Multi-phase Separator Overview

Introduction
Oil well streams are separated into three phases components (i.e. oil, water and gas) by a
production facility known as a “separator” and process into some marketable products or
deposed them in an environmentally acceptable manner (Arnold. & Stewart., 1999).
Separator are classified as two phases and three phases. We talk of a two phase separator,
if it separate gas from the total fluid stream and three phase if it also takes into
consideration the separation of the liquid stream into it various component and water
component.
The three phase separator works on the principle that the three components have different
densities, which allows them to stratify when moving slowly with gas on top, water on
the bottom and oil in the middle. Any solids such as sand will also settle in the bottom of
the separator. These separating vessels are normally used on a producing lease or
platform near the wellhead, manifold, or tank battery to separate fluids produced from oil
and gas wells into oil, gas and water. Separators are often classified by their geometrical
configuration; vertical, horizontal, and spherical (Saeid et al 2006) and their function,
two-phase and three-phase separators. Separators are two-phase if they.
separate gas from the total liquid stream and three-phase if they also separate the liquid
stream into its crude oil and water-rich phases (Ken and Maurice 1998). Additionally,
separators can be categorized according to their operating pressure; high, medium and
low. Low-pressure units handle pressure of about 0.7 to 12 bar (70 to 1200 kPa).
Medium-pressure separators operate from about 15 to 48 bar (1500 to 4800 kPa). High-
pressure units handle pressure of about 65 to 103 bar (6500 to 10300 kPa). In other
words, they may be classified by applications (test, production, low temperature, for this
work, only three-phase separators (vertical) are design. The principle of gravity settling,
centrifugation and coalescing are involved in separators. In the gravity settling section,
gravitational forces control separation, and the efficiency of the gas-liquid separation is
increases by lowering the gas velocity. Because of the large vessel size required to
achieve settling, gravity separators are rarely designed to remove droplets smaller than
250m (Taravera, 1990) Also, residence time in the vessel is an important criterion for
better separation. In centrifugal separators, centrifugal forces act on droplet at forces
several times greater than gravity as it enters a cylindrical separator. Generally,
centrifugal separators are used for removing droplets greater than 100 µm in diameter,
and a properly sized centrifugal separator can have a reasonable removal efficiency of
droplet sizes as low as 10 µm. They are also extremely useful for gas streams with high
particulate loading (Talavera, 1990). Very small droplets such as fog or mist cannot be
separated practically by gravity. However, they can be coalesced to form larger droplets
that will separate out. Coalescing devices in separators force gas to follow a tortuous
path. The momentum of the droplets causes them to collide with other droplets or with
the coalescing device, forming larger droplets. These can then separate out of the gas
phase due to the influence of gravity. Wire mesh screens, Vane elements, and Filter
cartridges are typical examples of coalescing devices.

Separator Classifications
1- Horizontal Separator
2- Vertical Separator
3- Spherical Separator

Separators Configuration
The basic design aspect of three phase separators is identical to those of two phase
separator but the only addition is more concern on the liquid-liquid settling rates and that
some means of removing free water must be added. Separators are configured according
to the requirement and the properties of the crude if the gas is much more entrain in the
liquid phase measures should be taken as to solve the problem. Water removal is a
function of the control methods used to maintain separation and removal from the oil.
The following configurations are that of vertical and horizontal separators. Separators are
designed and manufactured in horizontal, vertical, spherical, and a variety of other
configurations. Each configuration has specific advantages and limitations. Selection is
based on obtaining the desired results at the lowest life cycle cost.

Functional Sections of a Three Phase Separator

Each separators contains four major section regardless of the shape. This sections
includes
 Inlet diverter section
 Liquid collection section
 Gravity settling section
 Mist extractor section
Inlet diverter section
The inlet stream to the separator is typically a high -velocity turbulent mixture of gas and
liquid. Due to the high velocity, the fluids enter the separator with a high momentum.
The inlet diverter, sometimes referred to as the primary separation section, abruptly
changes the direction of flow by absorbing the momentum of the liquid and allowing the
liquid and gas to separate
This results in the initial “gross” separation of liquid and gas.
Liquid collection section
The liquid collection section, located at the bottom of the vessel, provides the required
retention time necessary for any entrained gas in the liquid to escape to the gravity
settling section. In addition, it provides a surge volume to handle intermittent slugs.
The degree of separation is dependent on the retention time provided.
Liquid-liquid separation requires longer retention times than gas-liquid separation.
Gravity settling section
At the gravity settling section, small liquid droplets that were entrained in the gas and not
separated by the inlet diverter are separated out by gravity and fall to the gas liquid
interface.
The gravity settling section is sized so that liquid droplets greater than 100 to 140
microns fall to the gas-liquid interface while smaller liquid droplets remain with the gas.
Mist extractor section
Gas leaving the gravity settling section contains small liquid droplets, generally less than
100 to 140 microns.
Before the gas leaves the vessel, it passes through a coalescing section or mist extractor.
This section uses coalescing elements that provide a large amount of surface area used to
coalesce and remove the small droplets of liquid. These droplets impinge and collect on
the coalescing elements, where they fall to the liquid collection section.

Vessel Internal
Vessel internals are essential to enhance droplet coalescence processes in separators.
Generally, gas-liquid separators without any enhancement internals can only remove
liquid entrainment with sizes above 100 micron. By adding efficient internals, the
corresponding droplet size can be reduced to 5-10 microns (Yaojun, SPE, & and, 2009).
This indicates that the gas-liquid separation efficiency can be enhanced considerably by
properly designed vessel internals. It is for this reason that varieties of vessel internals
have been developed which include; inlet devices, perforated baffles, mesh pads, vane
packs, and spiral flow demisters. The details of the various internals below are based on
the SPE paper of Yaojun Lu and John Green of FMC Technologies Inc. and a research
paper of Saeid Rahimi.
Inlet Diverters
Inlet diverters serve to impart flow direction of the entering vapor/liquid stream and
provide primary separator between the liquid and vapor. A number of different inlet
devices are available, with different working mechanisms. Their performances differ
from each other, both in efficiency and complexity. The inlet devices have large impact
on the overall separator efficiency.
Diverter or Baffle Plate
A baffle plate can be a spherical dish, flat plate, angle iron, cone, elbow, or just about
anything that will accomplish a rapid change in direction and velocity of the fluids and
thus disengage the gas and liquid. The gas will flow around the diverter while the liquid
strikes the diverter and falls down in the liquid section of the vessel. The design of such
devices is relatively simple, it mainly needs to withstand the forces acting on it, but the
geometry can vary according to fluid conditions.
Half Pipe
A half pipe inlet is a horizontally oriented cylinder where the bottom half is removed
lengthwise. It has a simple design, but sends both gas and liquid downward into the
separator and some gas may be entrained in to the liquid. Half open pipes are the
modified versions of 90° elbow devices, suitable for both vertical and horizontal
separators, with slightly improved bulk liquid removal and reasonable gas distribution.
Slotted Tee Distributor
The slotted T-shaped distributor consists of a vertical pipe extended inside the vessel to
bring the distributor to the right elevation and a slotted pipe with large holes or
rectangular slots (perpendicular to the inlet pipe) ensuring a reduced feed stream velocity
and minimized flow turbulence. As shown in the Figure below, it can be used in both
vertical and horizontal (top entry only) separators. The openings of the slots are usually
120° (±60°) and towards the dish end and liquid interface in horizontal and vertical
vessels, respectively.
Tangential inlet with annular ring
Tangential inlet devices have been exclusively developed for vertical vessels. The feed
flow radially enters the vessel and accelerates passing through the inlet device, the
cyclonic action of the inlet device helps the liquid droplets flow on the wall of the vessel
and the stripped gas to flow through the central section of the inlet device (annular ring)
to the gas outlet nozzle.
Deflector Baffle
Deflector baffles are historically one of the most common types of inlet devices in oil and
gas industries before the advent of inlet devices with higher separation efficiency become
so popular. This device simply uses a baffle plate in front of the inlet nozzle to change the
direction of the inlet stream and separate the bulk of the liquid from the gas. Figure below
shows a horizontal baffle designed so that settled fluid flows to the inlet end of the drum
and down of the drum wall to the bottom.
Wave breaker
Wave breakers are perforated baffles or plates that are placed perpendicular to the flow
located in the liquid collection section of the separator. These baffles dampen any wave
action that may be caused by incoming fluids. The waves may result from surges of
liquids entering the vessel. In long horizontal vessels, usually located on floating
structures, it may be necessary to install wave breakers so that liquid level controllers,
level safety switches, and weirs perform properly.
Mist Extractors
Mist extractors otherwise called demisters are a commonly used internal devices to
eliminate mist (very small disperse droplets) from gaseous streams. They are used in oil
and gas industry as internal devices to gravitational separators in primary oil processing
unit, in order to minimize carryover by affluent gas stream. The gas drag force causes
small liquid particles to follow the gas stream. Mist extractors must therefore somehow
intervene the natural balance between gravitational and the drag forces. This can be
accomplished by reducing the gas velocity (hence reduce drag), introduce additional
forces by use of cyclones or increase gravitational forces by boosting the droplet size
(impingement).
Multi-phase Separator Case Study (Design)

Fluid Properties Data’s

ρG 69.38 Kg/m3
ρo 597.59 Kg/m3
ρw 9691 Kg/m3
P 1161 psia (80 bar)
T 626 ˚R
μG 1.56 Pas
μo 2.30 Pas
μw 3.36 Pas
qg 0.5 m3/s
qo 0.011 m3/s
qw 0.00035 m3/s
Liquid retention time 1 minute
Gas Z-factor 0.84
Gas specific gravity 0.0694
Joint Efficiency 0.8

For designing the vertical separator with mist extractor the design calculation and result
are made
on the basis of the following assumption;
 With mist eliminator
 Setting (Tamagna 2012)
 Dt = D = 2 m + 6 in (0.15 m)
 Height from liquid interface to light liquid nozzle, HL = 1 ft (0.3042 m)
 Down comer width (WD) = 1 in (0.1016 m)
 Holdup time (th) = 5 min (300 s) and surge time (ts) = 3 min (180 s)
 Liquid level above baffle (HA) = 6 in (0.15 m)
 Disengagement height (HD) = 0.5 D
1- Calculating the terminal settling velocity (TSV) of droplets

ρL − ρG 598 − 69
Ud = Ks √ = 0.074 x √ = 0.205 m/s
ρG 69

2 2
Ug = x Ud = x 0.205 = 0.14 m/s
3 3

2- Calculation the vapor (gas) volumetric flow rate

mg
qg =
ρg

3- Calculating the vessel internal diameter, Dl since we are going to put

a mist eliminator
Dl + 3 – 6 inch (0.08 – 0.15 m)

Dl = D + 0.15 m
Dl = 2.0 m + 0.15 m = 2.15 m

4- Calculating the settling velocity of heavy liquid out of the light liquid

Ks (ρhl − ρll) 0.074 (970 − 598)

Uhl = = x 10−4 = 0.0012 m/s
μll 2.30

5- Similarly, calculating the rising velocity of the light liquid out of the
heavy liquid phase.

Ks (ρhl − ρll) 0.074 (970 − 598)

Ull = = = 0.00082 m/s
μhl 3.36
6- Calculating the settling time for the heavy liquid droplets to settle
through a distance HL and for the light liquid droplets to rise through
a distance HH

Hl 0.3042
ts, Hl = = = 254 s = 4 min
Uhl 0.0012

Hh 0.3042
ts, Ll = = = 371 s = 6.2 min
Uhl 0.00082

7- Calculating the area of baffle plate (if any); AL which is the settling
area for the light liquid

AL = A – AD

Where A is the vertical vessel cross-sectional area, and AD is down comer cross-
sectional area given as;
π D2 π x 2.152
A= = = 3.6 m2
4 4

Ad
A
0.1061 0.1061 2 0.1061 3 0.1061 4
{−4.755930 x 10−5 + 0.174875 ( ) + 5.668973 ( ) − 4.916411 ( ) − 0.145348 ( ) }
2.15 2.15 2.15 2.15
=
0.1061 0.1061 2 0.1061 3 0.1061 4
{1.0 + 3.924091 ( ) − 6.358805 ( ) + 4.018448 ( ) − 1.801705 ( ) }
2.15 2.15 2.15 2.15
= 0.000829

Ad
Then AD = (A) = 0.000829 x 3.6 = 0.03 m2
A
AL = A – AD = 3.6 – 0.03 = 3.57 m2

8- Calculating the residence time (tR) of each phase based on the

volumes occupied by the light and heavy phase as
Hl Al 0.3042 x 3.57
tR,LL = = = 99 s = 1.6 min
qll 0.011
Hl Al 0.3042 x 3.6
tR,HL = = = 3152 s = 52 min
qhl 0.00035

if tR,LL < tHL or tR,HL < tLH

 this implies that the liquid separation is controlling, the diameter needed to be
increasing and procedure repeated form step 7 but since tR,HL > ts ,tLproceeding to the
next step we have.

9- Calculating the height of the light liquid above the outlet (holdup
height) tHL based on the required holdup time tH as

qll tH 0.011 x 300

tHL or HR = = = 0.92 m
Al 3.6

10- If the surge is not specified, calculating the surge height Hs based on
surge time ts

ts(qll + qhl) 180 (0.011 + 0.00035)

Hs = ( )= = 0.57 m
A 3.6

Calculating the vessel total height HT as

HT = HH + HL + HR + HA + HBN + HD

Where HA is liquid level above baffle, which is 6 in. (0.15m) minimum, and HBN is
liquid height from above baffle to feed nozzle.

HA = 0.15

HBN = 0.5 DN + greater of s ft (0.61 m) or HS + 0.5 ft (0.15 m)

= HS + 0.5 ft (0.15 m) = 0.57 0.15 = 0.72
HD = 0.5 D or Minimum of 36 in (0.91 m) + 0.5 DN (without mist eliminator) or 24
in (0.61 m) + 0.5 DN (with mist eliminator) HD = 0.5 D = 0.5 x 2.15 = 1.08 m

Finally

HT = HH + HL + HR + HA + HBN + HD

HT = 0.3042 + 0.3042 + 0.92 + 0.15 + 0.72 + 1.08 = 3.48 m

11- Design of the Ellipsoidal Head

11.1. Selection of Metal Type

Based on the operating temperature (166 F), metal grade, the right Div. (1 or 2)
determine the maximum allowable stress value (psi) for common steel from table 12-3

Base on the operating Pressure and Temperature,

Carbon Steel Plates and Sheets SA – 516 Grade 60
Is the suitable material

11.2. Calculation of the Required Thickness (t)

PDi
t=
2SE − 0.2P

1161 x 84 inch (2.15 m)

t= = 3.069 inch
2 x 20,000 x 0.8 − 0.2 x 1161
Published Paper for Separators in Kuwait

A study of foaming and carry-over problems in oil and gas

separators
Habib. I. Shaban

(Department of Chemical Engineering, Kuwait University

24 July 2000.

In oil fields, separators are used to separate oil and gas contained in the crude oil pumped
from the wells before processing. Although there are many factors influencing the
performance of these separators, one of the crucial problems is the formation of foam due
to the impurities present in the crude. Another operating problem is carry-over, which
occurs when free liquid escapes with the gas phase. Of the several methods used to
control foam, chemical control by use of antifoam agents is very important. In this work,
the main objective is to study the poor separation of oil and gas due to foaming and the
carry-over problem in separators observed in one of the oil fields in Kuwait. Studies were
also conducted on the effect of a silicone antifoam agent used to control foaming in order
to increase the separation efficiency and thereby increase the production capacity.

References

1- Habib. I. Shaban (2000) “A study of foaming and carry-over problems in oil and gas
separators” Department of Chemical Engineering, Kuwait University.
2- Conference: The 17th National Chemical Engineering Congress & Exhibition (IChEC 2021) At:
Ferdowsi University of Mashhad “Study of classical multi-phase separator design methods
using the industrial information” (2021)
3- ENG. MFONTEMANJEOUSMANOU (2019) “DESIGN OF VERTICAL THREE-PHASE
SEPARATORS WITH INTERNALS (MIST EXTRACTOR) SUPERVISOR STUDENT
DESIGN OF VERTICAL THREE-PHASE SEPARATORS WITH INTERNALS (MIST
EXTRACTOR)”