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Inline Technology - New Solutions for Gas-Liquid Separation

Article · January 2010

DOI: 10.2118/136390-MS

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SPE 136390

Inline Technology—New Solutions for Gas/Liquid Separation

E. Kremleva, R. Fantoft, R. Mikelsen, and R. Akdim, FMC Technologies, CDS Separation System

Copyright 2010, Society of Petroleum Engineers

This paper was prepared for presentation at the 2010 SPE Russian Oil & Gas Technical Conference and Exhibition held in Moscow, Russia, 26–28 October 2010.

This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper have not been
reviewed by the Society of Petroleum Engineers and are subject to correction by the author(s). The material does not necessarily reflect any position of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, its
officers, or members. Electronic reproduction, distribution, or storage of any part of this paper without the written consent of the Society of Petroleum Engineers is prohibited. Permission to
reproduce in print is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words; illustrations may not be copied. The abstract must contain conspicuous acknowledgment of SPE copyright.

Abstract

Recently the problem of associated petroleum gas utilization in Russian gas and oil production fields has attracted
a lot of attention. According to the Russian Government the new strict utilization requirements as well as high
flaring penalties will be applied to the oil producing companies starting from 2014. At the same time, increasing
water cut during the well production life is another problem facing the oil and gas operation. Thus, optimal
multiphase oil/water/gas flow separation will become vital for Russia for successful oil development and
exploitation in the near future.

Inline separation technology can be the new solution to solve the mentioned challenges. Inline separation is the
compact separation in swirl pipe segments. In comparison to the conventional vessel-type separation, the inline
technology is simple, low-cost, low-weight, has no moving parts, needs low maintenance, easy to install and
operate. These features fit the exigent conditions expected in hostile production environments, and suitable to both
new fields and retrofit applications.

This paper describes the inline separation technology, including an overview of qualification work and field
experiences. The fundamental mechanisms behind these techniques are explained, and recent advances in these
methods are emphasized. The paper especially addresses a test program developed for Marlim production site for
reservoir support and gives an excellent example how inline technology can be used to make step-change
improvements to the gas, oil, and water management.

Introduction

Today the global oil industry is increasingly challenged to carry out complex and capital intensive oil and gas
developments whilst ensuring that the recovery of the hydrocarbons over the field life is maximized and that safety
and environmental demands are met. Oil and gas separation at the oil well is one of the core operations before
transport, sale and refinery. Currently, processing becomes increasingly complex while the quality of produced
hydrocarbons keeps deteriorating. Changes of water cut and reservoir pressure during field life; switch from
primary oil to gas production; developing new fields in extreme environment (arctic, ultra-deep offshore, etc.) and
as a result new requirements on equipment – all of that had a great impact on development new methods and
approaches in separation technology. Optimal solutions for multiphase oil/water/gas flow separation are vital for
further successful oil and gas development and exploitation.

Challenging projects often require new technologies to render them profitable. Current separation techniques are
usually costly, and because of size and weight requirements, separation equipment greatly affects the space
2 SPE 136390

requirements, and thus the cost of processing facilities. Considerable advances in compact InLine separation
technology have been achieved over the past decade. Over the last decade the equipment that is lighter and
smaller than current separation equipment has been developed. The key characteristics include:
• Ultra-compact separation in pipe segments
• Effective de-bottlenecking to increase production capacity for existing processes
• Compact separation skids for new-build production systems
• Higher G-forces can be generated, therefore more phase separation can occur
• Better separation can be obtained at lower pressure drops

To reduce cost and maximize the effectiveness of separation equipment, the compact InLine separation
technology may be an alternative to conventional separation methods.

Many of Russia’s oil reservoirs, like those of other producing regions, contain associated gas that travels to the
surface when the oil is produced. However, till now much of this gas is flared at the wellhead. With the
governmental directive of reducing flared gas by 2014, it would seem natural to put a maximum effort into retaining
the valuable associated petroleum gas. Compact separation in pipes could be an attractive alternative to
conventional methods from the point of view of reducing the flare gas. Small pipe segments can be easier added to
existing separation equipment than large vessels. Use of smaller inline with the pipe systems enables to reduce
the pressure safety requirements and as a result less gas sent to the flare.

In this paper we will focus on new developments in primary gas/liquid separation technology. Some examples are
given how this technology can successfully replace the traditional equipment on a real field example will be
presented. New applications of inline technology such as well testing will be discussed.

Inlet Devices
When first installed, the separator vessels can only be modified to a limited degree to handle variations in
operating conditions. As rates increase, problems with foam or droplet shatter can occur. More liquid is entrained in
the gas phase as a result the drops become smaller. Mitigating droplet shatter and providing separation at the inlet
are then the important requirements. On the figure 1 two inlet devices are presented. Evenflow HE (1) distributes
the flow uniformly and reduces the inlet velocities preventing by that droplet shattering. In order to reduce the
incoming momentum and to prevent small droplets being created the cyclonic inlet devices could be used (2).
Those kinds of devices provide foam breaking as well as gas/liquid separation.

The main advantages of cyclonic inlets over the traditional pipe ones are:
• High allowable momentum;
• De-foaming characteristics;
• Liquid/liquid coalescensing, and
• Gas demisting benefits.
SPE 136390 3

Gas/Liquid Separation

During last years in CDS Separation Systems, subsidiary of FMC Technologies, five types of separators for the
gas/liquid separation were successfully developed and qualified for the market.

1. GasUnieTM provides bulk gas/liquid separation. Usually is used as gas/liquid separation unit and for
protection other equipment such as compressors, gas turbines ect.
2. Inline PhaseSplitter provides bulk separation of mixed liquid/gas flow into two streams. Depending on
operation strategy, one of the separated streams (liquid or gas) can reach up to 99% purity, while some
carry-over (typically 5-10%) must be accepted in the other. This stream can then be sent for further
treatment in either an Inline DeLiquidiser or DeGasser. The phasesplitter consists of only a cyclonic pipe
segment.
3. Inline DeGasser separates gas from liquid continuous stream. The DeGasser consists of a cyclonic pipe
segment and a small gas scrubber to clean the gas.
4. In Inline DeLiquidiser separates liquid from continuous gas flow. The DeLiquidiser consists of a cyclonic
pipe segment and a small liquid boot to clean the liquid.
5. The polishing stage for gas occurs in demisting device Spiraflowtm. This device was developed to remove
the last portion of a liquid from gas stream with similar performance as a conventional scrubber, but in a
more compact way. They are also frequently added as internals to a gas crubber.

Important tool for primary gas/liquid separation is the cyclone. When designing cyclones, the varying liquid levels
and flow rates must be taken into account to prevent gas blow-by out the bottom of the cyclones. To prevent liquid
carry over from cyclone the GasUnieTM was developed (figure 2). The unit consists of an outer shell body and an
inner vortex finder. The liquid laden gas stream enters the cyclone through a side inlet nozzle. In the annulus
region between the shell and the vortex finder, swirl blades rotate the gas. Because of the centrifugal flow, the
denser liquid and solids are thrown to the outside shell. The liquids then flow down the shell wall into the lower
portion of the scrubber and eventually out of the vessel. The scrubbed gas reverses direction and flows upward out
through the center of the vortex finder. Because of the high centrifugal accelerations (100-150 gs), large foam
bubbles are broken, liquid drops are removed from the gas phase, and liquid-liquid coalescence occurs within the
cyclone. GasunieTM is compact, provides high liquid removal efficiency (>99%), provides high gas capacity and
exellent slug handling.

Schematic presentations of other gas/liquid separation technologies are presented on the figure 3. A low pressure
drop mixing element is placed at the inlet of the Inline PhaseSplitter, DeGasser and DeLiquidiser. The purpose of
this mixer is to avoid a stratified flow profile upstream of the separation section. Downstream of the mixer, a
stationary swirl element brings the stream into rotation. Due to the density difference between the gas and liquid,
the gas migrates to the centre of the cyclone as the liquid forms a spinning film on the outer pipe-wall of the
system. Gas is removed from the cyclone by the annular section in the cyclone center. To ensure two clean outlet
streams the DeGasser includes a vertical scrubber section at the top. This second stage separation section allows
removal of all gas plus some of the liquid surrounding the gas core, such that gas-free-liquid exits the liquid outlet.
4 SPE 136390

The scrubber removes the liquid taken with the gas allowing liquid-free-gas from the system. The liquid is collected
in the scrubber section is then re-injected into the main liquid stream. The liquid level in the scrubber is regulated
by the control system to handle variations in incoming liquid and/or gas flow. In the Inline DeLiquidiser all liquid and
some of the surrounding gas core is collected into a vertical boot section, such that liquid-free-gas exits at the gas
outlet. This gas is removed from the boot and re-injected into the centre of the swirl element where the static
pressure is low due to the spinning gas/liquid mixture. Downstream of the separation zone there is an anti-swirl
element that removes the rotation of the flow and recover static pressure.

Table 1. Main characteristics of Inline Gas/Liquid separation equipment

Demister
TM Degasser Deliquidiser Phase Splitter
GasUnie Spiraflow
90-99 % 99.99 %
Separation 90-99 % removal 90-99 % removal
removal of About 98 %* removal of
Efficiency of incoming gas of incoming liquid
incoming gas incoming liquid
Continuous
Gas or Liquid Liquid Gas Gas or Liquid Gas
Phase
Dispersed 20 % < GVF < 95
GVF** < 10 % GVF < 60 % LVF*** < 10 % LVF < 5%
Phase %
Second Stage
NA Scrubber Liquid boot NA MashPad
Separation
Control System
Yes Yes Yes No**** No
required
Control Liquid level in Liquid level in Application
Liquid level in boot —
Strategy GasUnie scrubber dependent

Turndown Ratio 50 % 50 % 50 % 50 % 50 %

0.2 to 1 bar 0.45 to 2.5 bar 0.4 to 0.7 bar 0.2 to 0.7 bar
0.4 to 0.7 bar
depending on depending on depending on depending on
Pressure drop depending on
operating operating operating operating
operating pressure
pressure pressure pressure pressure
Slug handling
High Moderate Moderate Low High
capability
Fouling
High Low Low Low High
Tolerance
* depends on operation strategy
**GVF Gas volume fraction
***LVF Liquid volume fraction
****depends on customer requirements, if high performance is required, control system must be included.
SPE 136390 5

The secondary gas usually has to be cleaned up by mesh pads and vane packs. However, axial flow demisting
cyclones can be used more frequently because of their advantages:
• High efficiency also at high pressures,
• High gas and liquid capacities,
• Foam breaking, and
• Non-fouling.
They can be also used to capture carryover from upstream separators or scrubbers in situations, where retrofitting
the upstream separator is impractical. A stationary swirl element in the Spiraflow tube induces a spin on the flow.
Downstream of the swirl element the liquid film is removed through slits along with some secondary purge gas. The
liquid drops to the bottom of a chamber enclosing the cyclone and flows out through a drain tube. The main portion
of the gas flows straight out of the cyclone. A low pressure region at the centre is created due to the spinning flow,
similar to that in a tornado. In this way, the purging gas is recycled back into the cyclone and cleaned again and
without the need for a secondary separation.

All mentioned gas/liquid separation equipment is tailor made and can be combined to suit all conditions and
separation requirements. The main operational characteristics are listed in the table 1. The operating ranges of the
InLine DeGasser, InLine DeLiquidiser and InLine PhaseSplitter overlap to some extent. Often such requirements
as space availability or boot size/scrubber size restrict the use of the InLine DeLiquidiser and InLine DeGasser. In
this case an InLine PhaseSplitter can be used.

Applications and Case Studies

1. Inlet device Evenflow HE and demister modification of three phase gravity separator, Orenburg
Gazprom

The reason of modification was the decrease of reservoir pressure in a mature field and increase in the gas flow
rate. As a result a liquid carryover from separation equipment occurred, which could cause difficulties for gas
compressors perfomance.

The existing internals of inlet V-100 separator comprise inlet deflector, inlet horizontal plate and vane pack
demister. The arrangement of the vessel is given below on figure 4 (a). Using inlet deflector and/or inlet baffles
typically results in creation of mist, poor gas distribution and liquid re-entrainment. This leads to high liquid
carryover and poor separation. To avoid these issues the existing inlet baffle and horizontal plate was removed
and replaced by CDS Evenflow HE Inlet Device. Evenflow HE minimized the shear applied to the incoming fluids,
set up an even gas flow distribution. Evenflow HE was supported by a jacking supporting structure, using existing
supports and parts of the removed inlet structure. It was also decided to replace the existing vane pack demister
with SpiraflowTM. The combination of the given devices Evenflow HE and SpiraflowTM (fig. 4 (b)) has allowed
maximising the separation efficiency and operational flexibility of the vessel.

Modification of the three phase separator resulted in the following benefits:

6 SPE 136390

• the problem with liquid carry over was solved

• production increased

2. Application of DeLiquidiser for reconstruction of HP Gas Cooler Discharge Drum in BP-ETAP field

BP-ETAP field is located about 240 km east of Aberdeen, UK, in central North Sea area. HP Gas Cooler Discharge
Drum carried over condensate to the downstream glycol contactor. The condensate caused problems with the
glycol contactor and the glycol regeneration unit. Becides this, the poor performance could have resulted to
production restruction. The first possibility looked at was to replace the internals in the existing vessel. However,
after careful consideration it was concluded that eveb after installation of new internals, the vessel still would have
been overloaded with liquid. Another drawback of this approach was that installation time including opening and
cleaning the vessel could have taken too long. An alternative was to install an InLine DeLiquidiser upstream of the
vessel for uploading the gas stream (figure 5). The goal was to remove the bulk of the liquid from the feed before it
enters the vessel.

Installation of the DeLiquidiser resulted in the following benefits:

• The water dew point of the export gas from the downstram glycol contactor was reduced from -20оС to -
52оС. Due to increased separation of water and condensate from the gas stream the mass transfer
efficiency of the Glycol Contactor improved.
• The Glycol dehydration system availability was increased
• The glycol contactor gas capacity was no longer a bottleneck to the BT-ETAP production system. It was
increased from 26% to 97%.

3. Application of PhaseSplitter on Veslefrikk platform

Transportation of multiphase flow from operational platform Veslefrikk-A to floating processing platform Veslefrikk-
B was carried out through four flexible pipelines in length of 150 metres and diameter of 8 inches everyone. The
stream has been equally distributed over the hoses. Due to the gas/liquid (oil and water) ratio in the system slug
flow is initiated in the hoses resulting in a significant pressure drop across these transport lines. The upstream
pressure was 16 barg whreas the intention was to decrease this pressure to 12 barg in the near future. The
reduction in operatig pressure in combination with the huge pressure drop would have resulted in to low pressures
downstream to handle the gas/liquid in the system.

If no measures were taken the production of Veslefrikk would have been affected. In order to resolve this problem
it was proposed to split the flow into mainly liquid and mainly gas. If the gas is transported through two of the four
lines and the liquid through the other two, a reduction in total pressure drop could be achieved.
Because of space limitation on a platform the application of InLine technology was the only possibility of
modificating the process.Since no 100 % of separation was required, InLine PhaseSplitter was offered for use.
Some liquid was allowed in the gas lines as this would “smooth” the rough inner surface of the hoses and helps to
reduce the pressure drop even more. For the liquid lines some gas was allowed as long as the flow pattern is
SPE 136390 7

bubbly. For this case even resulted in a small gas-lift.

Figure 6 presents the flow scheme of the process modification. 18” PhaseSplitter was installed directly on the weel
head. As a result of modification the pressure drop over the hoses was decreased twice.

4. Application of InLine DeGasser for designing the new separation equipment. Increasing average
initial well production by 50% in Oman, Al-Huwaisah field, Shell PDO

In this case study the concept of how inline separators can be successfully used not only for de-bottlenicking of the
existing processes but also for designing the new separation equipment is shown.

Al-Huwaisah field in Oman was prodicing 30.000 BPD of liquid with 90% water cut. Multiphase oil/gas/water
mixture from the well was transported to the gathering station located 10 km away from the production manifold. In
case of increasing the liquid production to desired 75.000 BPD, the existing header did not have enough handing
capacity. CDS Separation Systems proposed as a solution compact remote produced water separation and
reinjection skid. On the figure 6 presented the technological scheme of the skid. InLine Degasser and compact
three phase separation vessel were used in this case. The skid was installed directly in the well stream, that
allowed re-injecting produced water into the reservoir (quality <80 ppm oil in water) and reducing the water cut in
the multiphase mixture transported to the central processinbg station. The skid replaced the former installation in
the desert of 135 T and 12x20x10 m. Its weight was 24 t and measured 5x6x10 meters.

5. Well Testing. Mobile well test package for Alaska field, BP

Well test information has the great importance for the prudent management of oil or gas reservoirs. As such, well
testing is an integral part of the overall production and depletion strategy of a reservoir. Conventional well testing
involves gravity separation of the production stream into oil, water and gas. Imperfect separation by this method
yields gassy liquid and wet gas. Hovewer, the separation should be as full as possible to provide the most reliable
results. The enchanced mobile well test package was developed by FMC Technologies and approved by BP in
Alaska field. The system was based on GasunieTM inlet cyclonic separator, compact gravity liquid/liquid separation
vessel, two multiphase meters on the liquid outlet and a vortex meter for the gas flow measurement. In order to
provide effective liquid/liquid separation the fluids mixing in the velles must be avoided—perforated bariers were
installed. On the figure 7 the schematic presentation of the enchanced well testing package is shown.

The developed system specifications were:

• Gas Volume Fraction: 0-100%
• Water Cut: 0-100%
• Liquid flow rate: 43-1,876m³/day
• Gas flow rate: 14,000-340,000Nm³/day at pressure 20 barg
• Gas flow rate: 283,000-1,135,000Nm³/day @83barg
• Temperature: 0°-121°C
• Pressure: 20-83barg
8 SPE 136390

• Oil Viscosity = 1000 cp at line conditions

According to customer measurements the system provided accurate three phase measurements. The metering
accuracy was:
• Liquid Flow Rates: ± 4%
• Gas Flow Rates: ±8%
• Water Cut: ± 2%

Oil and gas well testing equipment based on Inline technology is a new way to ensure accurate and portable way
of well capacity measurements. It is compact, robust and easy to operate and maintain. The modular design
enables system adaptation to any evolving production environment and assures system functionality and
performance throughout its lifecycle.

Conclusions
The Petroleum Industry has shown keen interest in utilizing Inline separators for a wide range of applications. The
gas/liquid Inline technology is a compact, low-cost separation suitable for a wide range of applications. New
applications and improved designs are rapidly being explored. The benefits of the Inline solutions could be
summarized as follows:
• Considerable space and weight savings compare to conventional separation equipment—important
features from the point of view both the de-bottlenecking of existing and new installations.
• Technology can be easily retrofitted into existing process schemes.
• Application of Inline technologies in harsh weather conditions such as arctic or permafrost can reduce heat
losses, prevent volume inventory ect.
• Open structure design ensures optimal performance while being insensitive to fouling.
• Tailor made solutions to each case provide the best separation.
• The technology is passive – it requires no man control or external power requirement.
• Inline technology helps to find an ecological problems solution. Substitution of convetional vessel approach
for swirling pipes can reduce amount of frailed accosiated gas.
• New application of Inline technology in gas/liquid separation for well testing gives more reliable results due
to higher separation efficiency. Mobile and robust construction is easy to install and operate.
SPE 136390 9

Figures

1 2

Fig 1 – Inlet devices: 1-Cyclonic Inlet and 2-

Evenflow HE
Fig 2 – GasunieTM

One stage gas/liquid separation Removes gas from liquid stream

InLine PhaseSplitter InLine Degasser

1 2

Removes liquid from gas stream Removes liquid from gas stream
InLine Deliqidiser InLine Demister Spiraflow

4
3

Fig 3 – Schematic representation of inline Gas/Liquid Separation Technology

10 SPE 136390

Vane Pack
Solid horizontal a
Inlet Deflector Vane Pack
baffle

Vane Pack
b
Evenflow HE Vane Pack Spiraflow Demister

Fig 4 – Modification of three phase separator: a) before and b) after modification

Fig 5 – Inline Deliquidiser BP-ETAP to offload downstream scrubber from high liquid loading
SPE 136390 11

VFA VFB

Prod Header INLET

@14 barg SEP

Fig 6 – Statoil Veslefrikk – Splitting wellstream in gas and liquid streams to minimize pressure drop in
flowline

Oil and Gas Export

Well Stream

Inline Degasser
Booster Pump
Compact Gravity
Separator
Water for
Re-Injection

Fig 7 – Compact separation system applied at the Shell PDO Al-Huwaisah field in Oman
12 SPE 136390

Gas Outlet
3D View

Inlet

Water Oil/Condesate
Outlet Outlet

Fig 8 – Well Testing Package for Alaska field, BP

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