Page 104 - Petroleum and Gas Field Processing

D (in.) H (in.) L s (ft) SR
36 60.03 11.34 3.78
42 44.10 10.51 3.00
48 33.77 10.15 2.54
54 26.68 10.06 2.23
60 21.61 10.13 2.03
66 17.86 10.32 1.88
72 15.01 10.58 1.76

both are acceptable. A preferred selection will be a 36-in.
diameter by 12-ft separator as compared to a 42-in. by 11-ft
separator. This is because the 36-in. separator is a standard unit
and would probably be less costly than the larger-diameter,
shorter separator.

Example 2: Performance Problem, Vertical Separator
Determine the actual gas and oil capacity of a 36-in. -diameter by 12-ft
seam-to-seam length vertical separator operating under the following
conditions:
Gas specific gravity: 0.6

Oil gravity: 35 API
Operating pressure: 985 psi

Operating temperature: 60 F
Retention time: 3 min
C d : 1.1709

Solution
1. To determine the actual gas capacity: Rearranging Eq. (9) to
solve for Q g , we obtain
1=2
P
4
Q g ¼ 1:977 10 D 2 ð o g Þd m
TZ g C d
Because we have the same operating conditions of Example 1,
we can substitute the same values of g , o ,and Z; therefore,

1=2

4 2 1000 ð53:03 3:708Þ100
Q g ¼ 1:977 10 ð36Þ
520 0:84 3:708 1:1709
2. The determination of the pressure drop across each segment of the
flow system. This is a very complex problem, as it involves

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