Performance Monitoring of a Multi-Phase Desander with a Flow Control System

A. A. Tamunobere; J. I. Sodiki; B. T. Lebele-Alawa; B. Nkoi

A. A. Tamunobere
J. I. Sodiki
B. T. Lebele-Alawa
B. Nkoi

Keywords: Hydrocyclone, Multi-phase desander, Separation efficiency, Flow control process

Abstract

Effective performance of multiphase desanders is crucial and of high importance to oil and gas field operator. Systems have been designed to ensure that the operation of desanders are carried out with close monitoring of the fluid stream and proper determination of the mechanical properties. The flow profile and other variables must be properly studied for effective separation of solids, these include the temperature, pressure, and flow rate of the feed fluid. The steady state of these parameters is crucial to the functionality of the desander hence controlling the operating values with process control system is considered viable. This paper focused on application of control model and simulation of flow control process using proportional integral derivative controller to monitor and improve performance of multiphase desander. A simulation was carried out via Simulink embedded in MATLAB with flow rate set at 0.055m³/s as the operating parameter. The flow control mechanism used was venturi meter and simulation on manual and automatic mode operation carried out. From the simulation result obtained the controller attained stability in 66.7 seconds with PID values of 1.9235, 0.17402/s and -0.68991s respectively for automatic mode operation and 46.7 seconds with PID values of 10, 16/s and 14s respectively in manual operation mode. It is recommended to install multiphase desander with flow control process to enhance effective processing of crude oil stream.

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