One method of assuring that hydrates do not form is to assure that the amount of water vapor in the gas is always less than…
Separator operation can be adversely affected by an accumulation of paraffin. Coalescing plates in the liquid section and mesh pad mist extractors in the gas…
Figure 4-2 is a schematic of a vertical separator. In this configuration the inlet flow enters the vessel through the side. As in the horizontal…
The molecular weight of the liquid stream is calculated from the weighted average liquid component molecular weight given by: This is calculated in Table 3-3.…
Figure 5-6 shows a typical configuration for a vertical three-phase separator. Flow enters the vessel through the side as in the horizontal separator, the inlet…
Figure 5-3 shows an alternate configuration known as a “bucket and weir” design. This design eliminates the need for a liquid interface controller. Both the…
Back-pressure can affect either the set pressure or the capacity of a relief valve. The set pressure is the pressure at which the relief valve…
Hydrocyclone separators, sometimes called enhanced gravity separators, use centrifugal force to remove oil droplets from oily water. As shown in Figure 7-16, static hydrocyclone separator…
Produced wellhead fluids are complex mixtures of different compounds of hydrogen and carbon, all with different densities, vapor pressures, and other physical characteristics. As a well stream flows from the hot, high-pressure petroleum reservoir, it experiences pressure and temperature reductions. Gases evolve from the liquids and the well streamchanges in character.
Resembling dirty ice, hydrates consist of a water lattice in which light hydrocarbon molecules are embedded. They are a loosely-linked crystalline chemical compound of hydrocarbon…