Evaluation of total oil and grease with flow control for mature oil fields in the context of industry 4.0

Abstract

Goal: Industry 4.0 enables the design of new models for process monitoring in which sensors, analyzers, and controls are positioned at different points in the process. The goal of this work is to present the modeling and control of a three-phase production separator with hydrocyclones to treat produced water on an oil platform of mature fields.
 Design / Methodology / Approach: The Methodology or approach used was to develop a model for the primary separator that allows its operation by means of a controller (fuzzy and PI) to manipulate the flow of discarded water, acting indirectly in the oil-in-water measure.
 Results: The results showed the consistency of the model for open loop simulations and the effectiveness of the controllers to comply with the discarding requirements for the closed-loop simulations. 
 Limitations of the investigation: The limitation of the model and developed controllers is that they are only applied to platforms where water production exceeds the separators discharge capacity and the exceeding water can be offloaded to another equipment or to another platform.
 Practical implications: The main practical implications of this study are to maximize the flow of discarded water on mature field platforms, which produces elevated amounts of water, to conform the total oil and grease to the local law regulations. Additionally, it also increases oil production, with a higher limit of water production.
 Originality / Value: Compared to the previous authors, where the models of discarded flow is a function of the water-oil interface, this work developed a model that allowed the flow of the discarded water to be a function of its quality.