Improving

Produced Water
Quality at a North
Sea FPSO
Scott Caird
11th June 2015
Produced Water Challenges
 High oil in produced water during periods of bad weather
 FPSO movement, and lack of internals in vessels
 Slugs of high oil concentration in water

 Naphthenate related oil in water issues

 Oily deposits in process
 Contaminates produced water separation process

 Non-optimal water clarifier chemistries

 Scaling issues associated with product
 Pump not properly sized
 Highly concentrated product

2
 Process overview

Crude oil
1st stage sep Oil to cargo
cooler
1,2 Crude/crude
exchanger
Prod header •F Interstage heater 2nd stage sep
Test sep
3
Test header
PW recycle pumps
•F

Reject oil Water injection

WI recycle

•F
4 Hydro cyclones PWFD
WI booster
pumps WI pumps

Desander Prod water overboard

1 = SI+CI Prod water to slop

2,3 = EB 5 Oil to closed drain

4 = Coagulant
5 = Flocculant
3
Field Data
 API 21 – 23 native crude
 38°API dry crude incoming
 Approximately 1:1 ratio

 100kbpd, 40 – 60% water cut

 Process temperature 55°C
 Oil in water
 1st stage outlet: several hundred ppm
 Hydrocyclone outlet: ~100 ppm
 Downstream degasser target < 22 mg/l

 Produced water both injected and disposed of overboard

4
Removal of degasser deposits

Flotron D-1340 cleaned the oily

deposits and separated the oil
and solids completely

5
Optimising Clarifiers

 Replaced Ferric
Sulphate coagulant
 High Ba, Sr in
produced water

 Reformulated
flocculant
 High viscous,
concentrated emulsion
polymer
 Created low viscous,
fast acting, winterised
product

6
Improving Emulsion Breaker

 High oil in water from 1st stage separator

 By reducing oil in water from 1st stage, can minimise impact
during periods of turbulent seas

7
Demulsifier Testing with Focus on Water Quality

New Product
8
 Naphthenic Acid in crude oil
Calcium naphthenate
solids West Africa

Soap
emulsions

Tight emulsions Deposition of

calcium
Soap emulsion naphthenate
Fattty acid
sludge
Calcium naphthenate
Poor water
solids Bohai Bay, China
quality

Water quality Bohai Bay,

Refinery fouling High Calcium in
China Crude

On Crude
Lab Ref Free Water TAN Calcium
%vol mgKOH/g mg/kg

001-00 85 4.33 98.2

002-00 2.2 4.85 21.1

003-00 90 4.43 41.6

9
 Typical Produced Water pH
Calculated pH as function of pressure in offshore production
9

Atmosferic LP separator

7
Riser + HP separator
pH

6 Flowline
Reservoir

3
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
Pressure (bar)

10
Blocked
strainer
in FPSO
injection
water
pump

11
 Flow Assurance (Schmoo’s and Online Cleaners)

Combination deposit of scales, clay, naphthenates, FeS and possibly asphaltenes:

Those deposits especially occur in effluent systems, where the pH of the water rises, due
to the removal of CO₂. The higher pH causes scales and naphthenates to be formed and 12
due to their sticky character of the naphthenates, they absorb to all kind of solids.
Interesting conclusions from water analysis from 1995

13
Field Trial New Demulsifier

Overboard

14
Potential Further Improvements
 Targeted clarifier injection
 High water cut wells

 Sub-sea co-mingling
 Combine high water cut wells with low water cut wells

 Improved Vessel Internals

 Baffles to minimise liquid movement in turbulent seas

15
Summary
 Improved 1st stage water quality through demulsifier swap
out
 Reduced oil and solids in water through formulating with a
naphthenate inhibitor
 Cleaned produced water degasser with chemical cleaner to
remove deposits
 Optimised clarifier combination
 50% reduction in overboard oil in water

16
 Thank You

 Questionsand further
discussions

17