study of classical multi-phase separator design methods using the industrial information

The fluid produced from oil and gas wells is usually multi-phase, and achieving the maximum possible amount of oil along with gas-oil mixture is one of the most important goals of the exploitation sector. therefore, one of the most important issues in the field of oil and gas industry is achieving a reliable way to design the dimensions of multi-phase separators that have the best operational efficiency in the process of separating the production fluid. in this research, first, quasi-experimental methods of separator design were introduced and the steps to calculate separator dimensions in each method are described. in order to evaluate the design accuracy of each of the introduced methods, the conditions of the production fluid of oil fields of southern iran are presented and multi-phase separators for using in industrial conditions are performed using the stated methods. finally, the error of the designed dimensions is compared with the dimensions of the actual separator. the separator designed using the non-half-filled arnold-stewart method has the deviation of less than 2% related to actual separator, due to fluctuations in liquid surface height. also, the dimensional error of the designed separator by the arnold-stewart method in the semi-full state is more than 7% due to not considering the fluctuations of the separator’s liquid height, and the dimensional error of the separator designed by the monnery-svrcek method is more than 35%. therefore, the arnold-stewart method was determined as the best quasi-experimental method for designing separator by considering the fluctuations of separator’s liquid height.