Treater for mechanically breaking oil and water emulsions of a production fluid from a petroleum well

Patent · Tue Jan 06 04:00:00 EST 1981

OSTI ID:6369561

Hubbard, M G; Jackson, W E

Production fluid from a well and emulsion breaking chemicals enter a settling vessel where much of the fluid separates into distinct levels by gravity with water at the bottom, an oil-water emulsion above the water, oil-with-emulsion above the emulsion, and gas above the oil-with-emulsion. The oil with the emulsion has two to five percent emulsion in it. The oil-with-emulsion flows over a weir into a weir box and then into the inlet of a centrifugal, pitot separator which breaks the emulsion contained in the oil by the action of a centrifugal force field to produce distinct streams of oil and water. The water feeds back into the vessel and the oil goes to storage. In the event that the emulsion feed to the separator is insufficient, the oil-withemulsion level in the weir box falls and oil recirculates from the separator into the vessel to raise the level of oil-withemulsion. Water leaves the vessel as required to maintain an appropriate water-emulsion interface level. The emulsion in the emulsion layer separates by gravity and the action of an emulsion breaker at a rate corresponding to the feed of emulsion into the treater.

• Assignee: Kobe Inc
• Patent Number(s): US 4243528
• OSTI ID: 6369561
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020300* -- Petroleum-- Drilling & Production
CENTRIFUGATION
COLLOIDS
DISPERSIONS
EMULSIONS
ENERGY SOURCES
EQUIPMENT
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
OIL WELLS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PETROLEUM
SEPARATION PROCESSES
WATER
WELLS