Program Accelerates | - Three-Phase Oil-Gas Separator Design by M. S. Bizanti and Yu Hancheng, Louisiana Tech University, Ruston La Pressure contol ve Tiavce-phase oi-ens separtor design program has been developed based on the procedure outlined by Amold and Stewart.! The output results uf the pro- gram include two sets of data, one for three-phase oil-gas vertical separators and another fur three hace cil-gas horizontal separators, Charts commonly used to design a three-phase separator were substiluted by empirical equations merely for the purpase of saving time, energy, and money. ‘The general nature of the program allows it to be beneficial for production en. f+ 010 ginvers involved in surface equipment tlesign, ‘the program is listed in Table 1. Input and watpat late are Love contrat vives ‘given in Table 2. Figs. 1 and 2 show schematic dinwrams wf the thew Te} phase horizontal and vertical separaturs Fig. 1. Horizontal three-phase separator schematic. Effective length, seam-to-seam vessel tc my, and. slenderness ratio for horizontal separator are shiswn in Table 3. The height of liquid volume in vertical sepa rator, seam-to-seam vessel length, and slendernes: Inlet diverter ‘Gravity setting section ‘Di and emulsion Pressure coil vabe ratio for a vertical separator ate shawn in Table 4 - Equation Description as out The program contains three subroutines fur cateue sneer. Mistenacer | lation of Z-factor®, gus viseasity®, awl separator constant, ‘The separator constant is catculsted in a similar man- ner as outlined by Arnold and Stewart’, with the ex- ception of an average oil and water sensily used instead of uit density alone. ‘The average density of oil and water is calculated by the follosving equation: SG.Q. + SG.Qu Gt The separator constant depemls on the average Gi oat density ofthe oil and water and on the desired diameter Ss of the droplet of oil ur water to be separated from as stream, Vertical separator sizing. The gas eapacity equa- tion is based on the gas velocity, whieh must be leas than the terminal velovity, Vt, of the droplet. The minimum vessel internal diameter, dain, Unit satisfies as capacity eonstraint is similar to ys eapacity ent Lserou Con corresponding to the two-phase separate design! ‘The constraine fur setuling water droplets frum the vil is sutisfied using the fallowing exjuntion thiet ——o| aL Downconer fh > ‘spreader. ‘evel contol waves , ue , . ay = 6,600 2) Pet (SGN? ‘The combinations of internal vesset diameters, PETROLEUM ENGINEER Iwrennancrin, MAY 1988EAL CHL LEFEF. LSS. wapay, co, 00.00.00, 0.100. LYIS. Oba cheriser rugs BASNrER Tinta Git WEITEI C40 TuPOr-@, Prpiani. TRI, aGiteiactey” + HEA o sia, Fer oa HEITECo «9 14rUPr Mundy, Corben READ jow oo AFT tow Sates 6 Ai" inp et tntoran| DWateren) TAMER, BAe be nS, mo. Ls Sootiah s/eAPI0331 5) Uo0= Seonaoescureni 7teo-08) Ubeasea, senso Beevorseaeco SAU SFAGrRIr. 7.0.21 AGU caaveeC( Goan TH. vrec) CALL REACTOR DEN GORA DML, Vise. StH ZONTAL GRPARATOR BESiGHeSsEe= Weitere ze) "Gas CAPACITY BORAT ABR: cme camacsty’ 7) wearer FORAT 10RD so 0X. LENT. £011 ase Renna fsx, acre, s.2n07 GLeEPsC430e2ereo0ecs1/¢PeDH) Waite ostoetoH0 uaF eppncter' og) Santee sGaRP Be 'S NowAk~ O.o012berauebeokoeneed ithe SSfy-avet brogetnw 7fobetnoroeTRA) aaa i285, "Yec|Cacos(zeAz) y-asazecd 26-Agen2y=4,61)/3.1016 ESS) URUABSIAY-Y2] LE O-O0510070 290" Gheas ‘40 DaLsonue2 S-ELETRot 424 /owermevaoeTROD /ummL¥e2) Lessecaatinery a AsraTetsaouLea) iL FORMREI 773. “TABLE 20 RORCZONFAL GEPARATOR SYZINO",/) t8,te; .2K.*12186/0') Wate(0 3403 Bvueye 32 bebapiee RECTHNOW TRowo0 7, reNDMLeAE wes 0° TeneNtss/on HATE SAE SBWL nus. sue Fomariors rir resi TRtOVE £0: Laahooeo 3a sone. 300 STOP Eo Felvo.2.78 p30 BAA s near eee Sea «Bibs hessitan tant RET sues Hee a ih PRP/PPC ad Ee 2 00 ae O28: SiaeRyi tera) 3 GHIA ACES tnoacanermengy 1400(AUGYAIB) TRIAGE? SESLSIAIDSCAL2)7Tmoas ay egy Qs ACY 041 51/72? atkishenteietonesyeah STA Ge ALANA /TE NS TAIT steed PCetherdecveacane TPLABSCaa-ZLSCEE TABS 3G6 90 28 iit Le cmeP toa “GAS vISCOEIzY ‘SUBROUTINE GASISC(GDEN.7.n.VISCY Kasten asvozem attend S) Rema TIS Skerxpxsouemeeys tsesvise1 eco “FACTOR CALCULATION ‘SUBROUTING. KEACTOR(LDEN-ODKN. DML, ¥15C.ChY Seveibbn-cons te Reve bea a si ehnenconwenMe obebrcpa ee. FFCABS(DELT)~136-61920,28.15, vat 20 height of oil, and water volume désired retention times can be determined as follows: MdoQo + (tee Qu. @) 0.12 d? The vessel seam-to-seam let is determined as outlined by Arnold and Stewart.“ The selected internal vessel diameters must be longer than minimum vessel diameters determined from beth gas capacity and liquid capacity. Horizontal separator sizing. The combinations of vessel internal diameters and effective lengths of ves- sel are calculated assuming the vessel is full of oi and water, and the residence time of gas is set equal to the PETROLEUM ENGINEER Inremarionns, MAY 1988 y+ he time required for the liquid droplet to fail to the gas-liquid interface. The three-phase gas capacity constraint used in the calculation is similar to the two-phase gas capacity equation. ‘The maximum oil pad thickness that can allow cer- tain water droplets sizes to settle out of the oil pad ‘corresponding to the oif retention time is calculated by 0.00128 (4,3, (ASG) 4, » ‘A maximum horizontal separator diameter with a maximum oil pad thiekness can be determined from (ay (.) mma aw (odmas (5) Z (Coutinurd) dmaTABLE 2. input and oulput data Input data 1) 0G-gas fow rte, MMsetd 2} OW—water tow rate, b/d of water 3} Q0~Di flow rae, b/6 of a 49 Gespecic gravity of gas 5} APL-all specie gravity, API™ 8) SoW-wate specie gravity 1 B-operating pressure, psia 8) T-operaing temperature. 8) OM—siameter of water dropiet tobe separate frm ail, 10) OML-diameter of quis (water and ail droplet tobe separated from gas. 11) Thitf-water retention time, minutes 12} TRO-oil retention bme, eines 13} LVIS-viscosty of ol, cp Gutpat data 1) D—vessal internal diameter, i 2) H-height of liquid (water + of) volume in vertical separator, in 3) LSS—seam-to-seam vessel length f 43) 12188/0~slendemess ratio. 5) LEFF-haraantal separator etctive nat (where separation 6) DMAX-maxinium horizontal separator eiameter with maximum cil 24 thickness, i, 7) OMIN-=minimum vertc! separator diameter for water droplet setting from ai, i. £8) DMIN—minimum vertcl separator eiameter of gas capacity in Finally, the maximum diameter with maximum oil pad thickness constraint can be caleulated according to the following equation: 5 _Qultelee areCos2a KtedoQ@e + (trwQwe 7 4 yt a Va Where Z is obtained from an empirical equation derived by geometrical method. Eq. 6 is, in fact, an additional advantage of the program, which can ‘run independently without reading charts. Combinations of vessel internal diameter and effee- tive length of vessel, where separation oceurs for various desired liquid retention times, are determined from the following liquid capacity eortstraint equation: Lge = 1.42 [t)oQe + (teduQal @ The selection of various vessel diameters must be less than maximum vessel diameter with maximum oil pad thickness, das Example: Sizing three-phase vertical and horizontal separators. Given Qe = gas flow rate, 5 MMscfd 1) Qu = water flow rate, 3,000 bid of water Q, = oil flow rate, 5,000 b/d of oll SG = specifie gravity of the gas, 0.60 sp gr API = oil specific gravity, 30° API SGw = water specific gravity, 1.07 sp gr P = operating pressure, 100 psia Theat series artiage ites t’om Nowa, are designea for ign pressure aw fiftaeon 39° Bilcations: 3 to ‘ao Pst wortng pressures ond Saucaus pow ratings {Sssecem carvon ‘Reel construction with erase rate errs lek ano ay cartridge replacement ANE Coag constuction Seabee oF wre for Since 1907. Circle 121 76 BPW YOU NEED RIGHTWRITER: RightWriter checks Grammar, Style, Usage, & Punctuation in Your Business Writing and helps you write like a Pro! Produce claar, pewortul business writing with Right Writer. a Sophisticated expert system for checking errors in gtarimar, styl, usage, and punctuation, Nota speling checker. 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Box 1589 Dallas, Texas + 75221 + (214) 691-3915 PETROLEUM ENGINEER Inresnanionns, MAY 1988ihr. Phase Separators © Horzonta! separator : «= Verteal separator 120-120. ‘arzonal separator diameter, in. 8 3 ‘Verlcal separator ameter. Horiganal separator tngth, Fig. 5. Three-phase vertical and horizontal separator, T = operating temperature, 550 R dou =" diameter of liquid (water and oil) droplet to be separated from gas, 100. dn = diameter of water droplet to be separated from oil, 900 (to = oll retention time, 10 minutes (tehe = water retention time, 10 minutes 4 = viscosity of il, 10 ep The results of the example are listed in Tables 9 and 4. The results were also plotted as shown in Fig 3 For vertical separator sizing, any reasonable combina. tions of vessel diameter and length with a vessel diameter greater than 42.1 in, and 83.5 in. obtained by the gas capacity and water settling ean be chosen. For horizontal separator sizing, any reasonable combi. nation of vessel diameter and length with diameter greater than the diameters obtained from both gas and liquid capacity constraints can be chosen, However, the vessel diameter, d, must be smaller than dys. Nomenclature real diemetets i meter to be separated from the gas, tum horizontal vessel diameter with maximum oil pad ickines, in nog = mininmim vessel internat diameter of vertieal separator basedt ‘on gus capocity or gut capacity. i +b = height of tine liquid volume in vertical separator in. 1h, = height ofthe el pad or oil volume, in PETROLEUM ENGINEER iwreanaviona., MAY 1868, TABLE 3. Horizontal separator sizing Gas capacity 6. bay 0 Pts 2 2 054 8 1761 86 1881 4,10 ‘oa nD 84 95 108 TABLE 4, Vertical separator sizing ‘Minimum diameter af gas capaciiy = 42.1 in ‘Vet80l dy for water setting = 82.1 ln 4,10, hn. Lee fh wld a8 45, ie ze 90 23 132 18 96 23 wa 15 102 541 nz ia 108, 572 ni 12 a (hogy = maximum oil pad thickness, in bh "height from the water outlet to interface, in, K’= ceparation constant Lan © effective length of vessel where separation cccurs, Lit seam-to-seam length, f P= operating pressare, ysix Qe = Ras os rate, MMsefd Qi oil Now rate, bid of ol @. = water Now rate, bid of water SG, = specific gravity of cil 86, T= operating temperature, R (ia ® desived retention time af water, minute Gos = desired retention time of il, minute 2°= gas deviation factor b= viscosity of the ol, ep Reterences 1. Arnold, K., and Stewart. Je. M.:"Designing Oil and Gin Prudue tion Systems," World Oil, (November I) 73-78, 2 Dranchuck, P.M, Purvis, R. A, and Kbinson, BE, "Computer Galeulation of Natural Gas Compressibility Factors Using the Standing and Katz Correlation," Inst of Petra. Tech, IP-P1-00% (9%4), 8. Lee, A. L., Gonsales, M. H. and Eakin, U. E.: “The Viscosity of Naturat Gases,” J. Pet. Teck. (Avgrust 146) $4, 4. Arnold K, ond Stewart, Mu: Statute Praduction Operusions, Gulf Publishing Company (1985), About the Authors Mohamed 8, Bizauti is on assistant professor of prtrolrun engineering at Louisiana Tech University. He joined the ‘university in September 1989 as a drilling instructor after receiving his BS and MS degrees in petroteum engineering from Louisiana State University and his PAD tm pelrotenin engineering from the University of Oktahonna. eunti ina mentber of the Society of Petrotenin Engineers Yu Hancheng is a petroleum engineer from the People's Republic of China anal a visiting researcher a! Losisiaen Tech University, Lt is working fur Sieh (oes Lisl sect Sichuan Petroleum Engineering Design & Hesearch Insts futeaftergradwating from the Southwest Petruteun Institute in 1906. Yur Hancheng ts a member of Chinese Society uf Mechanical Engineering. ®