New Cairo

academy
High institute of engineering and technology
Petroleum
department

Separator problems
Presented to\

Dr. Abo Zaid

Prepared by\

Mohamed Maher
Mustafa

Operation Problems
1-Foamy Crudes
The major cause of foam is impurities other than water
in the crude oil that are impractical to remove before
the stream reaches the separator. Foam presents no
problem within a separator if the internal design
assures chat the rate of foam breakup is faster (or at
least equal to) the rate of buildup.
The Problem. Foaming in a separating vessel is a Three
fold problem and may be outlined as follows:
1. Mechanical control of liquid level is aggravated because
any control device must deal with essentially three
instead of two phases,
Foam has a large volume-to-weight ratio. Therefore, it .2
occupies more than its appropriate share of vessel space
which would other- wise be available to allow minimum gas
.and velocities
3. In an uncontrolled foam bank, it becomes impossible
to remove separated gas or degassed oil from the vessel
without entraining some of the foamy material in either
the liquid or gas
Depressant( anti-foam). Foam depressants are
available that often will do a good job in increasing the
capacity of a given separator. However, in sizing a
separator to handle a particular crude, the use of an

effective depressant should- not be assumed as

characteristics of the crude- and the foam may change
during the life of the field. Sufficient capacity should be
provided in the separator to handle the anticipated
production without use of a foam depressent or
inhibitor.

2- Paraffin
Separator operation can be adversely affected by an
accumulation of paraffin.
Mist extractors, in particular, are prone to malfunction
by accumulations of paraffin. Where is determined chat
paraffin is an actual or potential problem, use of a type
of extractor prone to plugging should be avoided; and
man ways, hand holes and nozzles should be provided
to allow steam, solvent or other type of cleaning of the
separator internals.
3-Sand
Sand can be very troublesome in separators. These
difficulties are evidenced mainly by cut-out of - valve
trim, plugging of separator internals and accumulation
in the bottom of equipment. Special hard trim can'
minimize effects of sand on the valve.
Accumulations of sand can be alleviated by the
inclusion of jets for injection of water, steam or possibly
a side stream of the production periodically into the
bottom of the vessel

 Plugging of separator internals is a problem that must

be given considerable consideration in the design of the
separator. A design that will promote good separation
and have a minimum of traps for sand accumulation
may be difficult Co attain. The design that provides the
best mechanism for separating the gas and oil phases
probably will provide areas for sand accumulation.

4-Emulsions
Emulsions can be particularly troublesome in the
operation of three- phase separators. If a stable
emulsion has been formed between the oil and water
phases upstream of the separator or in the vessel,
separation of these phases is not practical.
The combined water and oil stream must be removed
from the separator and routed to other equipment for
separation into two phases. This separation usually can
be accomplished in a conventional treater.
When emulsion tendencies are present,-the settling
time required to achieve an acceptable separation of oil
and water may be longer than that required to
adequately clean the gas in any vessel configuration.
In this case, it will be necessary to remove the water
and oil phases from the vessel and route them to
another separator for further processing.