Predicting hydrate plug formation in oil-dominated flowlines

This work describes the development and application of a transient multiphase flow simulator which incorporates hydrate formation kinetics and thermodynamics to predict plugging in multiphase oil production lines. The model (CSMHyK v. 2.0) is shown to predict the formation of hydrate plugs in two in...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of petroleum science & engineering 2010-06, Vol.72 (3), p.302-309
Main Authors: Davies, Simon R., Boxall, John A., Dieker, Laura E., Sum, Amadeu K., Koh, Carolyn A., Sloan, E. Dendy, Creek, Jefferson L., Xu, Zheng-Gang
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applied sciences
Computer simulation
Crude oil
Crude oil, natural gas and petroleum products
Energy
Exact sciences and technology
flow assurance
flowloop
Fuels
hydrate
Hydrates
Inhibitors
Mathematical models
Multiphase flow
OLGA
plug
Plugging
State of the art
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This work describes the development and application of a transient multiphase flow simulator which incorporates hydrate formation kinetics and thermodynamics to predict plugging in multiphase oil production lines. The model (CSMHyK v. 2.0) is shown to predict the formation of hydrate plugs in two industrial scale flowloops, by combining well known engineering correlations with state-of-the-art measurements. The experimental measurements described here allowed two fitted parameters to be eliminated. Applications of the model are demonstrated by forecasting hydrate formation rates in industrial flowlines. Further developments have allowed hydrate formation in systems with varying concentrations of salt or monoethylene glycol to be simulated by adjusting the hydrate equilibrium P– T curve as the concentration of inhibitor changes.
ISSN:0920-4105
1873-4715
DOI:10.1016/j.petrol.2010.03.031