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Stanko, Milan Edvard Wolf - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Topics in Production Systems Modeling: Separation, Pumping and Model Based Optimization
NTNU : Skipnes Kommunikasjon, 2014Co-Authors: Stanko, Milan Edvard WolfAbstract:This thesis addresses three distinct topics within oilfield production technology: 1) Inline oil-water separation for subsea applications, 2) Model based constrained optimization for production networks of high water cut wells boosted by ESPs (Downhole Electric Submersible Pumps), and 3) Hydraulic analysis of a novel configured hexagonal positive displacement pump. While each of the three topics in the thesis is investigated and discussed in a stand-alone manner, they all share a common industry objective; increasing the yield and prolonging the viable production period of hydrocarbon producing fields. More specifically, they reside within two important classes of production technology challenges; (a) boosting the deliverability and the flow of wells with high water content, and (b) separating and removing of water from hydrocarbon streams as close as possible to the source in a production gathering system. Numerical modeling is the main methodology employed in the three topics, where modeling results are substantiated by field scale or laboratory generated data. The inline oil-water separation technology addressed in this thesis is based on a controlled and distributed tapping from the lower side of a water rich stream flowing in an inclined pipe spool. The long term objective is to develop a capability for seabed separation near the subsea wells in mature offshore fields with high water production and declining reservoir pressure. The intention is to reduce the backpressure on the wells and increase or maintain their production level. The production gain is achieved by harnessing and hydraulically manipulating the energy of the inlet mixture stream to reduce the backpressure exerted by the outlet streams. Important and unique features of the concept are; the separation and phase splitting do not consume external energy, there are no major moving parts, and there is inherent performance tolerance to deviations from the design set-points. The thesis expands an earlier IPT/NTNU concept verification research project (Sponsored by the Research Council program DEMO 2000) which involved experimenting with a low pressure full scale Separator Test facility. This thesis progresses the relevant previous knowledge and information from a concept validation level to establishing and validating a more detailed design strategy and a more focused performance design for the Separator. The thesis brings the investigated separation approach to a mature level where the fluid mechanics design aspects are largely clear and understood and are ready as an input for the mechanical design of a Separator prototype. The separation was analyzed from the multiphase hydraulic design point of view using numerical experimentation as the primary tool. The research methodology comprised of conducting the following tasks: (a) developing a procedure to assess the potential production gain of installing the inline Separator in a subsea production system and to identify the design requirements for obtaining a specified Separator performance, (b) introducing and demonstrating concepts to quantify the drainage performance of a single and multiple taping points, (c) Validating the usefulness of 3D CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) methods to represent the fluid dynamics details of an oil-in-water dispersion and separation, (d) Employing the same 3D CFD model to reproduce the laboratory experimental results. The other two topics in the thesis constitute a response to emerging field scale problems where the industry have called for an immediate and sound modeling based diagnostic and modeling based investigative design. The second topic addresses an optimization strategy for large oil production systems consisting of clusters of high water cut, low GOR oil wells producing by ESP. The production streams of the wells converge through a multi branched surface gathering system into a system of main flow conduits leading to a single processing plant. The objective is to perform a model based numerical optimization to maximize oil production and reduce lift costs by modifying ESP rotor rotation frequency while complying with multiple operational constraints. While industry is currently in possession of tools to perform such tasks the outcome is inconsistent and yields poor optimization result when modeling large system with many wells, complex network and large number of constraints. An investigative task to clarify the source of the difficulties was deemed necessary. The optimization technique is described in the thesis and employed to quantifying the achievable production gains. It also identifies the computational hurdles encountered in computing the global production optimum. The thesis reports and discusses modeling and optimization using three cases: two are scaled-down synthetic cases to establish the fundamentals of the computational process, and one case on a field-scale production system is used to capture the impact of system complexity. The observed outcome and the conclusions of the investigation provide bases for a robust and consistent production optimization program of a large field. The details of this industrial scale project are beyond the scope of this thesis The third topic deals with modeling and critical analysis of a novel design of a positive displacement pump for drilling mud circulation. The concept has been commercialized and launched to the offshore market in recent years (commercially called “Hex pump”). The obvious attractiveness of the pump is its compactness and its small footprint when mounted on congested offshore platforms. However, the pumping performance of the pilot installation was very poor exhibiting excessive pulsation, vibration, mechanical failures and noise. These have driven expensive and critical drilling operations offshore to a halt. It has been recognized at this stage that the unique and innovative design features of the pump together with the criticality of it good and safe performance warned a thorough model based concept analysis and verification. The thesis describes the hydraulic performance modeling and its use to identify the concept inherent pulsation generating source. The conducted modeling and its interpretation are of novel nature and the results revealed a fundamental conceptual flaw. The research outcome had a prompt and an immediate impact on the industry decision of deploying this novel pump type
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Topics in Production Systems Modeling: Separation, Pumping and Model Based Optimization
Skipnes Kommunikasjon, 2014Co-Authors: Stanko, Milan Edvard WolfAbstract:This thesis addresses three distinct topics within oilfield production technology: 1) Inline oil-water separation for subsea applications, 2) Model based constrained optimization for production networks of high water cut wells boosted by ESPs (Downhole Electric Submersible Pumps), and 3) Hydraulic analysis of a novel configured hexagonal positive displacement pump.While each of the three topics in the thesis is investigated and discussed in a stand-alone manner, they all share a common industry objective; increasing the yield and prolonging the viable production period of hydrocarbon producing fields. More specifically, they reside within two important classes of production technology challenges; (a) boosting the deliverability and the flow of wells with high water content, and (b) separating and removing of water from hydrocarbon streams as close as possible to the source in a production gathering system. Numerical modeling is the main methodology employed in the three topics, where modeling results are substantiated by field scale or laboratory generated data.The inline oil-water separation technology addressed in this thesis is based on a controlled and distributed tapping from the lower side of a water rich stream flowing in an inclined pipe spool. The long term objective is to develop a capability for seabed separation near the subsea wells in mature offshore fields with high water production and declining reservoir pressure. The intention is to reduce the backpressure on the wells and increase or maintain their production level. The production gain is achieved by harnessing and hydraulically manipulating the energy of the inlet mixture stream to reduce the backpressure exerted by the outlet streams. Important and unique features of the concept are; the separation and phase splitting do not consume external energy, there are no major moving parts, and there is inherent performance tolerance to deviations from the design set-points.The thesis expands an earlier IPT/NTNU concept verification research project (Sponsored by the Research Council program DEMO 2000) which involved experimenting with a low pressure full scale Separator Test facility. This thesis progresses the relevant previous knowledge and information from a concept validation level to establishing and validating a more detailed design strategy and a more focused performance design for the Separator. The thesis brings the investigated separation approach to a mature level where the fluid mechanics design aspects are largely clear and understood and are ready as an input for the mechanical design of a Separator prototype.The separation was analyzed from the multiphase hydraulic design point of view using numerical experimentation as the primary tool. The research methodology comprised of conducting the following tasks: (a) developing a procedure to assess the potential production gain of installing the inline Separator in a subsea production system and to identify the design requirements for obtaining a specified Separator performance, (b) introducing and demonstrating concepts to quantify the drainage performance of a single and multiple taping points, (c) Validating the usefulness of 3D CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) methods to represent the fluid dynamics details of an oil-in-water dispersion and separation, (d) Employing the same 3D CFD model to reproduce the laboratory experimental results.The other two topics in the thesis constitute a response to emerging field scale problems where the industry have called for an immediate and sound modeling based diagnostic and modeling based investigative design.The second topic addresses an optimization strategy for large oil production systems consisting of clusters of high water cut, low GOR oil wells producing by ESP. The production streams of the wells converge through a multi branched surface gathering system into a system of main flow conduits leading to a single processing plant. The objective is to perform a model based numerical optimization to maximize oil production and reduce lift costs by modifying ESP rotor rotation frequency while complying with multiple operational constraints. While industry is currently in possession of tools to perform such tasks the outcome is inconsistent and yields poor optimization result when modeling large system with many wells, complex network and large number of constraints. An investigative task to clarify the source of the difficulties was deemed necessary.The optimization technique is described in the thesis and employed to quantifying the achievable production gains. It also identifies the computational hurdles encountered in computing the global production optimum. The thesis reports and discusses modeling and optimization using three cases: two are scaled-down synthetic cases to establish the fundamentals of the computational process, and one case on a field-scale production system is used to capture the impact of system complexity. The observed outcome and the conclusions of the investigation provide bases for a robust and consistent production optimization program of a large field. The details of this industrial scale project are beyond the scope of this thesisThe third topic deals with modeling and critical analysis of a novel design of a positive displacement pump for drilling mud circulation. The concept has been commercialized and launched to the offshore market in recent years (commercially called “Hex pump”). The obvious attractiveness of the pump is its compactness and its small footprint when mounted on congested offshore platforms. However, the pumping performance of the pilot installation was very poor exhibiting excessive pulsation, vibration, mechanical failures and noise. These have driven expensive and critical drilling operations offshore to a halt. It has been recognized at this stage that the unique and innovative design features of the pump together with the criticality of it good and safe performance warned a thorough model based concept analysis and verification. The thesis describes the hydraulic performance modeling and its use to identify the concept inherent pulsation generating source. The conducted modeling and its interpretation are of novel nature and the results revealed a fundamental conceptual flaw. The research outcome had a prompt and an immediate impact on the industry decision of deploying this novel pump type.PhD i petroleumsteknologi og anvendt geofysikkPhD in Petroleum Engineering and Applied Geophysic
Miguel Asuaje Tovar - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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3d cfd numerical simulation of gravity induced segregation in water dominated dispersed oil water pipe flow
ICMF 2013, 2013Co-Authors: Milan Stanko, Michael Golan, Miguel Asuaje TovarAbstract:This thesis addresses three distinct topics within oilfield production technology: 1) Inline oil-water separation for subsea applications, 2) Model based constrained optimization for production networks of high water cut wells boosted by ESPs (Downhole Electric Submersible Pumps), and 3) Hydraulic analysis of a novel configured hexagonal positive displacement pump.While each of the three topics in the thesis is investigated and discussed in a stand-alone manner, they all share a common industry objective; increasing the yield and prolonging the viable production period of hydrocarbon producing fields. More specifically, they reside within two important classes of production technology challenges; (a) boosting the deliverability and the flow of wells with high water content, and (b) separating and removing of water from hydrocarbon streams as close as possible to the source in a production gathering system. Numerical modeling is the main methodology employed in the three topics, where modeling results are substantiated by field scale or laboratory generated data.The inline oil-water separation technology addressed in this thesis is based on a controlled and distributed tapping from the lower side of a water rich stream flowing in an inclined pipe spool. The long term objective is to develop a capability for seabed separation near the subsea wells in mature offshore fields with high water production and declining reservoir pressure. The intention is to reduce the backpressure on the wells and increase or maintain their production level. The production gain is achieved by harnessing and hydraulically manipulating the energy of the inlet mixture stream to reduce the backpressure exerted by the outlet streams. Important and unique features of the concept are; the separation and phase splitting do not consume external energy, there are no major moving parts, and there is inherent performance tolerance to deviations from the design set-points.The thesis expands an earlier IPT/NTNU concept verification research project (Sponsored by the Research Council program DEMO 2000) which involved experimenting with a low pressure full scale Separator Test facility. This thesis progresses the relevant previous knowledge and information from a concept validation level to establishing and validating a more detailed design strategy and a more focused performance design for the Separator. The thesis brings the investigated separation approach to a mature level where the fluid mechanics design aspects are largely clear and understood and are ready as an input for the mechanical design of a Separator prototype.The separation was analyzed from the multiphase hydraulic design point of view using numerical experimentation as the primary tool. The research methodology comprised of conducting the following tasks: (a) developing a procedure to assess the potential production gain of installing the inline Separator in a subsea production system and to identify the design requirements for obtaining a specified Separator performance, (b) introducing and demonstrating concepts to quantify the drainage performance of a single and multiple taping points, (c) Validating the usefulness of 3D CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) methods to represent the fluid dynamics details of an oil-in-water dispersion and separation, (d) Employing the same 3D CFD model to reproduce the laboratory experimental results.The other two topics in the thesis constitute a response to emerging field scale problems where the industry have called for an immediate and sound modeling based diagnostic and modeling based investigative design.The second topic addresses an optimization strategy for large oil production systems consisting of clusters of high water cut, low GOR oil wells producing by ESP. The production streams of the wells converge through a multi branched surface gathering system into a system of main flow conduits leading to a single processing plant. The objective is to perform a model based numerical optimization to maximize oil production and reduce lift costs by modifying ESP rotor rotation frequency while complying with multiple operational constraints. While industry is currently in possession of tools to perform such tasks the outcome is inconsistent and yields poor optimization result when modeling large system with many wells, complex network and large number of constraints. An investigative task to clarify the source of the difficulties was deemed necessary.The optimization technique is described in the thesis and employed to quantifying the achievable production gains. It also identifies the computational hurdles encountered in computing the global production optimum. The thesis reports and discusses modeling and optimization using three cases: two are scaled-down synthetic cases to establish the fundamentals of the computational process, and one case on a field-scale production system is used to capture the impact of system complexity. The observed outcome and the conclusions of the investigation provide bases for a robust and consistent production optimization program of a large field. The details of this industrial scale project are beyond the scope of this thesisThe third topic deals with modeling and critical analysis of a novel design of a positive displacement pump for drilling mud circulation. The concept has been commercialized and launched to the offshore market in recent years (commercially called “Hex pump”). The obvious attractiveness of the pump is its compactness and its small footprint when mounted on congested offshore platforms. However, the pumping performance of the pilot installation was very poor exhibiting excessive pulsation, vibration, mechanical failures and noise. These have driven expensive and critical drilling operations offshore to a halt. It has been recognized at this stage that the unique and innovative design features of the pump together with the criticality of it good and safe performance warned a thorough model based concept analysis and verification. The thesis describes the hydraulic performance modeling and its use to identify the concept inherent pulsation generating source. The conducted modeling and its interpretation are of novel nature and the results revealed a fundamental conceptual flaw. The research outcome had a prompt and an immediate impact on the industry decision of deploying this novel pump type.
Zhou, Ying Hui - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Experimental and simulation studies on performance of a compact gas/liquid separation system
Cranfield University, 2013Co-Authors: Zhou, Ying HuiAbstract:The need of exploiting the offshore oil reserves and reducing the equipment costs becomes the motivation for developing new compact separation techniques. In the past years, the development of compact Separators has almost solely focused on the cyclonic type Separators made of pipes, because of their simple construction, relatively low cost of manufacturing and being able to withstand high pressures. Considerable effort has been put into the Separator Test program and qualification, and consequently notable advances in the compact separation technique have been made. However the application has been held back due to lacking of reliable predicting and design tools. The objectives of this study were threefold. Firstly, an experimental study was carried out aiming at understanding the separation process and flow behaviours in a compact Separator, named Pipe-SEP, operating at high inlet gas volume fraction (GVF). Secondly it is to gain insight of the gas and liquid droplet flow in the compact Separator by means of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations. Last but not least, the understanding and insight gained above were used to develop a comprehensive performance predictive model, based on which, a reliable optimizing design procedure is suggested. An experimental study was carried out to Test a 150-mm Pipe-SEP prototype with a water-air mixture. Three distinct flow regimes inside the Pipe-SEP were identified, namely swirled, agitated, and gas blow-by. The transition of the flow regimes was found to be affected by inlet flow characteristics, mixture properties, geometry of the Separator, and downstream conditions. A predictive model capable of predicting the transition of flow regimes and the separation efficiency was developed. A comparison between the predicted result and experiment data demonstrated that the model could serve as a design tool to support decision-making in early design stages ... [cont.]
Atle B Nordvik - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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oil water Separator Test and evaluation
1995Co-Authors: Michele A Murdoch, Kenneth R Bitting, Atle B NordvikAbstract:Abstract : Four oil/water Separators were Tested in 1992 in a project jointly sponsored by the U.S. Coast Guard R&D Center and the Marine Spill Response Corporation. The objective of the Test program was to evaluate the performance of oil/water Separators under a variety of conditions that replicated operating conditions expected during an offshore oil spill recovery operation. The Separators Tested were the Alfa-Laval OFPX 413 disk-stack centrifuge. Conoco Specialty Products' Vortoil Oilspill Separation System, International Separation Technology's Intr-Septor 250 and a simple gravity tank. Separation performance was documented for a range of influent oil/water ratios, using crude and a water-in-oil emulsion. Simulated sea motion, the addition of emulsion breaker, and debris in the influent were other variables included in the Test program. Observations on Separator operability, reliability, maintenance requirements, safety and transportability also were documented. Complete Test results and analysis are included in the report. Recommended system improvements, based on manufacturers' input and performance analysis also are included. Test methods and parameters are fully documented in the report.
Francisco M Vargas - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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efficient algorithm for the prediction of pressure volume temperature properties of crude oils using the perturbed chain statistical associating fluid theory equation of state
Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, 2017Co-Authors: Mohammed I L Abutaqiya, Sai R Panuganti, Francisco M VargasAbstract:A new simplified approach is presented for characterizing crude oils using the perturbed-chain version of the statistical associating fluid theory equation of state (PC-SAFT EoS). The new approach models the liquid phase in crude oil as one pseudocomponent called the “single liquid fraction” (SLF). The SLF approach requires a single fitting parameter called aromaticity (γSLF) which is fitted to the experimental bubble point and density at saturation. Simulation results for 10 light crudes from the Middle East are presented in this work and compared to 2078 data points for the predictions of constant composition expansion (CCE), differential liberation (DL), Separator Test, and swell Test experiments. It is found that the model predictions of density are the most accurate, with an average absolute percent deviation (AAPD) of 0.5% in the CCE, 0.7% in the DL, 0.8% in the Separator Test, and 2.1% in the swell Test. The swell Test study included modeling of blends of live oil with different gases such as lean ...
