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An intrinsic requirement for test separators is the capacity to handle exploration
wells where the nature of the fluid is not known beforehand. Consequently, test
separators must be able to treat gas, gas condensate, light oil, heavy oil, foaming oil,
as well as oil containing water and impurities such as mud or solid particles.
On account of the versatility necessary, test separators are not expected to achieve
as perfect a separation as production station separators, but rather to separate in
such a way that the separated elements can be reliably metered.
The separator unit is skid mounted with an integral inlet and bypass manifold.
The skid contains an orifice meter for measuring gas flow rate, a positive
displacement meter and a vortex meter for measuring oil flow rate, and a positive
displacement meter for measuring water flow rate.
The separator pressure is maintained at a preset level by an automatic control
valve on the gas outlet. The liquid level is maintained by an automatic control valve
on the oil outlet. The liquid level can be monitored through sight glasses.
The vessel is protected from overpressure by both a relief valve and a rupture disc
system. The outlet to the relief valve can be vented to the gas line or to an
independent line. A second relief valve can replace the rupture disc, if required.
A separatormounted shrinkage tester is available to measure the oil volume
change from separator conditions to atmospheric pressure and temperature.
Sampling points for taking pressurized oil and gas samples are standard on each
separator.
Standards Test separators are available in 1,440 psi, 720 psi and 600 psi versions,
but the 1440 psi version is by far the most common.
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Separator
The separator is the principal part of the process system. It manipulates the
stream of produced fluid to take advantage of the density differences that exist
between gas, oil and water, and that causes these phases to separate.
Because of the relative densities of gas and liquid, their separation is quick,
usually a few seconds. Some liquid may remain for a time in the gas in a fine mist.
Densities of oil and water, however, are closer and can take a few minutes to
separate.
Inside the separator are several pieces of equipment to help the process.
A flow breaker or deflector plate is placed in front of the inlet. The gas flows
round the breaker and the liquid falls to the bottom of the vessel.
Dixon or coalescing plates arranged in an inverted Vshape group small droplets
of oil into bigger drops which under the action of gravity, trickle down into the
liquid. Gas leaving the coalescing plates may not yet be dry.
Before leaving the separator, the gas will pass through a mist extractor composed
of a mass of wire mesh. It is designed to stop tiny oil droplets down to 10 microns
from leaving the separator out of the gas line.
A wire mesh foam breaker prevents waves of foam passing along the separator
and being carried away with the gas.
If the level of the water is controlled, a weir placed in the bottom of the vessel will
allow only oil to overflow and spill into the oil compartment.
Oil and water pass through vortex breakers on the outlets to prevent gas flowing
out these lines.
Equipment to be RITE maintained as per the Separator maintenance manual are
the following :
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Ball valves
A ball valve is a quick opening valve with a spherical core, a ball with a full bore
port that fits and turns in a mating cavity in the valve body.
Ball valves open or close by a quarter turn (90 degrees) of the valve handle
attached to the spherical core.
Mapegaz or others ball valves in various sizes are used in the separator manifold
and in the gas oil and water outlets.
Plug valves
This is a quick opening valve constructed with a central core or plug.
The valve is opened or closed with one quarter turn (90 degrees) of the handle
attached to the central core
Texsteam valves are fitted to some separators and are found in the manifold, oil,
water and gas lines.
Swing Check valve
A check valve has a free swinging clapper that permits fluid in a pipeline to flow
in one direction only.
A swing check valve is placed in the line inlet separator, just upstream valve inlet.
This prevents gas pressure from affecting the bellows in the safety valve.
The seal is metal to metal, although a teflon seal can be fitted.
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Safety relief valve (pressure safety valve or PSV)
The Farris safety relief valve prevents overpressure of the separator vessel. Set
pressure is controlled by the force of a large calibrated spring on a sealing disc.
A special bellows, the Balan seal, seals off the top of the disc carrier from the valve
outlet so that the top disc surface is always exposed to atmospheric pressure. This
keeps any internal fluid away from the working parts and ensures that the opening
pressure is always independent of any back pressure in the outlet.
The safety valve is normally removed periodically from the separator and its
pressure setting certified.
It is normally set at 100% of the separator working pressure but due to
temperature influence and calibration tolerences, it is safer to consider a range of
pressures for which the valve will open. This can be considered as plus or minus 5%
of the nominal set point pressure.
The valve is positioned on top of the separator vessel with the outlet connected to
the gas outlet line, so upon opening the gas is bled to the flare.
Some clients request that a special vent line is rigged up from the safety valve
outlet instead of the normal gas line configuration.
New Pilotoperated Safety relief valves (two) are on all new Separators.
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Rupture disk
The rupture disc is a fine convex metal diaphram designed to rupture in the event
of an excess of pressure in the separator.
They are completely torn apart when ruptured leaving a large diameter hole
through which the gas and liquid can escape.
Rupture discs are chosen to be 10% greater than the separator working pressure,
and are tightened in a special holder.
They should be changed
after opening safety valve during operations
if tag is missing
during Qcheck
after long job at maximum temperature
after job with hostile conditions high temperature, maximum working
pressure, sand, H2S
In some locations, clients request that the rupture disc be replaced by a second
safety relief valve.
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Liquid flow meters
The oil and water leaving the separator is measured by means of meters on the
outlet lines.
The oil line has a manifold with a choice of two meters, a Rotron and a Floco, and
which one is used depends on the flow rate. The Rotron can measure the higher flow
rates.
The water line has only a Floco meter as this is normally adequate for any water
rate encountered.
These meters can be calibrated in the field by the volumetric method using the
gauge tank. Do not attempt to change the Rotron calibration plug setting.
Floco oil/water meter
The Floco is a positive displacement or volumetric liquid flow meter.
The liquid passing through the Floco is separated into segments and counted by
means of a register.
Liquid enters the meter, strikes the bridge and is deflected downward to hit the
blades and turn the rotor. Bridge seals prevent liquid passing to the outlet port
without being measured. The rotor movement is transfered to the register by a
magnetic coupling.
The 2" Floco used on the separator has a rating of 6 to 60 gallons per minute. That
is 200 to 2000 bbl/day. It has been tested to 3400 bbl/day (the lower limit of the
sleevebearing type Rotron) and is still very accurate over several hours. It tends to
heat up if used to long at this high rate.
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Rotron oil meter
The Rotron is a ball vortex liquid flow meter. It consists of a body with an offset
chamber, and a rotor mounted transverse to the flow stream.
When liquid flows through the meter, a vortex is created in the offset chamber.
The rotational velocity of the liquid vortex is proportional to the rate of flow. The
rotor movement is transfered to the register by a magnetic coupling.
Our separators use 2" and 3" sizes. The rating of the Rotron depends not only on
the size but also on the type of bearings used.
Below its minimum rating the Rotron is very inaccurate.
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Gas Flow Meters
Gas leaving the separator is measured by means of a meter on the gas outlet line.
Typically there is only one meter used for this purpose a Daniel orifice meter,
which comes in different diameters depending on the separator.
A 1440 psi separator is normally fitted with a 6" Daniel, with a 5.761" internal
diameter.
Straightening vanes, in the form of a bundle of tubes fitted inside the pipe, are
installed in the meter run upsteam of the Daniel orifice meter to reduce any
disturbance to the streamlined flow.
The meter installed on the separator can be used accurately in a wide range of
flow rates. Rangeability is achieved through selection from a large choice of orifice
plate sizes.
In tests with an extremely low gas flow rate, however, it has been known to rig up
a domestic type gas meter to the gas outlet. This is very, very rare.
Daniel orifice meter
A differential pressure meter is one of the easiest ways of measuring gas flowrate.
The Daniel orifice meter is composed of a dual chamber that allows orifice plates
to be changed safely and conveniently under pressure, and without interruption of
the flow.
This is an inferential type of meter which obtains measurement not by measuring
the weight or volume of the fluid but by measuring another phenemenon that is a
function of the quantity of fluid passing through the meter.
Flange taps are located 1" each side of the orifice plate position. In our separators,
static pressure is measured from the downstream tap and the differential pressure is
measured between the upstream and downstream tap. The flow rate is a function of
the square root of the static pressure times the differential pressure.
These pressures are measured by a Barton flow recorder.
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Sight glasses
Sight glasses on the separator allow monitoring of the fluid interfaces. The gasoil
interface is seen on the oil sight glass, and if water is present, the oilwater interface
is seen on the water sight glass. There is also a sight glass on the shrinkage tester.
Two models are available. One has front and back glasses allowing the passage of
light to give a clear indication of the level. The other model, with only one glass is
usually found on older equipment. This glass has longitudinal bevels on the inside
which refracts the light to distinguish the level.
On top and at the bottom of the sight glass is a sight glass safety valve.
The valve stem has a bevelled shutter which can effectively isolate the separator
from the sight glass. In the event of the glass breaking, a ball checks into a seat,
sealing off the separator and preventing fluid venting from the broken sight glass.
The ball can be pushed back into its groove by turning the stem +/ a half turn
clockwise.
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Pressure regulators
Pressure regulators are generally composed of a body, a diaphram, a calibration
spring and a plug and seat assembly
The downstream gas pressure against a diaphram causes a force that is counter
balanced by the calibration spring.
If the downstream pressure is reduced, the spring force is greater than the force
exerted by the gas pressure on the diaphram. consequently the plug moves away
from its seat and the downstream pressure increases until the desired value is
reached.
If the downstream pressure is increased, the spring force is then less than the force
exerted by the gas against the diaphram . Consequently the plug approaches its seat
and the downstream pressure falls until the desired value is reached.
Pilot gas circuit
Clean separator gas (No H2S) or compressed air is required to supply the Fisher
oil, water and gas controllers. Normally, compressed air is used, but in remote
locations, rigless jobs and during long tests, sweet separator gas may be more
convenient.
Separator gas is reduced in pressure (Fisher FS 1301 regulator), scrubbed and
enters the pilot gas circuit.
Compressed air is normally taken from the rig supply.
Before being supplied to each instrument, the pressure must be reduced once
again (Fisher 67FR regulators).
Fisher 1301 regulator
This is used to reduce separator gas from separator pressure down to around 75
psi for the gas scrubber.
Fisher 67 FR regulator
This is used to reduce separator gas or air from scrubber down to around 30 psi
for the Fisher controller. There is one 67 FR on each controller.
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Pressure controller system
The separator pressure is regulated by a pressure controller system which
comprises the Fisher Wizard controller and a normally open Fisher automatic
control valve.
The pressure to be controlled, that is the separator pressure, is applied directly to
the bourdon tube.
A change in the controlled pressure deforms the bourdon tube, moving the
flapper away from or closer to the nozzle. This leak of air from the nozzle is
converted by the regulation equipment to open or close the control valve to regulate
the pressure in the separator.
Oil level trol controller system
The oilgas interface level controller comprises a Fisher type 2500 level trol and a
normally closed Fisher automatic control valve.
Operation of the level trol is based on the apparent weight of the plunger when it
is placed in the oil.
When the oil level changes, according to the principle of Archimedes, the plunger
will be bouyed up by a force equal to the weight of the displaced fluid.
This apparent change in weight is converted through a torque tube assembly into
an angular displacement of the flapper in the level trol regulation equipment, which
in turn opens or closes the control valve to regulate the level.
Water level trol controller system
The oilwater interface level controller comprises a Fisher type 2900 level trol and
a normally closed Fisher automatic control valve.
Operation of the level trol is based on the displacement principle in the detection
of liquid level or specific interface.
The controller can be adjusted for throttling action if there is a steady flow of
water, or for snap action if the water is to be drained at one time.
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Shrinkage Tester
The shrinkage factor describes the amount of dissolved gas in the separator oil
which will become free when the pressure of the oil drops from the separator
pressure to atmospheric.
In the field this can be measured using a shrinkage tester which is normally
attached to the oil sight glass of the separator.
A measurement entails filling the shrinkage tester to the zero level with oil at
separator conditions. The tester is then isolated from the separator, and gas bled off
slowly from a needle valve at the top, till the pressure reaches atmospheric pressure.
This normally should take around 30 minutes.
The shrinkage is read directly from the scale and the final shrinkage tester oil
temperature is noted.
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