Oct 2010

Based on GPSA &

Industry Engg Practices

Widely used, to separate oil, water, gas and sand
Spot the Compressors & Fuel Gas KOD
Separators KODs Flare KOD
Gas Gas

KOD
Header A Gas
Flowline Inlet /HP/ Production KOD
Header B Separator
LP Separator/
Oil Surge Vessel
Test Header Oil
Water Water Storage Tanks
Water Treatment ESP Treater
Xmas Tree
Test Separator
Well Hydrocyclone Water Export Oil
Sand
Heater Treater for Cyclone
(FPSO/Semisub)
oil – water
emulsion
Drain Vessel Degassing
Note: Test & Production Sep can be storageSand Sep
tanks in remote oil gathering stations Vessel IGF/DGF OWS

Widely used, to separate oil, water, gas and sand
Compressors & Fuel Gas KOD
KODs Flare KOD
Gas Gas

KOD
Header A Gas
Flowline Inlet /HP/ Production KOD
Header B Separator
LP Separator/
Oil Surge Vessel
Test Header Oil
Water Water Storage Tanks
Water Treatment ESP Treater
Xmas Tree
Test Separator
Well Hydrocyclone Water Export Oil
Sand
Heater Treater for Cyclone
(FPSO/Semisub)
oil – water
emulsion
Sand Sep Drain Vessel Degassing
Vessel IGF/DGF OWS

Based on
 Separation - Bulk separation (Production separator/ Storage tanks) to Fine
separation (Filter separator)
 Phases - 2 Phase; 3 Phase Mesh Pad
 Orientation - Horizontal, Vertical
 Gravity or Impingement separation with - Mesh Pad, Vane Pack, Cyclone
Vane

Service
 Oil & Gas, Refinery, Petrochemical, Fertilizer
 Hydrocarbon, Steam, Air
 Separation or for control/ residence time

In series .. in production train Cyclone

 HP, LP and Atmosphere Stages. Multi Stage Flash. Stages by Geometric Ratio

Name
 KOD, Scrubber, Accumulator, Flash drum, Reflux drum, Steam drum, Slug
catcher, Line boot

KOD (No internal) Mesh Pad Vane Pack
Gas Gas Gas

Alternative
Gas Outlet The link ed image cannot be display ed. The file may hav e been mov ed, renamed, or deleted. Verify that the link points to the

Mesh Pad Vane Pack

correct file and location.

Tertiary Tertiary
Impingement Impingement
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correct file and location. location.

Secondary Separation Separation

Gravity Secondary Secondary
Inlet Device
Separation Inlet Device Gravity Inlet Device Gravity
Half - Pipe
Baffle Separation Vane Separation

Primary Primary Primary

Water Water Water
Separation Separation Separation

Internal Ring
Baffle for
Sloshing Oil / Water Oil / Water Oil / Water
Liquid
Alternative
Liquid Outlet

Drain
(Typical)
Common type:
Baffle Inlet Device and Mesh pad

Vane Inlet Device, Mesh pad SMS Sep: CFD Model

Vane Inlet Device (aka and Swirl Tubes (Cyclone) –
Schoepentoeter) and Mesh pad known as SMS Separators,
good for compressors

Smooth division of
Vane Inlet Device looking from top inflow into multi-streams
Cyclone Separators viz Separators
that use cyclone or swirl tubes

Multiple Cyclones

Swirl Tube

Cyclone

High gas-liquid ratio. Low liquid hold up

Demister removes small entrained liquid droplets

Easy level control. Not susceptible to internal
liquid waves (sloshing) that cause spurious trips

Liquid level can fluctuate without affecting
performance allowing on-off dump control

Small plot area

Example: Compressor , Fuel Gas, Air services

2 or 3 Phase. Internal Weir; Boot; Bucket
 Internal weir: High Water and High Oil
 Production/Inlet/ HP/ First Stage Separator Gas

 Boot: Low water Mesh Pad

 LP/ Second Stage Separator Oil NLL - Flooded Weir

Low
Weir
 Bucket: Low Oil Water NLL - In Boot Oil
Gas Water
 Drain Vessel Gas
Mesh Pad
Oil NLL - Flooded Weir

Weir Oil NLL - Overflow Weir Oil NLL - Inside Bucket

Water NLL - in First
Compartment in Second Compartment Weir Water NLL – In Second
Compartment
Oil
Water Oil Water
 Test Separator mounted on a rail car
Common type:
Baffle Inlet Device and Mesh pad

Production Separator
 Oil level

Water level

Rising Oil Droplet Oil

Water
Longer travel length required for Oil droplet
to reach oil layer from the bottom of water
Vane Inlet Device, Perforated baffles,
layer. Otherwise it will go out with water.
Coalescer for better liquid - liquid
separation and Vane outlet Coalescer

Rising Oil Droplet Space Saved

Mesh Pad or Vane Pack in vapour
space allows higher velocity and
reduced vessel diameter for a given
separation

Similarly, Coalescer (Mesh or Vane)
achieves better liquid - liquid
separation with higher velocity and
reduce vessel length Mesh type coalesers are effective but get
plugged in well fluid service with sand and mud
 Horizontal Separator with Swirl (Cyclone) Tubes

Horizontal Separator with

Swirl (Cyclone) Tubes, fitting
nicely in a large pipeline Turbine type internals separator

Horizontal Separators - being long are prone for
liquid waves or sloshing. They are provided with
internal calming baffles if required, to avoid spurious
trips (LALL/LAHH)

Calming baffles or perforated plates along the

bottom of the vessel help maintain steady levels

Design Tip: Stilling well around

level tap-off also help

FPSO / Semisub Separators are provided with special internals to x x
avoid remix and wave action y
y

Turret mooring minimizes Surge, Sway and Yaw. TLP mooring allows z
only Surge and Sway z 6 degrees
FSO, FPSO and semi-subs have
of freedom – axial and rotational
movements.
Direction Axial Rotational
x Surge Roll
y Sway Pitch
z Heave Yaw

CFD Studies have removed a number of these

internals. Perforated baffles are found adequate.

Large separators are located close to centre (of
gravity) along the y axis to minimize resultant
disturbances High gas velocity and
liquid carry over

FPSO Separator without

and with calming baffles

Large volumes of liquid. Large liquid holdup. 3 phase separation

Gas and liquid travel at the same velocity to respective exits

High slug capacity

3 Phase: Heavy liquid flows below light liquid and withdrawn
under interface level control

May have a boot for low flows of heavy liquids. Bucket for low
flow of light liquids

Liquid droplets or gas bubbles moving down or up perpendicular
to the bulk flow. Easy separation

Larger liquid surface area. Better degassing. Better for foaming

Liquid level responds slowly to changes in in-flow, providing
steady flow to downstream equipment

Example: Production, Surge, Reflux Accumulator, Flare Services

PCV, PALL, PAL, PAH, PAHH & PSV; LCV, LALL, LAL, LAH, & LAHH
PAH
PIC
Relief PAL
T0 Flare
valve
PAHH PCV
PALL
T0 Compressor
SDV

Secondary Tertiary
Gas, Light and Primary Separation Separation
Heavy Liquid Separation
SDV

LAH LAHH LIC LAH

LIC
LALL LALL
LAL LAL

Drain
(Typical) SDV SDV Light Liquid
Oil/ Condensate
LCV
Heavy Liquid

Minor Details not shown: Sandjets; Heating coil LCV Produced Water

Filter Separators remove fine solid and liquid particles,
usually in the Fuel Gas System Filter Candles/

Candle type coaleser separators are used in Elements

condensate ‘polishing’

Packed vessels are also good condensate ‘polishing’

Electrostatic Separators are used to remove
water droplets from “Sales Oil”. Oil passes thru a
grid of charged plates and water drops to vessel
bottom.
Charged Grids

Cross Section View


Centrifuges are
also used to
remove traces of
water from oil or
condensate.
Limited capacity
per unit.

Heater treater heats fluids (well fluids,
Produced Water - oil emulsions etc),
reduce viscosity and help separation

HT Function
 Velocity Profile

Hydrocyclones have become a

standard item to de-oil produced
water Single Element

They are good to remove

droplets 10μ and bigger. If the
hydrocyclones are located
downstream of a LCV with or
without a “Low Shear” pump,
their efficiency is reduced, as Group of
Elements &
pressure drop across a control many bundled
into s shell
valve shears oil to smaller
droplets that will pass-thru

Produced water:
 in oil fields is saline and oil droplets coalesce well.
Hydrocyclones can separate such droplets
 In Gas-condensate fields is “condensed” (less saline) water
and does not promote oil agglomeration. IGF (Induced Gas
Floatation) or DGF (Dissolved Gas Floatation) units are used.
 Gas bubbling thru water collect oil droplets to water surface
from where they are skimmed

Storage Tanks (instead of vessels) are used to
separate gas, oil and water in remote oil fields.
Usually for low GOR and viscous oils

They may act as Test and Production Separators

They may be equipped with heating coils

API OWS are used to separate traces of oil from
water

Internal baffles with over and underflow help
skim oil

Slug Catcher is a special “Hold-up” Separator
that holds and slowly releases its liquid
inventory to downstream equipment
 Otherwise downstream separators will be flooded
and production stopped

Good for handling slugs or surging liquid flow,
caused by transient conditions in pipelines or
due to pigging

Longer the pipeline more is the slug size; more if
pipeline flow is 2 or 3 phase. [Note: ‘Dry &
Dewpoint Controlled’ Gas pipelines also may
form slug due to post-cooling in cooler sea
water or retrograde condensation]

Inter-field slugs are usually accommodated in
Production Separators between NLL (Normal
Liquid Level) and LAHH (High High Liquid Level)

They come in various sizes and shapes. Smaller
ones are barrel types. Longer ones are finger
types
Upper Pipes are sized for Gross Separation of Gas (1,000 μ).
Lower Fingers are sized to HOLD liquid for the desired time

Sandjets help fluidize the
accumulated sand, mud and muck
at the bottom of the vessel and
remove them via drain pipes.
 Multiple jet sections minimize water
usage and good removal for given
water flow

Vortex sand removal nozzles (Petreco’s
HydroTrans, DPS’s CyFlo and Merpro’s Tore),
allow on-line removal of sand in a slurry form for
separation and disposal

Separation based on
 Momentum, gravity and coalescing
 Fluids must be "immiscible" with different densities

Inlet momentum helps in bulk separation of gas and liquid

Gravity helps in bulk separation of liquid-liquid (oil and water).

Inlet introduces sharp flow direction change. Liquid particles
maintain direction while gas flows up. Separation occurs.

Gravity pulls down heavier liquid particles from gas. Gas leaves
with some smaller liquid particles depending on its velocity

Feed Gas

Feed
Gas pulls up (drags) the
liquid particle while
Liquid gravity pulls it down.

Liquid droplets drop out when gravitational pull is
greater than drag force of gas. Particles settle down
at terminal (free settling) velocity

Terminal velocity
 Stokes’s Law 3 - 100μ Re = 0.0001 - 2
 Intermediate Law 100 - 1,000μ Re = 2 - 500
 Newton’s Law > 1,000μ Re = 500 - 200,000

Intermediate law usually governs oil & gas
separators viz. gas-liquid and liquid-liquid settling

Gas pulls up (drags) the

liquid particle while
gravity pulls it down.

Typical Droplet size, μ
 Dust 1 to 2,000; Mist 0.06 to 10; Fog 1 to 100; rain 100 to 4,000

Typical Separators
 Centrifuge 0.05 to 2 μ; ESP 0.005 to 20 μ; Scrubbers 0.1 to 100 μ; Gravity settling 50 to
10,000 μ Impingement 5 to 3,000 μ
Size, μ.
0.001 0.01 0.1 1.0 10 100 1,000 10,000 100,000
Visible to Eye
Fume Dust

Mist
Two Spray
Phase Flow
Smoke Fog Rain

Centrifuge Sedimentation
Adsorption Membrane Gravity

Elec Precipitator Centrifugal Sep

Scrubbers Mesh / Vane

Condensation – Sat’d Vapor Surface GPSA Fig 7-5/6

Condensation

Deciding cut-off droplet size and liquid
entrainment at that cut-off size is tricky

Impingement type separators allow higher
velocities, leading to more liquid carry over, that
impinge on a surface, coalesce and drop out

Higher velocity
smaller vessel size

Impingement devices
 Knitted wire mesh pad, vanes, cyclone tubes
 Liquid carry over limited to 0.1 - 1 gal/MMscf

A: Inlet Device
 Reduces momentum of the inflow
 Bulk separation of gas and liquid
 Enhance gas flow distribution

B: Gas Zone
 Liquids drop out on gravity pull

C: Liquid Zone
 Gas bubbles out
 Liquid - Liquid Separation
 Hold-up

Demister
 Removes fine liquid droplets
GPSA Fig 7-7

Inlet device:
 Reduces momentum of inlet stream
 Provides primary (bulk) separation of gas and liquid
 Enhances flow distribution of the gas and liquid phases.
 Prevents droplet shattering and re-entrainment of bulk liquid phase
 Stable liquid level control and reduced foaming

Types:
Inlet
 Diverter plate Half -
Pipe Diverter
 Half-pipe Wate

Wate
r

r
 Vane-type
 Cyclone

Poor selection will result in sharing of fluids – difficult to separate
small droplets in gas phase and heavy liquid in light liquid phase

Inlet piping configuration is also important

Secondary or Gravity separation of Gas and
Liquid

Tertiary or Impingement separation of Gas and
Liquid in a Mesh Pad or Vane Pack or Cyclone

Liquid - Liquid separation (oil & water) and degassing of liquid

Liquid residence time for hold-up or control

Surge and slug catching capacity to smoothen flow to
downstream equipment

Emulsion separation: Heating and or addition of demulsifier

Sales Oil, as in a FPSO: Electrostatic plates

Coalescing packs to promote oil - water separation (not to be
used in plugging service wax, sand, etc.)

Dampening Plates: To smoothen out level swings due to vessel
motion in a FPSO or semi-sub

Separation of sand and muck

Separate small liquid droplets (150 - 500μ)

Not economic to separate these droplets by
gravity alone by making the separator larger.

Wire-Mesh

Vanes

Wire-Mesh
 99–99.5% removal of 3 - 10 μ. 100% removal of > 10 μ
 Metal or plastic wire knitted into tightly packed layers, crimped and stacked
 Can remove less than 10 μ droplets by impingement followed by coalescence
into large droplets that drop through rising gas flow into bottom of the
separator
 Not good in dirty or fouling service as they plug easily.
 Normally installed horizontally with gas flow vertically upwards
 Performance is adversely affected if the pad is tilted more than 30 degrees
from the horizontal.
 In horizontal separators with vertical pads, where liquid flow through the pad,
dirt or sludge accumulation can impair flow resulting in higher liquid level on
one side. This may dislodge the pad making it useless or forcing parts of it into
the outlet pipe.
 Pad may also dislodge by high gas flows, such as when a pressure relief valve
lifts or during an emergency blowdown

Vane-packs
 98% removal of 10 - 40 μ. 100% removal of > 50 μ
 Made of closely spaced blades arranged to provide sinusoidal or
zig-zag gas flow paths
 Entrained liquid droplets impinge on the plates, coalesce and
dropout via a downcomer pipe
 Horizontal or vertical orientation
 Good for dirty or fouling service. Less likely to plug due to their
relatively large flow passages
 Unlike mesh pads, efficiency of vane packs drop-off with
increasing pressure. Higher vapour density results in reduced
allowable vapour velocity, less liquid inertia thru vanes; higher
carry over
 Lower turndown. Can take higher liquid loads

Separation Quality
 Coarse separation OK if there are downstream separators
Eg. Slug Catcher; Prodn Sep + Compressor KODs

Removal of sand, mud and muck
 Facilities required. Sand jets Vs nozzles

Ease of Separation
 Tight emulsions as in deep sea production or waxy crudes
may require upstream heating; heating coils

Liquid holding capacity
 To handle pipeline slugs and periodical liquid filled inlet
 To feed downstream columns

Unlike the downstream industry, in oil & gas
industry, the operating pressure and composition
change over the life time. Penalty for under
sizing by 5% in a 50,000 BOPD facility is
$200,000 per DAY!

Easy to size. Full flow area available for
gas

Steps
 Select demister and inlet device N2
N5

 Size inlet and outlet nozzles based on velocity

 Fix diameter to suit allowable gas velocity N1

 Fix LALL at 6” (150mm) and fix other levels

like LAL, NLL, LAH and LAHH to suit required N3
N8
volumes and time
N5
 Ensure a minimum level gap of 4” (100mm) to
avoid any wave action leading to spurious
alarms and trips

Full flow area is NOT available for gas
 Liquid levels impact gas area and drum
diameter x length

Steps <Shrinking Envelope Method.
Assume a large size and reduce in steps>
 Select demister and inlet device
 Size inlet and outlet nozzles based on velocity Lower the levels, smaller the
 Fix LALL at 6-12” (150-300mm) and fix other diameter, lower the plate
levels like LAL, NLL, LAH and LAHH. Ensure a thickness and cost
minimum level gap of 4” (100mm) [8”(200mm)
in longer vessels to avoid any wave action
leading to spurious alarms and trips. Ignore N1 N7 N5
N2

volumes and time between levels. Fix diameter K8A

at double of LAHH and length 3 times the K1 K3A K5A

diameter N1
N7

 Start looking at volume and time between M1 K8B K9B

levels, starting with LALL. Adjust diameter and N8

K2 K3B K5B
length, in steps of say 2” (50 mm) to match K9B
vapor velocity and liquid volumes N6 N6

N3

Full flow area available for gas

Steps
 Select demister and inlet device
 Size inlet and outlet nozzles based on velocity
 Fix diameter to suit allowable gas velocity
 Fix LALL at 6” (150mm) and fix other levels like LAL,
NLL, LAH and LAHH to suit required volumes and time.
First do for water and then for oil
 Fix Oil weir height as equal to water LAHH. (Note: LAHH
LAHH trip is NOT usually provided for water) LAH

 Ensure a minimum level gap of 4” (100mm) to avoid any NLL1 Flooded Weir

wave action leading to spurious alarms and trips w

LAHH
 Fix oil weir width w in proportionate to oil: water flow LAH
H
NLL2
Overflow Weir
 that is levels on water and oil side are more or less the NLL
LALL

same. This will give the shortest vessel height LALL


For liquid - liquid separation with equal flow of oil and water (light and heavy
phase)

Gravity separation is adequate as vessel dimensions are usually decided by
surge + liquid hold-up

May consider a coalescer to enhance liquid – liquid separation if it governs. In
well fluid service coalescer is likely to be fouled/ plugged with muck and mud

Floating facilities may require holed-calming baffles to minimize liquid
sloshing

An internal weir allows a separate compartment for light liquids. Light liquids
may overflow the weir (that is NLL = Weir height) or its Normal Liquid Level
may be higher than weir height. Separation length = 1st compartment length

Heavy liquid has no LAHH

Sand separation facilities may be required to (1) flush out or (2) remove sand

L1 L2
LAHH
NLL Flooded Weir
NLL Overflow Weir NLL2
NLL H
LALL
LALL

Full flow area is NOT available for gas
 Liquid levels impact gas area and drum diameter x length

Steps <Shrinking Envelope Method. Assume a large size and reduce
in steps>
 Select demister and inlet device
 Size inlet and outlet nozzles based on velocity
 Keep second or oil compartment length minimum, say 3’ (900mm)
 Fix LALL at 6-12” (150-300mm) and fix other levels like LAL, NLL, LAH and
LAHH. Ensure a minimum level gap of 4” (100mm) [8”(200mm) in longer
vessels to avoid any wave action leading to spurious alarms and trips. Ignore
volumes and time between levels. First do for water and then for oil
 Fix oil weir height as equal to water LAHH. (Note: LAHH trip is NOT usually
provided for water)
 Fix diameter at double of oil LAHH and length 3 times the diameter
 Start looking at volume and time between levels, starting with LALL on
water side. Adjust diameter and length, in steps of say 2” (50 mm) to match
vapor velocity and liquid volumes

For low water (heavy liquid) separation
 Though simulation may show zero water, assume 2 % of condensate;
5% of oil flow

Surge Drum ahead of Condensate Stabilizer is usually the only
vessel with boot
 A 4” (100 mm) weir is provided – upstream (to hold muck) or
downstream of boot

Boot diameter is usually 0.3m(1’)
 Main Drum Dia, D m (ft) Boot Diameter, d
<1.5 (5’) 0.3m (1’) to 0.5m (1.5’)
>2.4 (8’) 0.5 m (1.5’) to 30%D
 If boot height >1.5m (5’), increase boot diameter LAHH
NLL

LALL
H
NLL
h d
LALL

Full flow area is NOT available for gas
 Liquid levels impact gas area and drum diameter x length

Steps
 Select demister and inlet device
 Size inlet and outlet nozzles based on velocity
 Size main vessel for gas-condensate separation + liquid hold-up/ inventory.
Boot for water hold-up
 Keep vessel length after boot as minimum, say 3’ (900mm)
 Start with water boot. Fix LALL at 6” (150 mm) and fix other levels like LAL,
NLL, LAH and LAHH with a gap of 4” (100mm). Adjust boot diameter and
height to get volumes and time between levels. (Note: LAHH trip is NOT
usually provided for water). Keep boot height equal to LAHH.
 Fix oil weir height at 4”(100mm).
 Start building oil levels in main drum. Fix diameter at double of oil LAHH and
length 3 times the diameter.
 Start looking at volume and time between levels, starting with LALL on oil
side. Adjust diameter and length, in steps of say 2” (50 mm) to match vapor
velocity and liquid volumes

For low oil (light liquid) separation, as in Closed Drain Drum
 Light phase flow is from known continuous discharges, such as hydrocyclone
reject stream. If unknown, assume as 5% of heavy phase
 Water capacity is usually the largest inventory below LLLL of any connected
vessel for free draining during a shutdown. If it results in a large vessel, with say
a large Production Separator, examine options, such as receiving inflow in
batches
 A small 8” (200 mm) weir is provided, after inlet to hold muck/ debris

In weir and boot design, interphase levels is fixed by external controller
(ILCI). Here, bucket inlet elevation and water weir height or oil-water
levels decide the interphase level
 It should be kept above bucket base to avoid oil with water; and below bucket
inlet to avoid water into bucket.
L1 L2
LAHH
NLL Flooded Bucket LAHH
g=b
NLL2
NLL
h w
H
b LALL

Full flow area is NOT available for gas
 Liquid levels impact gas area and drum diameter x length. Not an issue as gas
flow is usually small.

Steps
 No demister and no inlet device
 Size inlet and outlet nozzles based on velocity
 Keep second or oil compartment length minimum, say 3’ (900mm)
 Start with water levels. Fix LALL at 6” (150 mm) and fix other levels like LAL,
NLL, LAH and LAHH with a gap of 4-6” (100-150mm). (Note: LAHH trip is
NOT usually provided for water). Keep water weir height equal to LAHH.
 Next keep bucket base 8-12” (200-300mm) above vessel bottom. Build oil
levels in steps of 4”(100mm). Fix bucket inlet height the same as oil LAHH.
Adjust bucket width to get volumes and time between levels
 Watch interphase at various water: oil level is above bucket base and below
bucket inlet.
 Start looking at volume and time between water levels, starting with LALL.
Adjust diameter and length, in steps of say 2” (50 mm) to match vapor
velocity and liquid volumes.
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