natural gas nonpreheated nonfreeze pressure
reduction. For this application the largest number (some 30 installations) of VPR operating simultaneously is at
Questar facilities where depressurized (200 bar to 4 bar) gas is used for peak shaving and emergency in gas
distribution network. Also in use are a number of self heating vortex pressure reducershowevertheseare limited to
smallerfacilitieswithasinglestreamVToutletandnoheatexchanger.
To date there are no vortex pressure reducing stations in Canada with larger dual stream outlet vortex pressure
reducers that facilitate use of a heat exchanger (ambient air,waste or lowgradeheat source) to reduce oreliminate
therequirementforpreheatusingagasfiredlineheater.
PerformanceRecord
These 2,000 VPGH installations cover all conceivable combinations of PRS operational parameters (pressure, flow
rate,temperature,gasqualityetc)thusdemonstratingtheunituniversalapplicability.
SincethereisnosinglefailureoftheVPGHhaseverbeenreported,theunitisextremelyreliable.
VPGHevaluationhasbeencompletedbyGazDeFranceconfirmingthatperformancemetorexceededUVIclaims.
Summary
The applications for UVIs products and technology are energy saving and thus environmentally friendly and green. UVI and

 2012 Universal Vortex, Inc. All Rights Reserved. UVI logo is used with permission

its representatives provide customer support including of selection and sizing of the vortex tubes for both products and
technology. For technology applications a conceptual design is provided. Contact UVI or its representatives for more
informationinfo@universalvortex.com(www.universalvortex.com)
Preparedby

613264 BC LTD dba

GASFICIENT CONSULTING SERVICES

1942 McDougall Street, Kelowna
British Columbia, Canada
V1Y 1A2
Phone Business
Facsimile
Email

1-206-905-9518
1-206-350-7473

d.betton@gasficient.com

Website http://www.gasficient.com

 2012 Universal Vortex, Inc. All Rights Reserved. UVI logo is used with permission

VORTEXPILOTGASHEATERUSER\'SLIST
AlintaGas,Australia

NicorGas,IL

AlliantEnergy,WI

Nipsco,IN

Aquila,IA

NorthwestNaturalGasCompany,OR
NorthwesternPublicService,SD

AtcoGas,ABCanada

ElizabethtownGas,NJ

AtcoPipelines,ABCanada,

OklahomaNaturalGasCompany

AtmosEnergy
Bulgargas

PacificGas&Electric

CentralHudsonGas&ElectricCorporation,NY

PanhandleEasternPipeline

CenterPointEnergy,TX

PeoplesGas,FL

CityUtilitiesofSpringfield,MO
CityofRichmond,VA

PeoplesNaturalGas,NE
Petrochina,China

ColumbiaGasofPennsylvania

PublicServiceofNewMexico

ColumbiaGasofVirginia

Questar,UT

DominionEast
DevonCorp.Canada

SaskEnergy,SaskatchewanCanada

EastOhioGas/Dominion

SemcoEnergyMI

EastTenn.NaturalGas/DukeEnergy
ElPasoEnergyCo.
Enagas,Spain

SouthCaliforniaGas
SouthCarolineElectric&Gas

EnbrigeConsumersGas,ONCanada

SouthGeorgiaNaturalGas/El

EnstarNaturalGasCo.,AK
GasNatural,Spain
GasdeEuskad,Spain

SouthJerseyGas

GasdeFrance,France

St.LawrenceGas,NY

Gasena,SA.Argentina

TerasenGas,BCCanada

GasMetropolitan,QuebecCanada

TexasGasServices

KansasGasService

T.W.Phillips,PA
VecternEnergyDelivey

KeyspanUtilityServices

UGIUtilities,PA

KinderMorgan
MadisonGas&Electric,WI
ManitobaHydro,Canada

UtilCorpSystem,KS

MissouriGasEnergy

VirginiaNaturalGas

NationalFuel,NY

WashingtonGas
WillisinBasinPipeline
XcelEnergy,CO