State of the Art of Gas/Liquid Cylindrical-Cyclone Compact-Separator Technology

Abstract

Distinguished Author Series articles are general, descriptive representations that summarize the state of the art in an area of technology by describing recent developments for readers who are not specialists in the topics discussed. Written by individuals recognized as experts in the area, these articles provide key references to more definitive work and present specific details only to illustrate the technology. Purpose: to inform the general readership of recent advances in various areas of petroleum engineering. Summary The petroleum industry has relied mainly on conventional, vessel-type separators to process wellhead production of oil/water/gas flow. However, economic and operational pressures continue to force the industry to seek less expensive and more efficient separation alternatives in the form of compact separators, especially for offshore applications. Compared with vessel-type separators, compact separators, such as the gas/liquid cylindrical cyclone(GLCC), are simple, low-cost, low-weight separators that require little maintenance and are easy to install and operate. However, the inability to predict GLCC performance adequately has inhibited its widespread deployment. Current R&D is aimed at creating the necessary performance-prediction tools for proper design and operation of GLCC separators. This paper presents the status of the development of the GLCC, the state of the art with respect to its simulation and design, and current successful and potential applications. Introduction The GLCC (Fig. 1) consists of a vertical pipe with a tangential inclined inlet and outlets for gas and liquid. The tangential flow from the inlet to the body of the GLCC creates a swirl that produces centrifugal and buoyancy forces on the fluids that are an order of magnitude higher than the force of gravity. The combination of gravitational, centrifugal, and buoyancy forces separates the gas and liquid. The liquid is pushed radially outward and downward toward the liquid exit, while the gas is driven inward and upward toward the gasoutlet. The low-cost, low-weight, compact GLCC separator offers an attractive alternative to the conventional vessel-type separator. A size comparison between the GLCC and conventional vessel-type vertical and horizontal separators has been conducted recently for a typical field application with oil and gas flow rates of 100,000 B/D and 70,000 Mscf/D, respectively, at 100 psig. For this case, the required GLCC inner diameter and height are 5 and 20 ft, respectively. These dimensions are approximately one-half of the corresponding dimensions of the required conventional vertical separator (9 x 35 ft) and about one-quarter of the dimensions of a conventional horizontal separator (19x 75 ft).