Slugcatcher

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 exists in 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:
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 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.
References.
http://www.glossary.oilfield.slb.com/en/Terms/s/slug_flow.aspx