Simulation of high pressure separator used in crude oil processing

Abstract

The aim of this research was to simulate a high-pressure (HP) separator in order to investigate the effect of changing separator operating conditions on product properties. In this study, the results obtained using the CHEMCAD simulation software package were compared with those obtained using the UniSim software package. The simulation results were comparable with industrial data. A sensitivity study was conducted by changing the gas stream properties, such as temperature, pressure, and flow rate, in order to investigate and optimize the process. The results showed that increasing the separator inlet pressure from 30 to 80 bar decreased the outlet gas flow rate from 1202 to 871.15 kmol/h. Also, the methane mole fraction increased from 0.69 to 0.74; however, the preheater heating duty was increased from 8.71 to 11.48 GJ/h. The simulation results showed that increasing the temperature of the separator feed stream from 43 to 83 °C increased the flow rate of the outlet gas stream from 871.15 to 1142.98 kmol/h. However, this temperature change reduced the methane concentration in the gas product and decreased the heating duty of the heat exchanger. Finally, the study demonstrated that there is no effect of increasing the inlet feed flow rate on the produced methane gas concentration.