A Novel Approach to Obtaining the Optimum Pressure and Stages of Separators (original) (raw)

Correlating Optimum Stage Pressure for Sequential Separator Systems

SPE Projects, Facilities & Construction, 2010

Summary A study to find the optimum separators pressures of separation stations has been performed. Stage separation of oil and gas is accomplished with a series of separators operating at sequentially reduced pressures. Liquid is discharged from a higher-pressure separator into the lower-pressure separator. The set of working separator pressures that yields maximum recovery of liquid hydrocarbon from the well fluid is the optimum set of pressures, which is the target of this work. A computer model is used to find the optimum separator pressures. The model employs the Peng-Robinson equation of state (Peng and Robinson 1976) for volatile oil. The application of this model shows significant improvement of all objective functions for many oils (Hassan 2004). Mathematical correlations for estimating optimum set of pressures have been deduced from the model to provide simple and quick tools to find the optimum stages pressures. Many tests have been achieved with many volatile samples at ...

Harnessing the Power of Pressurized Separation: Revolutionizing Crude Oil Processing and Storage for Optimal Performance

Research Square (Research Square), 2024

The main goal of this research was to simulate a high-pressure (HP) separator to assess how changes in operational factors affect the properties of the products generated. The objective was to improve the efficiency of crude oil processing and storage by analyzing these impacts. The study involved comparing simulation outcomes from two software platforms, namely CHEMCAD and UniSim, to evaluate their effectiveness in modeling and optimizing the separation process.The research outcomes indicated a high level of agreement between the simulated results and actual industrial data, validating their accuracy and reliability. Furthermore, a comprehensive sensitivity analysis was carried out to fine-tune the process parameters, focusing on adjusting key gas stream properties such as temperature, pressure, and flow rate to optimize the separation process effectively. This analysis provided valuable insights into the system dynamics and highlighted areas for potential process enhancement. Notably, the study revealed that increasing the separator inlet pressure from 30 to 80 bar resulted in significant improvements in The adjustment in separator inlet pressure resulted in a notable reduction in the outlet gas flow rate from 1202 to 871.15 kmol/h, accompanied by an increase in the methane mole fraction from 0.69 to 0.74. Moreover, the rise in pressure led to an escalation in the preheater heating duty from 8.71 to 11.48 GJ/h. Conversely, the simulation findings demonstrated that raising the temperature of the separator feed stream from 43 to 83 •C caused a surge in the outlet gas stream flow rate from 871.15 to 1142.98 kmol/h.Furthermore, the variation in temperature led to a decrease in the methane concentration in the gas output and consequently lowered the heating duty required by the heat exchanger. Additionally, the research findings indicated that augmenting the inlet feed flow rate did not yield a substantial effect on the methane gas concentration in the final product..

Influence Of Temperature And Pressure Of Incoming Oil-Containing Liquid From Field Wells On The Gas Separation Process

https://engrxiv.org/, 2001

In terms of oilfield terminologies, separators are used to separate oil, gas, and water and to remove material such as entrained solid impurities from the crude oil produced from the wells. Optimization of separation process represents a challenging operation that can be achieved by improve the separation performance .This article is devoted to the analysis of changes in the process of separation of oil-containing liquid coming from field wells. It investigate the first stage of separation at the installation of preliminary water discharge and oil treatment, when the temperature and pressure of the liquid of the incoming medium change. It was observed that with an increase in temperature and a decrease in pressure, the process of gas separation increases.

Effect of pressure and salinity on the performance of a gas-liquid separator—a preliminary study

The APPEA Journal

The separation of liquid from gas during the initial stages of the separation process is very important in increasing well productivity. This is why the design of an efficient and compact gas-liquid separator has received much attention from academic researchers as well as field operators. They all state the necessity of compact design in deploying separators offshore (and potentially subsea) to enhance the recovery of gas wells. This investigation describes an experimental and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modelling of a laboratory-scale compact gas-liquid separator designed by CSIRO. The separator consists of two concentric pipes with a swirl tube in the annular space between the pipes. The gas-liquid mixture comes from the tangential side inlet, and the system works with a combination of gravity and centrifugal forces to achieve a highly efficient gas-liquid separation. The effect of pressure and salinity on the performance of the gas-liquid CSIRO’s separation technology (CS...

Gas/Liquids Separators: Quantifying Separation Performance - Part 2

Oil and Gas Facilities, 2013

I n this second article of a three-part series, methods for improved quantification of operating performances of the gas gravity separation, the mist extraction, and the liquid gravity separation sections of gas/liquid separators are discussed. These methods can be used for the selection and design of new separators, as well as the rating of existing separators. Part 1 of the series in August provided a general discussion of separation equipment classification, as well as existing limitations to methods used for quantifying separator performance. The main parts of a typical gas/liquid separator, vertical or horizontal, are shown in Fig. 1, including the feed pipe, inlet device, gas gravity separation section, mist extractor, and the liquid gravity separation section. Part 1 discussed the feed pipe and inlet device.

Development of Model and Simulation of a Two-Phase, Gas-Liquid Horizontal Separator

In recent years, the performance requirements for petroleum process plants have become increasingly difficult to satisfy. In order to understand, design and operate the complex systems in the petroleum industries at relatively low cost and with minimum risk, mathematical modelling becomes very useful. Thus, this paper proposes some developed mathematical models for a two-phase gas-liquid horizontal separator, which is valid with an accuracy of about 1.641% based on the liquid temperature values. Simulated temperature values were 300.24 K, 299.69 K and 299.14 K with the corresponding industrial values as 300.22 K, 299.67 K and 299.11 K respectively. Within the boundaries of the limitations stated, the model could be used to predict the operation of the separator at different operating conditions, to optimize the separator products and as a tool for further expansion amongst other uses.

Design Criteria for Oilfield Separators Improved by Computational Fluid Dynamics

Chemical Engineering & Technology

Oilfield separator data ranging from light-oil conditions to heavy-oil conditions were incorporated into suitable two-phase and three-phase computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models to provide improved design criteria for separator design methods. The CFD simulation results revealed that the most important affecting parameters are vapor density and oil viscosity. In contrast with the classic design methods, noticeable residence times were required for liquid droplets to penetrate through the fluid interfaces. Moreover, it was indicated that the Abraham equation should be used instead of the Stokes' law in the liquid-liquid separation calculations. The velocity constraints caused by re-entrainment in horizontal separators were also studied and led to novel correlations.