ENM202 Facilities

Separator Systems
 Oil and Gas Separation
• Produced fluids leaving the wellhead usually flow to a manifold
where the flows from a number of wells are combined (or
commingled), and the combined stream then flows on to the
separator system where the fluids are processed.
• In the case of an oil field, these fluids will consist of oil, gas,
water and sand in varying proportions. (Solid particles from
the reservoir rock produced with the well fluids are always
referred to as sand, whatever the type of rock - sandstone,
limestone, dolomite, etc.).

2
 Oil and Gas Separation Cont.
• The wellhead will usually include at least one choke to control
the well production rate, unless the well is on artificial lift. In
high pressure wells it is common to use two chokes in series,
one a positive choke - i.e. having a fixed orifice - and the
other an adjustable choke.
• In most cases (e.g. for deep offshore fields and many onshore
fields) the pipeline carrying the fluids from the manifold to the
separators and other process equipment may be quite long -
sometimes many kilometres in length.

3
 Fig. 1 Layout of Process Facilities
• The separator system is at the heart of the processing facilities. It may consist of
a single separator vessel, or two or more vessels connected in series forming a
multistage system.
Flare Acid gases Water Gas sales

Sweetening Dehydration NGL extraction

Fuel
NGL
Gas sales

Separator Oil
Oil treating Storage / sales
system

Water
Produced water
Well fluids Disposal / reinjection
treatment

4
 Facilities Layout
• In a given case not all the units in Fig. 1 will be present; for example, in the case of
most light crudes no oil treating step is necessary, since the oil stream leaving the
separators meets the oil pipeline specification without any further treatment.
• The gas sweetening module, which removes hydrogen sulphide and carbon dioxide
from the gas, will not be required if the produced gas contains only small amounts of
these contaminants.
• In some cases additional units not shown in Fig. 1 will be included in the system, e.g. a
nitrogen removal unit (NRU) to remove excessive amounts of nitrogen from the gas
stream, a sulphur recovery unit to recover saleable sulphur from the acid gases
discharged from the sweetening module, or an oil sweetening unit to remove excessive
amounts of sulphur compounds from the oil stream (as on the Buzzard field in the
North Sea).

5
 Design Considerations
• Common practice in the USA uses gas conditioning for the removal of contaminants
(hydrogen sulphide, carbon dioxide and water) from the gas stream, and gas
processing for NGL extraction, but these terms are not always used consistently.
• Hydrogen sulphide and carbon dioxide are often grouped together as acid gases, since
both form weak (and corrosive) acids in the presence of water, and the process of
removing them from oil or gas is called gas sweetening.
• Major changes in the flowrates and compositions of the well fluids will occur during the
producing life of the field, and the separator system must be designed to handle these.
• For example, in the early years of field life the wells often produce only small amounts
of water, and the water cut (the percentage of water in the produced liquids) will be
very low. Late in field life, however, the water cut in many oil fields may increase to
over 90%.
• The producing gas/oil ratio can also be expected to vary widely over the field life.

6
 Separation Objectives
• to separate the produced hydrocarbons from the contaminants which are
produced along with them, such as water, salt and sand;
• to prepare the hydrocarbons for transport, depending on the export
facilities available - pipelines, shuttle tankers, etc.;
• to meet the specifications laid down by refineries, downstream
processing units or transport facilities, e.g. upper limits on the Reid
vapour pressure (RVP) and the BS&W for oil and condensate, and on the
water and hydrocarbon dewpoints for gas;
• to allow for the regular testing of individual wells;
• to permit accurate metering of oil, gas and water production.

7
 Fluid Transportation
• Pipeline operators will specify the maximum amounts of water and salt allowed in the
crude oil they handle, e.g. typical requirements might be not more than 1% BS&W
(basic sediment and water), and not more than 125 ptb of salt (ptb = pounds per
thousand barrels). These requirements are intended to keep corrosion rates in the line
down to acceptable levels.
• Transport of the produced hydrocarbons usually requires them to be separated into a
liquid stream (oil or condensate) and a gas stream. Although liquid and gas can be
transported together in a pipeline as a multi-phase flow, such flows tend to be unstable
and liable to slugging, and may require special equipment such as slug eliminators.
• At the downstream end of multiphase lines it is essential to provide slug catchers
(which are very bulky and heavy items) in order to prevent mechanical damage and
process upsets being caused by large slugs of liquid leaving the line and entering items
of process equipment at high velocity.

8
 RVP Limits

• When dealing with the transport and storage of liquid fuels,

the vapour pressure of the fuel is an important
consideration. If this is too high, substantial amounts of fuel
may vaporise into the atmosphere and give rise to serious
flammability and explosion hazards.
• In the petroleum industry, usual practice is to specify the
Reid vapour pressure (RVP). This is always measured at a
standard temperature of 100°F (or 38°C) and usually
quoted in psia (although the units are seldom given).

9
 RVP Limits Cont.

• If oil is to be exported from an offshore field by shuttle tanker, the RVP of the oil
should not exceed about 10 to 12 (psia), to minimise the release of flammable vapour
from the oil.
• To obtain this low RVP value, almost all the light hydrocarbons (methane, ethane and
most of the propane) must be removed from the oil.
– This is done by operating the last stage of separation at a low pressure (several barg) and
keeping up its temperature.
– This may lead to difficulties in meeting the gas export specification, since some of the
heavier hydrocarbons will move into the gas phase along with the methane, ethane etc. and
cause the hydrocarbon dewpoint of the gas to rise to a value above the specified maximum
for the gas pipeline.
• If the oil is to be exported by pipeline, its RVP can be quite high - up to 100 or more,
since the high pipeline pressure keeps the light gases in solution, and the final stage of
separation can then be operated at a higher pressure, which will lower the hydrocarbon
dewpoint of the gas leaving the separator.

10
 Design Criteria
• For oil fields, the usual practice is to design and operate the separator system to meet
the objectives set out above and also to maximise the oil production rate.
• The reason for this is that oil (which is always sold on a volume basis) is usually the
higher value product and can be transported much more easily and cheaply than gas.
• It is therefore desirable to keep as much as possible of the hydrocarbons heavier than
methane (such as propane, butanes, pentanes and hexanes) in solution in the oil
stream in order to maximise its volume, provided that its RVP does not rise to an
unacceptably high level.
• This can be done by using multi-stage separation systems which have two or more
separator vessels laid out with the oil flow in series so that the pressure of the oil is
reduced in successive stages. The pressure in each vessel is controlled at the desired
value by the pressure control valve on the gas outlet from the separator.

11
Fig. 3 layout of a three-stage separator
system
Gas Treating
Gas
Wellhead
Fluids 2nd Stage
1st Stage Compressor
(P1)
Gas
1st Stage
2nd Stage Compressor
Oil (P2)
Water Gas
3rd Stage
Oil (P3)
Water

P1 > P2 > P3 (i.e. the pressures in Oil to

the separators) Stock-Tank
Water

12
 Oil/Gas Separation Principles
(1)
Under laboratory conditions, oil and gas separation is usually done in
one of two ways:
1. Flash separation
– a sample of the oil in a variable volume cell is brought to its bubble-point
pressure at the temperature selected. The pressure in the cell is then gradually
reduced by increasing its volume in a series of small steps and gas is released
from solution in the oil.
– No gas or oil is removed from the cell, so all the gas released during the
process remains in contact with the oil at the end.
– Measurements of pressure and volume are taken after each step.
– When the final pressure is reached, all the gas which has come out of solution
remains in the cell and is in equilibrium with the oil from which it has been
released.

13
 Oil/Gas Separation Principles (2)

2. Differential separation
– The oil sample is placed in a variable volume cell in the same way, and the
pressure in the cell is then reduced from the bubble-point value to its final value
in a series of small steps; after each step the gas released from solution during
the step is completely removed from the cell.
– Throughout the process there is never more than a small amount of gas present
in the cell in contact with the oil.
– Measurements of pressure and volume are taken after each step.

14
 Oil/Gas Separation Principles (3)

• In both cases the pressure of the system is reduced in a

series of small steps so that the dissolved gas is released
from the oil: the difference lies in the handling of the
released gas.
• For the same initial and final pressures, flash separation
gives a smaller final volume of oil and a larger total volume
of gas than differential separation (assuming that the
temperature is the same in both cases).

15
 Application to Separator Systems (1)

• In the flow of the produced fluids from the reservoir to the separator,
conditions approximate to a flash separation. (The correspondence will
not be exact, since the velocities of the oil and gas phases may be
different in two-phase flow through tubing and lines).
• Conditions in the separator vessels do not correspond exactly to either
flash or differential separation, since the pressure drop per stage of
separation is much larger than the small steps used in a laboratory
separation. Also, some of the gas present in the separator will have
come out of solution in the oil upstream of the separator e.g. in flow
through a choke.
• If a multi-stage separation system is used, however, the overall
process approximates more closely to a true differential separation,
and this increases the yield of stock-tank oil and reduces the yield of
gas for a given reservoir fluid.

16
 Application to Separator Systems (2)

• Increasing the number of separator stages therefore reduces the value

of the oil formation volume factor Bo (i.e. reduces the shrinkage of the
oil), and also reduces the value of the producing gas-oil ratio R.
• Note that the stock-tank itself (or surge drum or other oil storage
facilities at atmospheric pressure) will also behave as if it is a stage of
separation since some hydrocarbons will continue to vaporise from the
stored oil.
• A so-called single stage of separation is therefore really equivalent to
two stages when the effect of the downstream stock-tank or other
storage facility is taken into account.

17
 Separator System Selection
• If a single-stage separation system is considered (remembering that
this is really a two-stage system with the stock-tank forming a second
stage operating at atmospheric pressure), it is found in practice that
there is an optimum value of pressure for the separator vessel which
will give the maximum yield of stable stock-tank oil (i.e. the minimum
value of Bo or the minimum shrinkage).
• The API gravity of the stock-tank oil at this optimum pressure will also
be a maximum, since it will contain the highest percentage of the
lighter hydrocarbon components, and the producing gas-oil ratio will be
a minimum.
• These relationships are shown in Fig. 4 for a typical case, where it can
be seen that the optimum separator pressure for the crude in this
example is just over 100psig. It is found that for the great majority of
crude oils the optimum separator pressure for a single-stage separator
system falls between 100psig and 120psig.

18
Fig. 4 Optimum Pressure for Single-Stage Separator
Bo (rb/stb) ºAPI R (scf/stb)

1.500 Stock-tank Oil 800

41.0
Gravity, ºAPI

1.490 40.5 780

1.480 40.0 760

Bo

1.470 39.5 740

50 100 150 200 250 300
SEPARATOR PRESSURE, psig

19
 Optimum Separator Pressure
• The amount (in moles) of each component in the gas is proportional to
the product of its K factor (ratio of mole fraction in vapour phase to
that of liquid) and total number of moles of gas.
– Since both of these have high values at the low separator pressure, the yield of
stock-tank oil is fairly low, as considerable amounts of the intermediates have
been lost from the liquid to the separated gas stream.
• If the separator pressure is high:
– The amount of gas coming out of solution in the separator will be relatively low,
and it will contain lower concentrations of intermediates, since they have low K
factors at the high pressure.
– The volume of oil passing to the stock-tank is therefore high. However, a
significant amount of methane remains in this oil and will quickly vaporise when it
reaches the stock-tank, taking some of the intermediates with it.
– The final result is a relatively low yield of stock tank oil, since this oil will be very
unstable and show serious shrinkage due to loss of the light hydrocarbons.

20
 Optimum Separator Pressure Cont.

• If the separator is operated at an intermediate pressure:

– The result is to produce a stable stock-tank oil containing very little
methane (and ethane) but still containing quite substantial amounts
of butanes, pentanes, etc. which would be lost to the gas when
operating at high pressures or at pressures close to atmospheric.
– Under these conditions the volume of stock-tank oil obtained is at
(or close to) a maximum, while its API gravity is a maximum (i.e.
minimum specific gravity) on account of the relatively high content
of intermediates.

21
 Multi-stage Systems
• If a multistage separation system is used, it is possible to achieve a
considerably higher yield of stock-tank oil from a given crude than that
given by a single stage operated at its optimum pressure, since the
overall process will approximate more closely to the ideal differential
separation.
• The increase in stock-tank oil yield obtained will depend on the crude
characteristics and the stage pressures used, but will typically be around
8% to 10% when a second stage of separation is added, and can be
increased further if additional stages are used.
• In some offshore fields, up to 5 stages of separation are used (e.g., the
Gulf of Mexico).

22
 Choice of Pressures (1)

• In a multi-stage system, the pressure of the first stage

separator is governed by:
– flowing wellhead pressures in the system,
– the chokes in use, and
– the layout of the gas compression system.
• If the first stage pressure is too high, well flowrates may be
too restricted; if it is too low, gas compression power
required (for gas sales, gas lift or re-injection) will be
unnecessarily high.
• Pressures in the range 30 barg to 50 barg are commonly
used for the first stage in North Sea practice.

23
 Choice of Pressures (2)

• In the Gulf of Mexico, tubing-head pressures are high and first

stage pressures as high as 120 barg are used in some cases.
– When this is done it may be possible for the gas separated in the first
stage to be exported directly to shore without any further
compression.
• The pressure of the last stage will usually be fixed in the
range 2 barg to 4 barg, which is sufficiently above
atmospheric pressure to provide adequate drive for the flow of
oil from the separator to storage and the flow of water to the
produced water treatment system.

24
 Choice of Pressures (3)

• The pressures of the intermediate stages then need to be determined for optimum
performance.
– This is usually done by using a relation such as the following:
R = (p1 / ps )1/n
Where p1 = pressure of first stage
ps = pressure of last stage
n = number of stages minus 1
R = pressure ratio between adjacent stages
– This assumes that R is chosen to be the same for all stages, which is usually the case as
this is found to maximise the liquid recovery in the system.
– Note that all pressures used in the above calculation are absolute values. Laboratory
studies may also be carried out to help determine the optimum stage pressures for the
separator system.

25
 Effect of Separator Temperature

• Separator systems will usually include heat exchangers at suitable points in the system,
for example to cool the oil to a temperature close to atmospheric before it goes to the
stock-tank; this will keep down losses due to evaporation in storage.
• The first stage separator is often operated at wellhead oil temperature, before any
cooling takes place; since the hydrocarbons have higher K factor values at the higher
temperature, more of the lighter components will go into the vapour phase and be
removed with the separated gas, and this will reduce the RVP value of the stock-tank
oil produced.
• Another advantage of using higher separator temperatures is that the oil viscosity will
be lower, allowing the water droplets suspended in the oil to separate out more rapidly
and so giving a lower BS&W value for the produced oil. (On some Gulf of Mexico fields
the oil coming from the wellhead is actually heated before entry to the separators,
since the wellhead temperatures are relatively low).

26
 Downstream Treating

• Oil leaving the separators may need further processing in a treater to reduce the BS&W
before passing to storage or to the pipeline. This is common for low API oils on account
of their higher viscosities, since it is more difficult to separate the water droplets from
the oil zone in the separator.
• Black oils with moderate API values usually have fairly low viscosities and already meet
the BS&W requirement as they leave the separator, so they require no further
treatment before export.
• In a few cases, the oil may require treatment to reduce a high sulphur content which
can cause unacceptable rates of corrosion in pipelines (e.g. the Buzzard field in the
North Sea).
• In the case of gas fields, it may be advisable to use a heat exchanger to heat the gas
before it enters the separator. This may be done, for example, when the Joule-
Thomson cooling over the choke has caused the gas temperature to fall to a value
where hydrate formation becomes a risk.

27
 Fig. 6 3-Phase Horizontal Separator
• Separator vessels are usually cylindrical (although spherical separators
are also used). A horizontal 3-Phase separator is shown below.
Demister Pressure
Pad Control
Deflector
Plate Gas
Out
Baffles
Well
Fluids

Gas
Oil Level

Oil
Level Control
Water

Level Weir Oil

Control Out
Water out

28
 Fig.7 3-Phase Vertical Separator
Gas Out

Pressure Control
• A vertical separator
of the 3-phase type Demister
is shown to the Gas
Pad
right.
Inlet Deflector

Well Oil Oil Out

Fluids

Water Water Out

Level
Controls

29
 2-Phase and 3-Phase Separators

• A 3-phase separator is one in which 3 fluid streams leave the

separator, i.e., oil, gas and water.
• 2-phase separators are also used; in these only two fluid
streams leave the separator, usually a gas stream and a
liquid stream containing both oil and water.

30
 Common Separator Types
• The type of separator most widely used in oilfield service is the
horizontal type with a single barrel, as shown in Fig. 6. This type is also
common in gas field service; although the liquid flowrates are much
lower in this type of service, it is still desirable to provide for the
substantial volumes of liquid surge which can occur during start-up,
process upsets, etc.
• More elaborate designs of separator can be found in Ref. 2.
• The following discussion will focus on horizontal separators of the type
shown in Fig. 6, but the same general principles apply (in modified form)
to the other types of separator.

31
 Requirements for Separators

• A primary separation section to absorb the momentum of the entering fluid jet and
carry out the initial rough separation;
• Sufficient liquid capacity to handle surges in the flow and to give sufficient liquid
residence time for foam to drain, emulsions to break, and water droplets to settle out
of the oil.
• Sufficient length and height in the gas space above the liquid to allow the larger liquid
droplets (hydrocarbons and water) suspended in the gas stream to settle out.
• Provision for stabilising the gas flow in the separator and reducing turbulence to give
good settling conditions so that liquid droplets suspended in the gas stream can settle
out into the liquid stream below;
• A mist extractor capable of removing from the gas stream those liquid droplets too
small to separate out under gravity (typically less than 100 µm in diameter);
• Controls to maintain the vessel pressure and liquid levels within suitable limits.

32
 Separator Features (1)
• The basic mechanism used in conventional separators is gravitational
settling.
• The primary separation as the fluids enter the vessel can be carried out
by a simple deflector plate or inlet diverter.
• More complex layouts of vanes are often used to enhance the
separation of gas and liquid at this initial stage (as in the vertical
separator shown in Fig. 7).
• Some designs use cyclone-type devices (single or multiple) to enhance
primary separation.
• The oil level in horizontal separators is controlled by the height of the
weir plate (Fig. 6), and is usually set at the horizontal diameter of the
vessel, although in some cases it may be higher (if amounts of gas are
small and a long liquid retention time is required).

33
 Separator Features (2)

• Closely-spaced inclined parallel baffle plates (sometimes

called Dixon plates) are often mounted in the gas space
above the liquid in the main body of the separator so that the
gas flows along the narrow passages between them. These
baffle plates are:
1.to calm the gas flow, reducing turbulence and providing a fairly
uniform velocity distribution which gives maximum opportunity for
suspended liquid droplets to settle out of the gas stream into the
liquid below, and
2.to allow any foam to drain. To assist this, the baffles are inclined with
their surfaces at an angle (around 45º) to the vertical.

34
 Separator Features (3)

• Before leaving the separator, the gas stream passes through a demister
pad (or mist eliminator or mist extractor), which is usually about 100
mm to 150 mm thick and formed of fine wire mesh.
• Small liquid droplets suspended in the gas stream impinge on the wires
of the pad, where they coalesce into much larger drops which drain
down into the main body of liquid below, thus reducing liquid carryover
in the gas.
• Water jets are fitted in the bottom of the separator to periodically
fluidise and flush out any sand deposited there from the well fluids.

35
 Separator Features (4)

• In horizontal separators, a vortex breaker (usually formed of two

intersecting perpendicular plates) will be fitted just above the oil outlet;
this prevents the development of a drain-hole vortex which could allow
gas to flow out with the oil leaving the separator (i.e., blowby).
• Three phase horizontal separators (as in Fig. 6) have a separate water
take-off with level control on the water-oil interface behind the weir.
• Floating production systems such as FPSO's may use horizontal
separators with design modifications to reduce any disturbances caused
by the motion of the vessel - e.g. using a split-flow design with well
fluids entering at the centre of the vessel, or having internal baffles to
reduce liquid surging, and low length-to-diameter ratios are commonly
used.

36
 Separator Design (1)

• The design techniques employed are quite basic, since little

or no information will be available on such parameters as the
distribution of liquid droplet sizes suspended in the gas
phase, and much of the procedure is therefore based on
empirical methods rather than on detailed analysis.
• The composition of the well fluids will undergo major changes
during the life of the field (such as changes in watercut,
producing gas-oil ratio, etc.), and therefore it is essential that
the design provides for sufficient flexibility to cope with these
changes.

37
 Separator Design (2)
• The standard methods of design are based on the semi-
empirical Souders-Brown relation, which is:-
0.5
 ρL − ρG 
u = K S  
 ρG 
Where u = superficial velocity of the gas (based on
total cross - sectional area for gas flow
above the oil)
KS = an empirical constant
ρG = density of the gas at separator conditions
ρL = density of the oil at separator conditions

38
 Separator Design (3)
• For horizontal separators, a typical value of KS is in the range of 0.12
m/s to 0.15 m/s (giving u directly in m/s). This value is recommended
by the pad manufacturer and gives the maximum gas velocity for which
the demister pad will work effectively.
• A length to diameter ratio of 5:1 is standard for such separator vessels
(where the length is measured tangent-to-tangent). From these
calculations the diameter and length of separator required to handle the
specified gas flow may be estimated.
• Checks are then carried out to ensure that these dimensions will
provide sufficient retention time (or residence time) for the oil phase;
this is necessary for
1. drainage of any foam, and
2. allowing any oil-water emulsion to break and for water droplets suspended in the
oil to settle down into the water zone below (in the case of a three-phase
separator).

39
 Separator Design (4)

• To obtain the retention time for the oil, the volume of oil contained in
the separator is divided by the oil flow rate. Retention times of 1 min
to 3 min will usually be sufficient for foam drainage, although oils liable
to severe foaming may sometimes require much longer than this. Foam
depressant chemicals may be added to the oil stream entering the
separator in order to reduce foaming and permit an increase in the
crude flowrate.
• Water separation in three-phase separators often requires oil residence
times of 3 min to 5 min, although for heavy, viscous crudes much
longer times may be necessary - up to 20 min in some cases, requiring
the use of very large separator vessels.

40
 Separator Design (5)

• If a long oil residence time is required, as with viscous crudes, this will
control the separator size, and the area of demister pad required for
the gas flow will be relatively small.
• For light, low-viscosity crudes, it is likely to be the demister pad area
required that will control the separator size.
• Changes in conditions must be considered, since late in field life the
water cut may become very high (over 90% in some cases) and the
gas-oil ratio will change considerably.
• Design procedures for scrubbers, knock-out drums, etc are based on
essentially the same principles as those described above for
separators.

41
 Choice of Horizontal or Vertical Separators

• Horizontal separators tend to be preferred for operations where large

amounts of liquid need to be handled, i.e. for low producing gas-oil
ratios, and also for oils which have high foaming tendencies. They tend
to give better oil-water separation than vertical separators, since there
is a larger area of interface between the two liquid phases.
• Vertical separators are usually preferred for gas fields and services with
high gas-oil ratios. (Note - vertical separators in gas field service are
often called scrubbers). Vertical separators also have advantages for
fields where sand production is high, since it is easier to remove sand
effectively from vertical separators than from horizontal ones.

42
 Choice of Horizontal or Vertical Separators
Cont.

• Vertical separators obviously have the advantage of a smaller footprint

than horizontal separators, and so will be preferred where space is
severely restricted, (but note that for multi-stage horizontal separators
the vessels can be stacked one above another to reduce the footprint if
necessary).
• In gas field service, vertical separators are often of the two-phase
type, with the oil (condensate) and water leaving together from the
same outlet. Vertical separators may be better for situations where
frequent liquid surges are expected, since their geometry makes it
possible for the high-level shutdown to be located well above the
normal liquid level, and this allows more time for the outlet flow to
respond to a surge.

43
 Separator Controls

• Effective control of the pressure and the levels of the gas/oil and
oil/water interfaces in the separator vessels are essential to satisfactory
separator operation.
• The pressure in the separator must be controlled at a constant value
independently of changes in the gas and liquid flowrates and the
conditions in the equipment linked with the separator.
• This is normally done by a back-pressure valve on the gas outlet from
the separator.
• The outlet valves (or dump valves) which discharge oil and water from
the separator are controlled by level controllers which use floats to
sense the appropriate interface levels in the separator.
• High and low level alarms are set at the top and bottom of the
acceptable ranges of these levels.

44
 Operational Problems in Separators
• A number of problems frequently occur in the operation of
separator systems; these are briefly discussed below
1) Emulsions
2) Foaming
3) Paraffins (Waxes)
4) Sand
5) Carryover and Blowby

45
 1) Emulsions

• The formation of oil-water emulsions can seriously interfere with

separator performance.
• The presence of surface-active substances in the crude, combined with
the vigorous shearing action on the well fluid stream as it passes
through chokes, valves, etc, promotes the formation of stable
emulsions, especially with the more viscous crudes. Fine sand particles
in the well fluids can also play a part in stabilising emulsions.
• Emulsions hinder the effective separation of water from the oil, reduce
the effective volume available for water droplets to separate under
gravity and can also cause difficulties in controlling the oil-water
interface in the separator. All these tend to increase the BS&W of the
oil leaving the separator.

46
 1) Emulsions Cont.

• Emulsion problems can be reduced by

1.The injection of emulsion-breaking chemicals upstream of
the separator, and
2.Maintaining a higher temperature in the fluid stream
entering the separator (which further speeds up the
breaking of emulsions).

47
 2) Foaming

• Foaming can cause severe problems with some oils - e.g.

some Mexican crudes.
• This occurs when the foam generated by agitation in the flow
entering the separator and the evolution of gas is stabilised
by surfactants in the oil and takes a long time to break - i.e.
for the gas bubbles to break and allow the liquid to drain.
• The gas space in the separator can gradually fill with foam
which then passes out with the gas stream causing severe
liquid carryover and may also be entrained in the oil outlet.

48
 2) Foaming Cont.

• As in the case of emulsions, the injection of a suitable foam-

depressant chemical and the maintenance of higher
temperatures in the fluids entering the separator help to
reduce the problem.
• However, in some cases it is found that the cost of foam
depressants on a long-term basis is unacceptably high, and it
is then necessary to use larger separator vessels with a long
retention time which allows the foam to break and drain
without the use of chemicals.

49
 3) Paraffins (Waxes)

• Low API gravity crudes, particularly those of a paraffinic type, contain

substantial amounts of long-chain alkane molecules which can deposit
as waxes in the separators as the crude cools. These deposits can build
up over time and reduce the effective volume of the separator.
• Waxy deposits may build up on wires of the demister pad, reduce its
efficiency and eventually plug it; they may also affect the operation of
level controls, etc.
• The possibility of paraffin problems requires careful consideration at
the design stage, as it may require major changes in the design of the
system e.g. the use of centrifugal types of mist extractor instead of the
conventional mesh pads.
• If possible, the temperature of the oil should be kept above its cloud
point as it passes through the separator system in order to reduce the
risks.

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 4) Sand

• Most wells will produce some sand at some stage in

their lives. Sometimes this happens quite suddenly,
and the large amounts of sand that can be produced
may fill up the separator.
• Sand jets and drains should be provided in the
separator to ensure effective removal of sand.

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 5) Carryover and Blowby

• Careful design of the separator internals, e.g. the inlet

diverter, can help to reduce carryover by improving the flow
pattern in the gas space.
• Experimental studies of the gas flow patterns in separator
models and CFD (computational fluid dynamics) studies have
in some cases proved very helpful in achieving this.
• Carryover may also result from high liquid levels (which lead
to increased gas velocity).
• Blowby may be caused by vortex formation at the oil outlet,
or by low liquid flowrates.

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New Developments in Separation Technology
• Recent years have seen marked interest in sub-sea
separation:
– An important feature of this is that the produced water from the sub-
sea separator can be reinjected from the sea-bed without being
brought to the surface. This offers important advantages in efficiency
and economy for deepwater production systems.
– In Norway this concept has been applied for some years on the Troll
field and more recently on the Tordis field using the Subsea
Separation and Injection System (SUBSIS). The SUBSIS unit uses a
modified design of conventional horizontal separator adapted for
subsea use.

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New Developments in Separation Technology
Cont.

– Alternative subsea separation systems are being developed based on

cyclone-type separation principles using centrifugal forces, e.g. the
CySep system developed by AkerKvaerner.
– Another cyclone-type subsea separation system is the vertical
caisson separator (VASPS) developed by Shell and FMC which has
been installed on the Parque das Conchas field in the Campos basin,
Brazil, where production started in mid-2009.

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 References
• Further materials on the design and operation of separation
systems can be found in:
1) M Stewart and K Arnold, Surface Production Operations (3rd
edition), Vol 1 Design of Oil-Handling Systems and Facilities, (Gulf
Publishing, Houston, 2007)
2) J M Campbell, Gas Conditioning and Processing (7th edition) Vol.
2, The Equipment Modules (Campbell Petroleum Series, Norman OK,
1992)

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