Gas By-Product Separator

(trap), a device used to separate by-product gas from petroleum using the difference in their densities. The liberation and separation of gas are facilitated by reducing the pressure, splitting up the flow of liquid into small, fine jets, decreasing the flow rate, and changing the dirction of the flow. Gas-petroleum separators may be gravity-operated, centrifugal, or combined and may be spherical or cylindrical (vertical, inclined, and horizontal); according to operating pressure, separators may be of the vacuum type (to 0.1 meganewton per sq m; MN/m²), the low-pressure type (0.1-0.6 MN/m²), the medium-pressure type (0.6-1.6 MN/m²), and the high-pressure type (1.6-6.4 MN/m²). Vertical cylindrical separators, with a tangential inlet ranging from 0.4 to 2.6 m in diameter and up to 4.5 m in height, are most widely used at oil fields in the USSR. The output from a well is fed into the central portion of the separator. The petroleum is run off from the lower part of the separator, and the gas is drawn off from the highest point to prevent petroleum from entering the gas pipeline. The normal petroleum level is maintained in the separator by an automatic float-type level controller, which regulates the actuator of the petroleum-discharge controller.

There is a noticeable trend toward combining the functions of gas-petroleum separators with the dehydration and demulsification of petroleum. For this purpose, a demulsifier is fed into the flow of petroleum before the separator, and oil preheating burners are installed within the separator. Such, for example, are the A-l and A-9 vertical separator-preheaters, with capacities of 200 and 2,000 tons per hour, which are equipped for separating the output of a well into three flows (gas, oil, and water).