Abstract
This paper presents the application of the error-squared level control strategy Proportional Integral (PI) in the slug flow problem in oil production industry. For this purpose the dynamic model has been used for a pipeline-separator under slug flow with five Ordinary Differential Equations (ODEs), coupled, non-linear. The application of the error-squared level control strategy PI is performed through the methodology by bands, whose objective is to damp the oscillatory flow rate of the load that occur in production separators for equipment downstream of the process. This strategy is compared with the level control strategy PI conventional, widely used in industrial processes; and with the level control strategy PI, also, in the methodology by bands. Simulation results showed that the error-squared level control strategy PI in the methodology by bands, presented better results when compared with the level control strategy PI conventional, because reduced flow fluctuations caused by slug flow; and with the level control strategy PI in the methodology by bands, it probably happened because the first has highly respected the defined bands.
Highlights
The slug is a multiphase flow pattern that occurs in pipelines which connect the wells in seabed to production platforms in the surface in oil industry
The cyclic behavior of the riser slugging, which is illustrated in Figure 1, can be divided into four phases: (i) formation: gravity causes the liquid to accumulate in the low point in pipeline-riser system and the gas and liquid velocity is low enough to enable for this accumulation; (ii) production: the liquid blocks the gas flow and a continuous liquid slug is produced in the riser, as long as the hydrostatic head of the liquid in the riser increases
The slug flow causes undesired consequences in the whole oil production such as: periods without liquid or gas production into the separator followed by very high liquid and gas rates when the liquid slug is being produced, emergency shutdown of the platform due to the high level of liquid in the separators, floods, corrosion and damages to the equipments of the process, high costs with maintenance
Summary
The slug is a multiphase flow pattern that occurs in pipelines which connect the wells in seabed to production platforms in the surface in oil industry. The slug flow causes undesired consequences in the whole oil production such as: periods without liquid or gas production into the separator followed by very high liquid and gas rates when the liquid slug is being produced, emergency shutdown of the platform due to the high level of liquid in the separators, floods, corrosion and damages to the equipments of the process, high costs with maintenance. One or all these problems cause significant losses in oil industry. The main one has been of economic order, due to reduction in oil production capacity (GODHAVN et al, 2005)
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