Abstract
A liquid-liquid centrifugal separator has been modified for possible application as a downhole method for separating crude oil from produced water. Centrifugal separators of various sizes (from 2- to 25-cm rotor diameter) have been built and operated over the past decades at various U.S. Department of Energy facilities. These units have several characteristics that make them attractive for downhole applications, including excellent phase separation, reliability in remote applications with > 20,000 h of operation prior to maintenance, and the ability to handle high volumetric throughput with a very low residence time. These separators consist of a rotating cylinder in which the two phases are separated and a stationary housing that collects the separated streams. This paper discusses some of the aspects of the alterations required for downhole operation. Specifically, we discuss modifications of the exterior housing allowing for greater flow through the system. The system presented here improves the performance of a standard separator by 140%.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 453-462 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Separation Science and Technology (Philadelphia) |
| Volume | 40 |
| Issue number | 1-3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2005 |
Funding
This article is not subject to U.S. copyright law. This work was conducted at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which is managed by UT-Battelle, LLC, for the U.S. Department of Energy under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725. The National Petroleum Technology Office in the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Fossil Energy sponsored the work. Address correspondence to K. Thomas Klasson, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, P.O. Box 2008, Oak Ridge, TN 37831-6226, USA.