What are Oil and Gas Separators?

Johar Manufacturing Services L.L.C

Published Feb 7, 2022

What is a Separator?
 A separator is a pressure vessel used to separate well fluids produced from oil and gas
wells into gaseous and liquid components in the oil field. Hydrocarbon streams are
made up of a mixture of gas, liquid hydrocarbons, and free water at the wellhead. In
most cases, it's best to divide these phases as soon as possible so that the two or three
phases can be handled separately. The liquids are separated from the gas phase
bypassing the good stream through an oil-gas water separator.
SEPARATION PROCESS OF Separators:     
Introduction: The crude oil mixture is collected from the well, using by flowline. It
will be reaching to gathering center. A gathering center is a facility to collect crude oil
mixture from the wells, coming to a single head. According to pressure, it is divider
and feeding to various production separators.

The separator is a mechanical vessel/equipment as shown below figure. The Inlet is a

crude oil mixture (Oil, Gas, and Water). It is separated by the gravity and pressure
difference like GAS, OIL & WATER. 
PRIMARY GAS-LIQUID SEPARATION PROCESS:

Separators are mechanical devices used for the primary separation to remove and
collect liquid from natural gas, which is normally accomplished with the aid of
centrifugal force.
WHAT DOES A SEPARATOR DO?                   
The figure explains the mixture of OIL, GAS, and WATER that it is in emulsion form
entering to a static vessel so that Gas is lighter than the liquid and it will move to
topside within a resonant type and liquid itself is a water and oil (emulsion mixture)
still for separation which will take certain time. Water is heavier than oil, water will
settle down and oil will be in the middle. This is the basic principle of a separator.

When the well fluid is entering from the inlet and inside arrangements are called
separator internals working like a mechanical helper. The mechanical internal devices
help accelerate better/perfect suppression. It will also be breaking the emulsion due to
pressure difference or gravity difference; Gas will immediately travel to the top of the
Gas Outlet. 

Separators are sometimes called:      

1.   Scrubbers

2.   Accumulators

3.   Flash tanks

4.   Knock Out drums (KO drums).

Separator CLASSIFICATION:                       
The below figure describes the classification of the separator as Vertical, Horizontal,
and Spherical. It is classified according to pressure, quantity/volume of gas, or oil.

The separator is classified into Phases and by Shape as follows. These separators are
used in companies for different operations on the atmospheric separator, medium
pressure separator, high-pressure separator according to the well fluid pressure.

By Phase:

Three Phase – Gas, Oil, and Water

Two-Phase – Gas and Oil

 By Shape:

Horizontal, Vertical, and Spherical

THE MAIN FUNCTIONS OF AN OIL-GAS FIELD

SEPARATOR ARE:  
 To cause primary phase separation of gas from liquid and continue by removing
entrained liquids from gas.

Sufficient time is allowed in the separator for gas to be released from oil as well as to
permit the separation of oil and water.

The controls provide to prevent the gas from escaping with the liquids.
To discharge the separated fluids, form the vessel in such a manner that re-mixing of
any of the fluids is impossible.

PHYSICAL FACTORS FOR SEPARATORS TO

FUNCTION:  
The three physical factors are necessary for separators to function and accelerate to get
better results for separation.

1.   Gravity

2.   Fluid insolubility

3.   Difference in fluid densities

 Gas is very much lighter than crude oil, and in a separator gas
and oil will separate in a few seconds.
 Because of the vast difference in density between gas and crude
oil, almost all the gas instantly separates from crude oil in the
separator.
 Approximately 90% of gas from liquid separation occurs
instantly, this is known as primary separation or flash
separation.
   Some liquid remains in the gas in the form of a fine mist, this
entrained liquid must be removed for separation to be
completed.
  If the mist is not removed from the gas phase in the separator,
the liquid will settle out in the gas outlet flow line, possibly in a
burner, and cause a hazardous condition. Also, an amount of
crude oil production will be lost.

WHAT ARE SEPARATION STAGES?                

There are two stages in the process of separation of gas from liquid.

Primary Separation:

The large difference between the densities of gas and crude oil, about 95% separation
occurs almost instantly. This is called primary separation. Some of the crude oil
remains in the gas as a fine mist.

Secondary Separation:
The most difficult function of a gas/liquid separator is to remove the oil mist from the
gas. The mist cannot be removed unless the fine droplets in the mist can be made to
join (to coalesce) to make large drops that become heavy and fall out of the gas.

Coalescing devices are used in the separator to make these fine droplets join. In a
coalescing device, the liquid sticks to the surface of the device and combines with other
drops to eventually form a drop large enough to fall out.

PROBLEM CAUSED BY POOR SEPARATION   

Poor operation of the separator can cause downstream problems. For example, liquid
can settle out in gas lines, possibly in a burner system, causing serious problems in the
downstream equipment.

If gas remains in the liquid, it can cause cavitation in pumps and increase pressure in
vessels.

Retention Time (Residence Time)

Gas bubbles in the liquid will break out of the crude oil phase in most oil production
separators in 30 to 60 seconds. Therefore, the separator is designed so that the liquid
stays inside the vessel for 30 to 60 seconds. The length of time that the liquid stays
inside the separator is called the liquid residence time or the time required for
gas to bubble out of the liquid.

A tangential inlet or internal diverter is used to cause a spinning motion of the

incoming gas. A properly designed separator will also provide for the release of the
entrained gases from the accumulated hydrocarbon liquids. The objective of ideal
separator selection and design is to separate the hydrocarbon stream into liquid-free
gas and gas-free liquid. Ideally, the gas and liquid reach a state of equilibrium at the
existing conditions of Pressure and Temperature within the vessel.

SEPARATOR CONTROL SYSTEM                     

Control systems are important to all process equipment to make sure each piece of
equipment works safely and efficiently.
The control system controls the important process variables with a set point to achieve
the best operating values.

The important process variables in the separator are pressure and level. Pressure
controlled by a Pressure Control Valve (PCV) installed in the Gas outlet and Liquid level
controlled by Level Controlled Valve (LCV) installed in the liquid outlet line. 

Safeguard SYSTEM                                       
Safeguard systems are an important part of the process plant and equipment, which
operate the plant safe and efficient level.
Safeguards activate alarms and provide an automatic shut down of all inlets and blow
down all gas outlets in any abnormal conditions.

Safeguard system protects personnel, plant, and the environment from abnormal
operating conditions, like pressure high/low, level high/low, temperature high/low,
high vibration, gas leak, fire, or instrumentation pressure low.

Examples of safeguard systems are shut down valves, different alarms, switches, etc.

 SEPARATOR OPERATION                                

With the separator in normal service, the following checks should be made.

Observe the various level, pressure, temperature, and flow control instruments to see
that they are controlled within the proper desired ranges.

Diaphragm operated control valves should be stroked occasionally to see that they will
fully open or close without restriction.

Gauge glasses should be drained and cleaned occasionally to prevent the build-up of
scale and debris in the lines. The build-up of scale and debris in the lines could cause
false readings.

The pressure drop across demister pads and other coalescing devices should be
monitored for an increase, which indicates a build-up of solids, and the need to clean
or replace the devices.

TROUBLESHOOTING SEPARATORS                
A process of elimination finds the cause of an operating problem. Each event, which
can cause the problem, is checked until the cause is found. The proper sequence for
checking the various causes is to eliminate the easy ones first. These are the
instruments, (pressure gauges, control valve positions, controller output pressures,
gauge glasses, flow meters, etc.).

In making these checks, make sure that the instruments are working properly and not
giving a false reading. Once the easy causes are checked and eliminated, the most
difficult causes are checked.
Another important of troubleshooting is that of maintaining an overall view of the total

process, and not just the troublesome equipment.

Problems at the front-end of a plant often show up at the back-end. Find the source of
the problem before attempting to fix it.