DIVISION ENGINEERING

&
CONSTRUCTION

PRODUCED WATER HANDLING

PHILOSOPHY
 CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. FOREWORD
1.2. OBJECTIVES
1.3. SCOPE
2. HEALTH, SAFETY AND ENVIRONMENTAL REQUIREMENTS
3. FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS
3.1. GENERAL
3.2. SYSTEM CONFIGURATION
3.3. HYDROCYCLONES
3.4. PUMPS
3.5. CONTROL VALVES
3.6. DEGASSER VESSELS
3.7. FILTRATION
3.8. CHEMICAL INJECTION
3.9. SAMPLING & ANALYSIS
3.10. FLEXIBILITY
3.11. CORROSION & EROSION
4. SPARING AND MAINTENANCE REQUIREMENTS
5. LOCATION AND ACCESS REQUIREMENTS
6. START-UP REQUIREMENTS
7. COMMISSIONING REQUIREMENTS

PRODUCED WATER HANDLING

PHILOSOPHY Page 2
1. INTRODUCTION

1.1. FOREWORD

This document represents the Sonatrach(SH) Operational Philosophy on

Produced Water Handling for projects in Algeria.

1.2. OBJECTIVES

The primary objective of this document is to provide guidance to discipline

engineers in progressing a conceptual design through to detailed design, based
on operational requirements

1.3. SCOPE

The philosophy requirements apply to all items of equipment used in the handling
of produced wate

2. HEALTH, SAFETY AND ENVIRONMENTAL REQUIREMENTS

All facilities installed shall comply with the HSE Philosophy requirements in
addition to the following:

2.1 Produced water systems normally give rise to an HP/LP interface between
upstream production systems and downstream degassing and treatment
equipment. The design shall provide adequate protection facilities for scenarios
such as gas blow by.

2.2 Effluents from the produced water system should be disposed of in an

environmentally acceptable manner when normal disposal routes (oil recycled to
process, water to re-injection) are not available. The use of large evaporation
ponds are not acceptable.

PRODUCED WATER HANDLING

PHILOSOPHY Page 3
3. FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS

3.1. GENERAL

3.1.1 The produced water handling facilities shall remove the oil and
particulates from the produced water to the specifications stated in the Basis
of Design. The recovered oil shall be recycled and clean water routed to
water injection system.

3.1.2 The equipment shall be capable of achieving the produced water

specifications over the full range of compositional variation, ambient
conditions, at maximum design rates and at turndown rates.

3.2. SYSTEM CONFIGURATION

3.2.1 The system configuration should be established based on optimisation

with respect to:

 Maximise re-injection of produced water.

 Minimisation of environmental emissions and effluents.

 Operating pressure at each separation stage.

 Fluid properties (wax, foam, emulsions, etc.).

 Minimise foaming and emulsions.

3.2.2 Consideration should be given to the best available technologies for

produced water handling and their relative merits. For example,
hydrocyclones may be the most suitable for offshore environments due
to their small size, but for onshore plants, technologies such as tilted
plate separators may be more economic due to space and weight
being less of an issue.

3.2.3 The pipework configuration shall account for any possible sand
contained in the produced water and the possibility of blockage.
Consideration shall be given to the future provision of sand removal
facilities (e.g. sand cyclones) on upstream systems.

3.2.4 Consideration shall be given to the compatibility of different produced

water streams that could give rise to scale formation if mixed.
Segregation of such streams shall be considered when determining
overall system configuration.

PRODUCED WATER HANDLING

PHILOSOPHY Page 4
3.3. HYDROCYCLONES

If hydrocyclones are used in the processing of produced water, the following

requirements shall be followed.

3.3.1 The design shall allow future retrofit of enhanced coalescence devices
such as Cyclotech PECT-F.

3.3.2 Facilities shall be installed to allow each hydrocyclone vessel to be

back-flushed to prevent blockages.

3.3.3 The hydrocyclone liner arrangement shall be initially set up to suit

predicted start-up water rates. This could involve removing supplied
liners and installing blanks. It is important that a record is made of the
initial set –up. This shall be done by means of P&ID mark-up, a note in
the equipment records and attaching an information tag. Spare liners
shall be kept in stores.

3.3.4 The trims supplied with control valves shall be suitable for the predicted
start-up water rates. This may mean that a trim change or valve
change-out is required for the maximum water case, which tends to
occur late in field life. The ability to do this shall be incorporated in the
plant design.

3.3.5 Isolation should be provided to allow an off-line hydrocyclone vessel to

be isolated and dismantled to allow cleaning, repair or insertion and
removal of liners. On-line cleaning facilities (e.g. jetting nozzles)
should also be considered.

3.3.6 Vent and drain connections will be provided to allow each hydrocyclone
vessel to be taken offline and dismantled individually. Drain
connections in produced water service should be routed to Closed
Drains, however care should be taken to ensure sand/solids are not
routed to the drains.

3.3.7 Sample points shall be provided at the inlet, outlet and reject streams
of each hydrocyclone vessel to enable assessment the hydrocyclone
vessel performance.

3.3.8 Valved connections shall be provided to allow the on-line fitting of local
pressure gauges to all inlet and outlet lines of each hydrocyclone
vessel.

3.3.9 Hydrocyclone liner types shall be common throughout the facility. This
is to allow optimum selection of the number of provided liners.

PRODUCED WATER HANDLING

PHILOSOPHY Page 5
3.4. PUMPS

3.4.1 Fitting pumps upstream of water / oil separation equipment should be

avoided if possible. The practice of recycling produced water to a
higher-pressure separator for entry into the produced water processing
system should also be avoided if possible.

3.4.2 Pumps fitted in the produced water system should be designed as low
shear. The design shall be robust and able to withstand vibration, and
corrosion. They shall also be resistant to the presence of sand in the
produced water, if sand production is expected. The design shall avoid
the need for any inline items that could cause droplet shear.

3.4.3 Upstream vessels shall be elevated sufficiently to ensure that net

positive suction head (NPSH) requirements of any associated pumps
are met. Pump NPSH calculations shall take into account the
presence of oil in water, which will increase the vapour pressure of the
pumped fluid. Available NPSH shall be verified once piping isometrics
are produced and checked against the actual NPSH requirements
specified by the supplier. All such calculations shall be traceable.
NPSH calculations shall include maximum pressure drop across
suction strainers.

3.4.4 Pump suction strainers shall be provided. The strainers shall be easy
to access and change out (e.g. lift-out basket type) for critical service
parallel units should be considered. A local differential pressure gauge
shall be provided. Strainers shall be robust and be capable of being
cleaned by a water pressure jet. Low suction pressure trip devices
should be located downstream of the strainer.

3.4.5 The design pressure of discharge pipework from centrifugal pumps

shall be adequate for the maximum pump head to avoid the need for
relief valves. Account shall be made for the presence of high density
liquid such as water and upstream vessels operating at above normal
pressures. Calculation results and assumptions shall be recorded on
the pump data sheet in case a future impeller upgrade is considered.
The design should consider future impeller change.

3.4.6 Casing drains for pumps in produced water service shall be piped to
closed drains.

3.4.7 Pumps should be designed to allow future impeller change, the

selected pumps shall not use the largest impeller available to allow
future upgrade.

PRODUCED WATER HANDLING

PHILOSOPHY Page 6
3.5. CONTROL VALVES

3.5.1 Any control valves required upstream of water / oil separation

equipment should be designed to minimise the shear on the oil / water
liquids.

3.5.2 Provision of dual control valves shall be considered to address

blockage and erosion due to sand or high-pressure drop across the
valve. Erosion resistant trim materials shall be used.

3.5.3 The potential for cavitation of the produced water shall be considered
and addressed, especially for services where flow is from a pressurised
source into a low pressure or atmospheric system. Consideration shall
be given to installing such valves at a low point so that there is a
constant static head back pressure on the valve outlet.

3.5.4 Control valves need to be readily accessible and robust to allow easy
cleaning as they are a likely site for scale deposition.

3.6. DEGASSER VESSELS

If a degasser vessel is required to meet the specifications as stated in the

Basis of Design, the following shall be followed:

3.6.1 Gas liberated from a produced water degasser vessel should be routed
to a low-pressure flare system for disposal.

3.6.2 In order to confirm degasser size and suitability of internals to achieve

the required separation consideration should be given to computational
fluid dynamic (CFD) analysis and/or laboratory tests.

3.6.3 Skimming facilities shall be provided to allow removal of accumulated

oil on the liquid surface to a suitable collection system. This is to be a
manual operation. Appropriate layout will allow gravity flow rather than
requiring a pump.

3.6.4 Degasser inlet device design shall be such that it allows liberated gas
bubbles to assist in ‘floating’ oil droplets to the surface and thus
enhance separation efficiency.

3.6.5 In the sizing of a produced water degasser, the equivalent residence

time between normal operating and alarm level and between alarm
level and trip shall be sufficient to allow operator intervention.

3.6.6 When sand production is likely, the degasser shall be equipped with
proven sand washing facilities.

PRODUCED WATER HANDLING

PHILOSOPHY Page 7
3.6.7 When sand production is expected, the outlet to instrument bridles on
the degasser shall be protected against blockage. Level bridle nozzles
on vessel bottoms should be avoided. Otherwise, inserts are to be
installed.

3.7. FILTRATION

3.7.1 Filters fitted in the produced water processing systems shall be

configured with at least one off-line stand-by unit at all times. The off-
line unit shall have sufficient isolation valves / spading points to allow
the unit to be dismantled for cleaning while the other unit is on-line.

3.7.2 Back-flushing facilities shall be installed on all filters in produced water

service. Water for back flushing should be taken from a suitable
source e.g. downstream of water injection booster pumps. The water
from back flushing should be recovered and recycled. Consideration
shall be given to routing the flushed material to sand handling facilities
or a backwash tank to recover sand/solids before routing the material
to drainage.

3.7.3 An adjustable timer should be considered to initiate backwash

automatically, with an over-ride from a high differential pressure. The
backwash shall be able to be initiated manually from the CCR.

3.7.4 A flow sharing system should be installed to prevent a filter that has
been backwashed from accepting more than its design flow.
Restriction orifice plates or preferably, a flow control loop may achieve
this for each unit.

3.7.5 Pressure differential instrumentation shall be provided to monitor the

condition of the filters while in service. Filters in essential service shall
be monitored from the CCR, with alarms to warn the CCR personnel
when the filter requires to be changed / cleaned or the backwash has
failed.

3.7.6 Vent and drain connections shall be provided on each filter unit to allow
the unit to be drained prior to opening the unit.

3.7.7 Drain connections from produced water filter units shall be piped to
Closed Drains.

3.8. CHEMICAL INJECTION

3.8.1 An appropriate connection suitable for deoiler chemical injection should

be provided on the produced water outlet line from each production
vessel. Adequate space shall be provided around the connection to
allow the fitting of a mechanically robust injection quill that is on-line
PRODUCED WATER HANDLING
PHILOSOPHY Page 8
 retrievable. The space provided shall allow use of an appropriate
extraction tool for this purpose.

3.8.2 De-oiling chemicals may be toxic and should therefore be avoided by

proper design and operation where possible.

3.8.3 Individual chemical injection points shall be provided upstream all

separator inlets for antifoam, demulsifier, etc. Injection quills shall be
used. These shall be removable under line pressure and mechanically
robust for main process line flow rate and condition (e.g. slugging).

3.9. SAMPLING & ANALYSIS

3.9.1 Sampling points shall be provided with sampling quills. These shall be
removable under line pressure and mechanically robust for main
process line flow rate and condition (e.g. slugging). Adequate space
shall be provided to allow use of an appropriate extraction tool.

3.9.2 Double block and bleed isolation will be provided on all sample points.

3.9.3 Sampling points on produced water lines shall be provided with a

connection to Closed Drains for flushing the sample point prior to
taking a sample. Sample points may need to be continually flushed to
ensure collection of a representative sample.

3.9.4 The design of the sampling points shall ensure that the gas liberated
when sampling will not activate gas detectors.

3.9.5 A sample point shall be provided at each outlet of the produced water
processing system. This sample point shall have the capability of
isokinetic sampling for oil-in-water content and analysis of sand
content.

3.9.6 Production lab shall have adequate facilities to allow determination of

oil in water content. Determination techniques shall be suitable for the
nature of the fluids.

3.9.7 In line analysers fitted to the system shall be of proven service on a

system in similar duty.

3.10. FLEXIBILITY

3.10.1 Where parallel equipment is used such as a number of hydrocyclone

vessels, the isolation and control configuration should allow each piece
of equipment to be operated independently (i.e. different pressures) so

PRODUCED WATER HANDLING

PHILOSOPHY Page 9
 long as it does not affect the stable operation of upstream or
downstream equipment.

3.10.2 If water injection is not available the cleaned produced water shall be
disposed to an alternative location, e.g. retention pond. The water
quality shall meet requirement for such alternative routes.

3.11. CORROSION & EROSION

3.11.1 Produced water is a corrosive fluid. This shall be considered in the

material selection. The erosion caused by any sand production shall
also be considered during material selection.

3.11.2 The layout of produced water system shall ensure any leaks does not
cause corrosion of other equipment

4. SPARING AND MAINTENANCE REQUIREMENTS

4.1 Reject oil control valves tend to have small trim sizes and therefore are
prone to blockage. Due to their small size, a spare valve shall be kept in
stock to allow rapid change-out.

5. LOCATION AND ACCESS REQUIREMENTS

5.1 The pipework between the production vessels and the produced water
handling system should slope towards the produced water handling
system.

5.2 For hydrocyclones, the main inlet and outlet vessel connections shall be
located on the vessel bottom. Hydrocyclone liners shall be installed from
the top downwards and be easily removable from the vessel. This is to
mitigate blockages due to sand, scale, etc

6. START-UP REQUIREMENTS
6.1 Consideration shall be given to the requirement to recycle any off spec.
product that may result from start-up activities.

6.2 Produced water will have to be recycled to clean-up system before forward
flow for re-injection is permitted.

7. COMMISSIONING REQUIREMENTS
7.1 All hydrocyclone vessels should be opened prior to commissioning to
check the quantity of liners that are installed, the fitted parts are as per
design, and that the parts inside the vessel have not been damaged in
transit.

PRODUCED WATER HANDLING

PHILOSOPHY Page 10
Prior to commissioning, a test-run should be carried out with utility water to
ascertain the pressure profile across the system. It is recommended that a
number of different flowrates are used, and the profile checked against the
design information. Additional local pressure gauges should be fitted for the
test as deemed appropriate. Any discrepancies shall be referred to the
package vendor for advice

PRODUCED WATER HANDLING

PHILOSOPHY Page 11