Gas Testing & Processing

Three Phase Gauge Tank

Flow head Heater Test Separator Gas Flare
or Steam Exchanger
Choke
Manifold
Oil Burner

Pump

HIGH ATMOSPHERIC
PRESSURE PRESSURE
Separation
The well-stream may consist of crude oil, gas, condensates, water and
various contaminants. The purpose of the separators is to split the flow into
desirable fractions.

Test separators
 A vessel used to separate and meter relatively small quantities of oil and
gas. Test separators can be two-phase or three-phase, or horizontal,
vertical or spherical. They can also be permanent or portable. Test
separators sometimes are equipped with different meters to determine oil,
water and gas rates, which are important to diagnose well problems,
evaluate production performance of individual wells and manage reserves
properly. Test separators can also be called well testers or a well checkers.
Production Separators
First Stage Separator
 first stage separator to about 3-5 MPa (30-50 times atmospheric
pressure). Inlet temperature is often in the range of 100- 150 ºC.
 The pressure is often reduced in several stages. In this instance, three
stages are used to allow the controlled separation of volatile
components. The idea is to achieve maximum liquid recovery and
stabilized oil and gas, and to separate water. A large pressure reduction
in a single separator will cause flash vaporization, leading to instability
and safety hazards.
 The retention period is typically 5 minutes, allowing gas to bubble
out, water to settle at the bottom and oil to be taken out in the middle.
In this platform the water cut (percentage water in the well flow) is
almost 40%, which is quite high. In the first stage separator, the water
content is typically reduced to less than 5%.
there is a baffle slug catcher that will reduce the effect of slugs (large gas
bubbles or liquid plugs). However, some turbulence is desirable as this will
release gas bubbles faster than a laminar flow.
The liquid outlets from the separator will be equipped with vortex breakers
to reduce disturbance on the liquid table inside. This is basically a flange
trap to break any vortex formation and ensure that only separated
liquid is tapped off and not mixed with oil or water drawn in through
these vortices.
The gas outlets are equipped with demisters, essential filters that remove
liquid droplets in the gas.

Second stage separator

The second stage separator is quite similar to the first stage HP separator. In
addition to output from the first stage, it also receives production from wells
connected to the low pressure manifold. The pressure is now around 1 MPa
(10 atmospheres) and temperature below 100ºC. The water content will
be reduced to below 2%.
An oil heater can be located between the first and second stage
separator to reheat the oil/water/gas mixture. This makes it easier to
separate out water when initial water cut is high and temperature is
low. The heat exchanger is normally a tube/shell type where oil passes
though tubes in a heating medium placed inside an outer shell.
Third stage separator
The final separator is a two-phase separator, also called a flash drum.
The pressure is now reduced to atmospheric pressure of around 100 kPa, so
that the last heavy gas components can boil out. In some processes
where the initial temperature is low, it might be necessary to heat the
liquid again (in a heat exchanger) before the flash drum to achieve
good separation of the heavy components.
Coalescer
After the third stage separator, the oil can go to a coalescer for final
removal of water. In this unit, water content can be reduced to below 0.1%.
The coalescer is completely filled with liquid: water at the bottom and oil
on top. Internal electrodes form an electric field to break surface bonds
between conductive water and isolating oil in an oil-water emulsion.
Electrostatic desalter
 If the separated oil contains unacceptable amounts of salts, they
can be removed in an electrostatic desalter. The salts, which may
be sodium, calcium or magnesium chlorides, come from the reservoir
water and are also dissolved in the oil. The desalters will be placed
after the first or second stage separator depending on GOR and
water cut.
Water treatment
On an installation such as this, where the water cut is high, there will be
a huge amount of water produced. In our example, a water cut of 40%
gives water production of about 4,000 cubic meters per day (4 million
liters) that must be cleaned before discharge to sea. Often, this water
contains sand particles bound to the oil/water emulsion.
 Gas treatment and compression
 The gas train consists of several stages, each taking gas from a
suitable pressure level in the production separator's gas outlet, and
from the previous stage.
Heat exchangers
For the compressor to operate efficiently, gas temperature should be
low. The lower the temperature, the less energy will be used to
compress the gas for the given final pressure and temperature.
Scrubbers and reboilers
The separated gas may contain mist and other liquid droplets. Drops of
water and hydrocarbons also form when the gas is cooled in the heat
exchanger, and must be removed before it reaches the compressor. If
liquid droplets enter the compressor, they will erode the fast rotating
blades. A scrubber is designed to remove small fractions of liquid from
the gas.
 Compressors
 Reciprocating compressors
Used for lower capacity gas compression and high reservoir
pressure gas injection.
 Screw compressors
Typical use is natural gas gathering.
 Axial blade and fin type compressors
Applications include air compressors and cooling compression in
LNG
 Oil and gas storage, metering and export
 Fiscal metering
Partners, authorities and customers all calculate invoices, taxes and
payments based on the actual product shipped out. Often, custody transfer
also takes place at this point, which means transfer of responsibility or title
from the producer to a customer, shuttle tanker operator or pipeline
operator.
Gas metering is similar, but instead, analyzers will measure hydrocarbon
content and energy value (MJ/scm or BTU, Kcal/scf) as well as pressure
and temperature. The meters are normally orifice meters or ultrasonic
meters.
 Gas plants
Raw Natural gas is characterized in several ways dependent on the content
of these components:
 Wet gas is raw gas with a methane content of less than 85%.
 Dry gas is raw or treated natural gas that contains less than 15 liters of
condensate per 1,000 SM3. (0.1 gallon per 1000 scf).
 Sour gas is raw gas with a content of more than 5.7 mg hydrogen sulfide
(H2S) per scm (0.25 grains per 100 scf); this is about 4 ppm.
 Acid gas has a high content of acidic gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2)
or H2St. Pipeline natural gas specification is typically less than 2% CO2.
Condensates are a mixture of hydrocarbons and other components in the
above table. These are normally gaseous from the well but condense out
as liquid during the production process. This is a refinery and
petrochemical feedstock.
Raw gas is processed into various products or fractions:
o Natural gas in its marketable form has been processed for a specific
composition of hydrocarbons, sour and acid components, etc., and energy
content. Content is typically 90% methane, with 10% other light alkenes.
o Natural gas liquids (NGL) is a processed purified product consisting of
ethane, propane, butane or some higher alkenes separately, or in a blend. It is
primarily a raw material for petrochemical industry and is often processed
from the condensate.
o Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) refers to propane or butane or a mixture
of these that has been compressed to liquid at room temperature (200 to 900
kPa depending on composition). LPG is filled in bottles for consumer
domestic use as fuel. Energy to volume ratio is 74% of gasoline.
Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas that is refrigerated and liquefied
at below -162 °C, for storage and transport. It is stored atclose to atmospheric
pressure, typically less than 125 kPa. As a liquid, LNG takes up 1/600 of the
volume of the gas at room temperature. Energy to volume ratio is 66% of
gasoline.
 Sales gas specifications
 The exact sales gas specification is specified by pipeline operators and
distributors. Typical standard sales gas requirements use the following
parameters:
 Volume is measured in standard cubic meters (scm) defined as 1 m3 at 0
ºC and 101.325 kPa or standard cubic feet (scf) as 1 ft3 at 60 °F (16 °C)
and 14.73 PSIA.
 Calorific value
 Wobbe index measures the heating effect that a burner is exposed to
during combustion. A higher value means a greater thermal load on the
burner. Different gases with the same Wobbe index will impose the same
load on the burner. An excessively high value is a safety hazard, as it can
lead to burner overheating and to excess production of carbon monoxide
during combustion.
 Methane number is a value similar to octane value for gasoline, and is
important when the gas is used for internal combustion engines (as CNG).
 Hydrogen sulfide and overall sulfur content: Both hydrogen sulfide
(H2S) and total sulfur must be reduced. H2S is toxic as well as corrosive
for the pipeline, as it forms sulfuric acid (H2SO4) and should be kept as
low as possible. Typical maximum values are 5 mg per scm of H2S and
total sulfur at 10 mg per scm.
 Mercury should be kept below 0.001 ppb which is its detectable limit.
The goal is to limit emissions and to prevent damage to equipment and
pipelines by mercury amalgamation, which makes aluminum and other
metals brittle.
 Dew point is a temperature below which some of the hydrocarbons in the
gas can condense at pipeline pressure, forming liquid slugs that can
damage the pipeline.
 Additives: When the natural gas is intended for domestic use,
tetrahydrothiophene (THT) is added so that the otherwise odorless natural
gas can be detected in the event of a gas leak. The sulfurous-smelling
substance added is equal to a sulfur content of 4-7 mg per scm.