Evaluation of Flow Characteristics in an Oil-Water Separator Using Computational Fluid Dynamics

Abstract

Multiphase separators on production platforms are among the first equipment through which well fluids flow. Based on functionality, multiphase separators can either be two-phase that separate oil from water, or three-phase that separate oil, natural gas, and water. Separator performances are often evaluated using mean residence time (MRT) of the hydrocarbon phase. MRT is defined as the amount of time a given phase stays inside the separator. On field, operators usually measure MRT as the ratio of active volume occupied by each phase to the phase volumetric flowrate. However, this method may involve significant errors as the oil-water interface height is obtained using level controllers and the volume occupied by each phase is calculated assuming the interface can be extrapolated from the weir back to the separator inlet. In this study, authors perform computational fluid dynamics (CFD) on a two-phase horizontal separator to evaluate MRT as a function of varying water volume flowrates (water-cut) in a mixture of water and oil. The authors use residence time distributions (RTD) to obtain MRT at each water-cut — a method that results in significantly more accurate results than the regular method used by operators. The numerical model is developed with commercial software package ANSYS Fluent. The code uses the Eulerian multiphase model along with the k-ε turbulence model. The simulation results show agreement with experiments performed by previous researchers. Additional simulations are performed to assess the effect of various separator internals on separator performance. Simulation results suggest that the model developed in this study can be used to predict performances of two-phase liquid-liquid separators with reasonable accuracy and will be useful towards their design to improve performances under various inlet flow conditions.