Savvy Separator Series

This 17th article in the Savvy Separator Series addresses how process flow conditions can lead to incorrect or misinterpreted level readings. Poor process vessel design is often exacerbated by miscalibrated instrumentation, leading to suboptimal operation and poor efficiency of the separator. In some cases, the location of the instrumentation can also lead to erroneou…

For as long as anyone can remember, the liquid carry-over separation efficiency of 0.1 gal/MMscf has been ubiquitously specified in separator design. This article provides the most likely scenario of its evolution.  

Process design of separation internals is just one step in improving the vessel performance. Just as important are the support design and installation steps. These lessons learned help to guide good off- and on-site planning to minimize separator turnaround.

Troubleshooting and solving separation problems takes a combination of analytical tools, experience, and a knack for investigation. These 5 lessons provide a starting point for assessment.

Oversizing a separator ensures meeting the life cycle needs of a facility, but are we setting ourselves up for failure in the long run? With peak rates typically being short-lived at best, or at worse, well beyond actual production rates, more weight needs to be given to the tail-end of production.

This article highlights some of the code and registration issues the Savvy Separator engineer encounters when retrofitting a vessel with internals to improve or restore the process performance of the separator.

By understanding the factors involved in oil droplet coalescence, the Savvy Separator engineer can assess the operational/chemical factors in the treatment system that are affecting droplet growth and make adjustments to enhance coalescence rates. 

In this tenth article of the series, the author focuses primarily on specific operational elements of troubleshooting rather than the mechanical design of the separator.   

Lessons learned in debottlenecking a “dirty” triethylene glycol contactor at the ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company’s LaBarge Black Canyon Facility in Wyoming highlight the results of work performed between 2001 and 2004.

In this eighth articles of the series, level settings and control in gravity separators are addressed.

Why CFD should be part of your separator design? This goal of this goal is to allay any fears about CFD that you may have as a result of flashbacks to university class and a dizzying array of partial-differential equations.

The main drivers for sizing gas scrubbers have been performance requirements, process conditions, and project specifications. However, optimizing cost, delivery times, and weight is not the same as improving scrubber performance.

The sources and magnitude of shear and the effects on oil droplet size can have significant consequences for downstream separation equipment performance.

Lessons learned by the members of the SPE Separations Technology Technical Section, representing more than 250 years' experience, are presented so that the same mistakes are not repeated in the future.

An underperforming scrubber that was suffering from too much oil carry-over is described along with options for debottlenecking and improving performance.

Efficient separation assumes uniform flow, but the reality of inlet geometries can invalidate this assumption, leading to separation problems and loss of separation efficiency.

Some internals components affect a separator's gas- and liquid-handling capability because of their effects on the liquid level. In this article, the interdependency of cyclonic inlets, cyclonic mist eliminators, and liquid level is highlighted.