SEPARATING OIL & WATER

OIL & WATER HANDLING

• Oil & Water Process Selection
• Gas – Liquid Separation
• Separating Oil & Water
• Emulsion Treating & Desalting
• Produced Water Treating
• Water Injection Treating
• Flowsheets
 SEPARATING OIL AND WATER
Lecture Outline

• Definition of Free Water

• Horizontal Separators

• Vertical Separators

• Vessel Internals

• Sizing Theory

• Well Testing
 SEPARATING OIL AND WATER
Lecture Outline

• Definition of Free Water

• Horizontal Separators

• Vertical Separators

• Vessel Internals

• Sizing Theory

• Well Testing
Three Phase Separator with
Interface Control
 SEPARATING OIL AND WATER
Lecture Outline

• Definition of Free Water

• Horizontal Separators

• Vertical Separators

• Vessel Internals

• Sizing Theory

• Well Testing
 HORIZONTAL VS. VERTICAL

• Horizontal - more efficient

- Gas Separation
- Liquid/Liquid Separation

• Vertical design
- Handle sand and solids
- Liquid surge capacity
 SEPARATING OIL AND WATER
Lecture Outline

• Definition of Free Water

• Horizontal Separators

• Vertical Separators

• Vessel Internals

• Sizing Theory

• Well Testing
Typical Coalescing Packs
2 Dimensional CFD Illustrates how Flow Path
Lines inside a Vessel are Affected by Baffles

34.0 sec

50.0 sec
 Note how quickly the structured packing reduce the inlet turbulence

Calm oil layer

Inlet turbulence First section of packing
Calm water layer
 Internals of The V-1301B FWKO
Baffle #4
Baffle #2 Baffle #3 Baffle #5 Gas Outlet
Simplified Perforated
Perforated Perforated Combo Plate
Inlet Device

Vessel Head Vessel Tail

Baffle #1 Outlet Nozzle

Perforated (Water Outlet)
Weir Plate Outlet Nozzle
w/ Lip Plate (Oil Outlet)

Courtesy of NATCO
 Comparison of Liquid Sloshing (“Storm” Sea State)

Vessel without Internal Baffles

26.60 sec

Vessel with Engineered Internal Baffles

26.60 sec

Courtesy of NATCO
The Separator with Everything
 LIQUID-LIQUID SEPARATION

FIGURE 53: CUTAWAY OF A HORIZONTAL SEPARATOR

 Sand Jets and Drains
• Need to fluidize the sand layer and drain it
without disturbing the interface levels
• Impossible to jet the whole length of the bottom
in one action.
• Need to space sand jets and drains no more
than 5 feet apart and activate one at a time
• Sand pans
• Individual proprietary fluidization nozzles
Sand Jets
and Drains
 SEPARATING OIL AND WATER
Lecture Outline

• Definition of Free Water

• Horizontal Separators

• Vertical Separators

• Vessel Internals

• Sizing Theory

• Well Testing
 SIZING THEORY
1. Gas Separation

2. Water Drop in Oil

3. Oil Drop in Water

4. Retention Time
 Stokes Law Settling

1.78 x 10- 6 ( S . G . ) dm
2
Vt =


Vt = velocity, ft/sec
Need to know:
dm = from coalescence, micron

 = from temperature, cp

SG = difference in specific gravity which could be

a function of temperature
 SIZING THEORY
1. Gas Separation

2. Water Drop in Oil

• No definition of "free water"
• 500 microns yields 5 to 20 percent

3. Oil Drop in Water

• Stokes Law means easier to settle oil from less viscous water
• 200 to 2,000 mg/l

4. Retention Time
 RETENTION TIME (OIL)

• Condensate 2 - 5 minutes
(3 minutes)

• Light Crude Oil 5 - 7.5 minutes

(30  - 40 API)

• Intermediate Crude Oil 7.5 - 10 minutes

(20 - 30 API)

• Heavy Crude Oil 10+ minutes

(<20 API)
 SIZING THEORY
1. Gas Separation

2. Water Drop in Oil

• No definition of "free water"
• 500 microns yields 5 to 20 percent

3. Oil Drop in Water

• Stokes Law means easier to settle oil from less viscous water
• 200 to 2,000 mg/l

4. Retention Time
• 3 min. to 10+ min.

Vertical Vessels
 PROCEDURE FOR SIZING THREE - PHASE
VERTICAL SEPARATORS
1. Calculate minimum diameter from requirement for water droplet to
fall through oil layer. Use 500 micron droplet if no other information
available.

2 Q o
d = 6690
(  SG) dm2

2. Calculate minimum diameter from requirement for oil droplet to fall

through gas.10 Use 140 micron droplet if no other information available.
11
1/2
TQg  g CD 
d
2
= 5040 ( ) 
P  o - g dm 

3. Choose (d)min as the larger of the two.

 PROCEDURE FOR SIZING THREE-PHASE
VERTICAL SEPARATORS
(Continued)

4. Select (tr)o and (tr)w and solve for ho + hw for various d.

[(tr )o Qo + (tr ) w Q w ]
ho + hw =
0.12 d2

5. Estimate seam-to-seam length using greater of:

ho + hw + 76 ho + hw + dmin + 40
L ss + or
12 12

dmin = minimum diameter for gas requirement, in.

6. Select a size of reasonable diameter and length

slenderness ratio (12 Lss/d) on the order of 1 to 3 is
considered common.
 SIZING THEORY
1. Gas Separation

2. Water Drop in Oil

• No definition of "free water"
• 500 microns yields 5 to 20 percent

3. Oil Drop in Water

• Stokes Law means easier to settle oil from less viscous water
• 200 to 2,000 mg/l

4. Retention Time
• 3 min. to 10+ min.

Horizontal Vessels
Sizing Horizontal Three Phase Separator
1. For Gas Capacity Chose d and Leff that satisfies:
 Sizing Horizontal Three Phase Separator

2. Chose desired oil and gas retention times and and fractional
cross sectional area of liquids calculate d and Leff that satisfies:
2 ( tr ) o Q o + ( tr ) w Q w
d L eff =
1.4  L

Where:
Qw = water flow rate, BPD
(tr)w = water retention time, min
Qo = oil flow rate, BPD
(tr)o = oil retention time, min
αl = fractional cross sectional area of liquid

Use the graph of α vs. β to get one if you know the other
 Sizing Horizontal Three Phase Separator

3. Calculate (ho)max from:

4. From the maximum oil pad thickness, liquid flow rates, and retention
times a maximum vessel diameter may be calculated. The fractional
cross sectional area of the vessel required for water retention may be
determined as follows:
 l Q w ( tr ) w
w =
Q o ( t r ) o + Q w ( tr ) w
Where:
αl = fractional area of liquids
αw = fractional area of water
 Sizing Horizontal Three Phase Separator

5. From the graph determine βw knowing αw

6. A maximum vessel diameter may now be determined from the
fractional heights of the total liquids and the water as follows:
dmax = (ho)max/(βl – βw)

Where:
dmax = maximum vessel internal diameter, in
βl = fractional height of liquids

Any vessel diameter less than this maximum may be used to

separate the specified water droplet size in the specified oil
retention time.
 Sizing Horizontal Three Phase Separator

7. Any combination of d and Leff which satisfies the gas constraint

and the retention time constraint and where d is less than dmax is
OK.

8. Normally chose slenderness ratios where 12 Leff / d is in the

range of 3 to 5. Slenderness ratios slightly outside of this range
may be used.

9. To allow for entrance and exit flow disturbances seam to seam

lengths are approximately 4/3 Leff
 SEPARATING OIL AND WATER
Lecture Outline

• Definition of Free Water

• Horizontal Separators

• Vertical Separators

• Vessel Internals

• Sizing Theory

• Well Testing
Well Testing
Test Separator
Multi-Phase Meters
Gamma Ray Multi-Phase Meter
Multi-Port Valve
Multi-Port Valve