Use of low-shear pumps and hydrocyclones for improved performance in the cleanup of low-pressure water

Journal Article · Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 1992 · SPE (Society of Petroleum Engineers) Production Engineering; (United States)

OSTI ID:7180360

Skilbeck, F ^[1]

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1. Conoco Speciality Products Ltd. (US)

Although the advantages of using hydrocyclones for oily water cleanup are well proven, their use has been limited to applications where adequate system feed pressure for satisfactory operation was present. This paper reports that to use hydrocyclones in low-pressure operations, research testing was undertaken to determine the most suitable pumping system. Successful field trials with a low-shear progressive cavity pump and a single-liner hydrocyclone were conducted in the U.S. These trials provided the basis for full-scale tests on the Hutton platform in the U.K. sector of the North Sea. These tests demonstrated the feasibility of using large, low-shear, progressive cavity pumps in conjunction with multitube hydrocyclone units. A long-term evaluation of the pumped system was completed on the Hutton platform following these reported results. This work not only demonstrated the feasibility of pumped hydrocyclone oily water cleanup systems, but also resulted in analytical techniques that greatly assist in optimizing hydrocyclone operation.

• OSTI ID: 7180360
• Journal Information: SPE (Society of Petroleum Engineers) Production Engineering; (United States), Vol. 7:3; ISSN 0885-9221
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION
42 ENGINEERING
OIL WELLS
CLEANING
ROD PUMPS
PERFORMANCE TESTING
FEASIBILITY STUDIES
FIELD TESTS
LOW PRESSURE
OFFSHORE PLATFORMS
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
SHEAR
WATER
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PUMPS
TESTING
WELLS
020300* - Petroleum- Drilling & Production
440400 - Well Logging Instrumentation
423000 - Engineering- Marine Engineering- (1980-)