Flow assurance

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Flow assurance

Flow modelling for production networks and oil and water separation is known as flow assurance. It is a key challenge when operating in extreme environments.

A certain number of technological steps are necessary for flow assurance to be totally effective.

Developing complex hydrocarbon production operations

Flow assurance applies to:

fields producing hydrocarbons in complex, multiphase forms with increasingly gaseous phases and ever-greater amounts of water being produced,
complex production architectures required for very deep sea drilling or satellite field links that require complex networks and operations over long distances.

Reducing the risks of blockage

Production site design is severely limited by the risks of blockage presented by hydrate or paraffin plugs. Continued research into the conditions that encourage the formation, growth and deposits of crystals that eventually form these plugs is required.

Formation of an experimental hyrates plug

Improving liquid separation

The amount of water produced by certain wells is increasing. This water must be separated from the hydrocarbons and treated before being reinjected. The physicochemical and hydrodynamic reactions that take place in a triphase separator (water, oil and gas) are poorly understood. As a result, these separators are often oversized or unable to separate the different fluids properly.

Developing software to reduce uncertainty

Production installations, particularly those in deep water, are built to operate over long periods of time. Uncertainties surrounding production or equipment reliability are often not properly taken into account during the design phase. The profitability of a project is reduced when equipment is oversized or the production installation needs to be revised. There is a lack of software capable of proposing solutions that accurately reflect conditions on the ground.

Research areas

IFP’s teams are investigating different areas that could be used to optimise flow assurance.

Improving the multiphase-fluid flow model

The “full” model describes and predicts hydrodynamic multiphase reactions in pipelines. IFP has improved this model:

triphase issues are now covered,
synthetic models have been developed for applications that need to be particularly robust and rapid.

Reducing pipeline blockages caused by hydrates

IFP’s teams are developing solutions to predict the formation of plugs in pipelines:

predictive physical models are being developed for oil-water and oil-gas systems,
a dedicated group is studying the kinetics of hydrate plug dissociation. The results of these experiments will be used to create a physical model.

Research on the formation of hydrates plugs in pipelines

Optimising deposit build-up models

IFP aims to improve kinetic models of paraffin deposit build-up on pipeline surfaces by:

taking paraffin crystal immobilisation mechanisms into account,
improving understanding of the kinetics of a build-up in order to increase the reliability of predictive models for multiphase production,
acquiring experimental data on the IFP Lyre loop in order to create flow models, notably in cases that present hydrate- or paraffin-related risks.

Experimental formation of a paraffin deposit

Studying physicochemical and hydrodynamic reactions

IFP is carrying out methodical scientific studies to understand the physicochemical and hydrodynamic phenomena relating to the sizing of triphase – and even quadriphase – separators. IFP is making this contribution to the separation process with a view to improving industry guidelines.

Projects with industrial partners

Total

IFP is working with Total on a multiphase flow simulator for networks. This new flow simulation software is particularly robust and reduces calculation times. Two points distinguish it from other products on the market. It makes it possible to:

incorporate external data, thanks to its use of the CAPE-OPEN norm (developed by the CO-LaN association). All software which complies with this norm can easily replace another module with the same function. This means the user can adapt the simulator to the case in question by choosing the most suitable modules available.
conduct integrated simulations. This ensures data coherence and consistency the length of the flow assurance.

In partnership with TOTAL, IFP has initiated a large project to enhance the design rules of a three phases separator. The following equipments are used par this project:

Laboratories equipments to fully characterize in which conditions a water-oil emulsion will disaggregate or to determine the effectiveness of a desemulsifier.
A gas-oil-water separation platform designed to use real fluids. It is large enough to reproduce the phenomena that are generated in a separator. Very well equipped with sensors, this platform allows either to test the influence of different parameters on the desegregation of a gas-oil-water emulsion or the realistic testing of new items of equipment
The development of a software which will simulate the hydrodynamic and physical chemistry phenomena that take place during the separation of fluids in a separator.