Introducing Modified Separator Design Model and Industrial Separator Design Using the Dimensional Analysis

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Department of Petroleum Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

2 Department of Petroleum Engineering, University of Kerbala, Iraq

Abstract

The fluid produced from oil and gas wells is usually two-phase, which due to the need to maximize the efficiency of two-phase separators, achieving accurate design of separator dimensions is essential. But one of the main problems in the country is the impossibility of accurate design of the dimensions of industrial two-phase separators. Therefore, one of the most important issues in the field of oil and gas industry is to achieve a reliable way to design the dimensions of separators that have the best operational efficiency in the process of separating the production fluid. In this study, a review of classical methods of designing two-phase separators based on theoretical and semi-experimental methods was performed. Then, in order to evaluate the two-phase separators in the laboratory, the laboratory pilot design of the separators was performed. Therefore, one of the main problems in this field, namely the lack of a suitable laboratory pilot to experimentally evaluate the performance of two-phase separators, was solved, and it was possible to determine the standard dimensions for accurate design of industrial separators. According to the results of experiments performed in different operating conditions and comparison with the classical design, a correction factor (α) was proposed to modify the classical relations. Finally, the dimensional analysis method was introduced to design the dimensions of the industrial separator using laboratory results. In order to validate the dimensional analysis method, standard dimensions for separating liquid droplets larger than 750μm in the produced fluid by one of the wells in South Pars field were presented and compared with the actual separator dimensions. It should be noted that the design error of industrial separator dimensions compared to the dimensions of separators used in industry, has been less than 4 percent.
 

Keywords

References

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Journal of Petroleum Research
Volume 31, 1400-5 - Serial Number 120
January and February 2021
Pages 17-30

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