Sizing Three Phase (Gas - Oil) Horizontal Separator: As per API 12J

PARAMETERS Nomenclature
Qg 10 mmscfd Gas rate A total cross sectional area of the separator.
2
Qo 100 bbl/d Oil rate Aw cross sectional area of the separator occupied by water, ft
Qw 170 bbl/d Water rate Ao cross sectional area of the separator occupied by oil, ft 2
2
γ 0,60 Gas specific gravity Ag cross sectional area of the separator occupied by gas, ft
o
ρ'o 40 API Oil density CD drag coefficient
γo 0,83 Oil specific gravity d vessel internal diameter, in.
P 300 psia Operating pressure dm bubble or drop diameter, μm
T' 79,25 oF Operating temperature D vessel diameter, ft
T 539 oR Operating temperature h liquid height, in.
MW 19,6 lb/lbmole Molecular weight hg gas-phase space height, in.
L 7,5 ft Shell Length (assume) ho oil pad height, in.
to 5 minutes Oil retention time (Refer Table 2) hw water pad height, in.
tw 5 minutes Water retention time (Refer Table 2) K mesh capacity factor, ft/sec
Leff
Z 0,937 Gas compressibility effective length of the vessel where separation occurs, ft
or L

Lss
µg 0,0184 cP Gas viscosity seam-to-seam vessel length, ft
or Ls

K 0,35 ft/s Refer Table 1 NLL normal liquid level, %

NLL 50% Normal liquid level (assume) P operating pressure, psia
Qc continuous liquid-phase flow rate, bbl/day
CALCULATIONS Qg gas flow rate, MMSCFD or ft3/s
Qo oil flow rate, bbl/day
ρg 1,0 lb/ft3 Gas operating density W or Q
water
w flow rate, bbl/day
ρo 51,5 lb/ft3 Oil operating density Re Reynolds number
T operating temperature, °R
V liquid settling volume
Va 2,536 ft/s Va max. allowable velocity through secondary separation section
Qg,a 6,21 ft3/s Actual volume flow of gas Vm velocity of the mixture, m/s
Ag,min 2,45 ft2 Minimum gas flow area Z gas compressibility
Ag,min 2,45 ft2 μc continuous phase dynamic viscosity, cp
Error 0,00 μw water dynamic viscosity, cP
Next larger (than Dmin) and appropriate 3
Dselected 24 in ρ density, lbm/ft
size
L 7,5 ft Shell length ρg gas density, lbm/ft3
L/D 3,8 unitless Refer Note 4 ρl liquid density, lbm/ft3
3
ρo oil density, lbm/ft
ρm mean density of mixture, kg/m 3
V 2 bbl Liquid volume (excluding bottom head) ρw water density, lbm/ft3

Liquid capacity of separator should be

W 302 bpd
more than 270 bpd (input value)