Modeling and Control of Three-Phase Gravity Separators in Oil & Gas - Research Proposal Example

The oil production facility was implemented and designed with regard to mathematics models developed (Mil’Shtein, 58). Phase equilibrium type of modeling has been utilized for the past fifty years resulting to better outcomes for distillation column and flash tank equipments. The approach has basic equations utilized in material balance description, composition summation equations, enthalpy equation and equilibrium relations. Oil production facility separates oil well stream into water, oil and gas components.

The facility also process the components into products that can be sold or dispose the products in a manner that is environmentally friendly. Free water is separated from the oils while the gas is flashed from the liquid by use of separators device. The steps utilized in the production process ensures that light hydrocarbons are removed with an intention of producing crude oil that is stable and having volatility that is able to meet sales criteria. A three phase separator separates liquid stream into water and crude oil components (Stewart et al, 100).

The separated gas is treated and compressed for sales. Modeling of such equipments has turned out to so challenging for fault detection, controller design, process optimization, and dynamic simulation. The paper focuses on gravity separators which are three phased. The model has a positive on impact on the quality of oil produced and forms the main upstream process in the petroleum industry. Three-phase separators have complex and rich dynamics. The dynamics spans to thermodynamics from hydrodynamics with regards to conservational laws.

Three-phase separators is usually made up of many approaches and modeling techniques. A computer code is currently being created to help improve the efficiency and performance of the separators. The code can be utilized in analyzing the flow of fluids and the separator performance of gas, water and oil in the three phased gravity separators. It can be utilized