CRUDE STABILIZATION TASK

1a. Reid Vapor Pressure (RVP) is a measure of volatility of petroleum products.

It is the absolute vapor pressure of vapor and liquid at 100°F (37.8°C).
b) True Vapor Pressure (TVP) is the pressure at which the gas and liquid in a
closed container are in equilibrium at a given temperature. It is the pressure
exerted by the equilibrium vapor of a liquid when confined in a closed vessel.
c) Shrinkage- This is the reduction in volume of a gas stream by removal of
some of its constituents. In the case of oil, shrinkage is the reduction of oil as
gas is evolved.
d) Stabilization- This involves the removal of the most volatile components of a
crude oil to reduce the Reid vapor pressure i.e. removing the light ends from
the crude.
e) Multi-Stage Separation- This is the most common method of removing
dissolved gas from crude oil by phase separation in a series of flash drums or
vapor-liquid separator vessels at successively lower pressures.
f) Production GOR is the ratio of produced gas to produced liquid hydrocarbon
from a well. This may be expressed as standard cubic meters of gas per cubic
meter of stock tank liquid.
2. RVP specifications are kept between 10-12 psia to maintain the RVP below
atmospheric pressure level in order to prevent oil vaporization (flashing), while
also maximizing crude recovery to avoid any loss of valuable components
caused by shrinkage.
3. The factors to be considered when optimizing an MSS process is
compression ratio
4. The number of stages affects stock tank recovery, GOR and shrinkage;
 Increase in the number of stages would increase the crude oil recovered
(i.e. stock tank recovery) as each stage would separate additional gas
from the oil, enhancing the overall recovery.
 Increase in the number of stages would reduce the GOR due to a
reduction in the gas content of the product with the addition of each
stage thus, reducing the gas to oil ratio.
  Shrinkage is the reduction in volume of oil as gas is evolved, an increase
in the number of stages would increase the amount of gas evolved
leading to an increase in shrinkage.
5. Compression ratio per stage does not exceed 3.6-4 because compressing at
higher compression ratios can lead to excessively higher discharge
temperatures, which have the potential to damage the compressor.
6. Difference between RVP and TVP- the RVP differs from the TVP due to
vaporization and the presence of water vapor and air in a confined space. In
the TVP we remove all air and water by vacuum. On the other hand, RVP is
done without the need of any vacuum, it is carried out from the RVP test
method.
7. Flowstation

Separated
Vapor

Well
Stream 1000 Psig

P1 Psig

0 Psig

Stabilized
Crude
8. Two problems associated with MSS processes are
 Condensate formation
 High compression ratio
9. A cold feed stabilizer gives slightly lower crude recovery than a stabilizer
column with reflux due to the absence of a reflux in the cold feed stabilizer
which uses “flashing” as its primary mode of separation. The reflux refers to
the fraction of liquid that has been vaporized and returned to the column,
which helps improve separation and recovery by further removing the lighter
components from the feed.
10. The technical and economic objective of crude stabilization with multi-
stage separation is;
 Increase crude recovery
 Increase crude API gravity
 Reduces gas production
 Reduces the gas HC dew point.
11. Show mathematically how the presence of light components reduces the
partial pressure of other intermediate components.
Assuming a composition of C1 and C5
PT = PC1+PC5
PC1= (XC1) (P°C1)……….
PT = (XC1) (P°C1) + (XC5) (P°C5)
Where X=mole fraction of component
PT=Total pressure of composition
P°=components vapor pressure in its pure state
Assuming the following parameters;
XC1= 0.35, P°C1= 613.07atm
XC5= 0.65, P°C5= 0.6762atm
PT = (0.35) (613.07) + (0.65) (0.6762)
PT= 214.57 + 0.44
PT= 215.01 atm
The vapor fraction for each component is;
C1=> 214.57/215.01 = 0.99
C5=> 0.44/215.01 =0.01
If we were to constantly sweep away the vapor from the composition, then
more of the composition would vaporize. What happens is that we would
remove more and more of the component with the higher vapor pressure
(C1). Thus, increasing the partial pressure of C5 in the composition.
12. 3 crude oil stabilization schemes are;
 Multistage Separation
 Hot Stripping
 Two-stage Rectification
13. The crude oil specifications that are generally considered after it has been
treated and processed are;
 Reid vapor pressure
 H2S content
 BS&W
 API gravity

14. The bulk of the pressure loss from the well FTP to the first production
separator is lost at the control valve where flashing would occur, this would
cause a substantial decrease in pressure as a consequence of the evaporation
of a segment of the crude oil originating from the well.
15. The pressure of a typical oil and gas separator is controlled by a Pressure
Control Valve (PCV)
16. Light end hydrocarbons is a term used to describe the volatile
components of crude (i.e. C1 C2 C3). RVP is a measure of volatility or the
tendency of a liquid to vaporize. The light ends present in the crude oil
contributes to the overall volatility by increasing the amount of easily
vaporizable components in the mixture which leads to a higher Reid vapor
pressure.