Methods for Measurement of Solid Particles in Hydrocarbon Flow Streams

Abstract

Sand production is one of the more critical issues causing delays and high costs to the petroleum production industry. To measure solid production in the hydrocarbon stream a number of sand monitors have been developed. Such monitors are installed in the flow line and are intended to provide information such as the onset of solid production or the amount of produced solids. Most sand monitors are based on the measurement of erosion due to impingement of sand particles or measuring ultrasonic signals generated by particle impacts on the pipe wall or piezoelectric elements. Having described the principal behind available monitors in the industry, capabilities and limitation of each type is explained in Part 1. Part 2 is comprised of a literature review carried out on the techniques which have the potential to be utilised in new generations of solids monitors. The principles of such methods as well as their advantages and disadvantages for solids monitoring applications are mentioned. In Part 3 subjects such as improving the data quality and data interpretation of current techniques, integration of available techniques into a single piece of equipment, and ranking of the most promising cases which are worthy of further investigation are discussed.

Sand rate model and data processing method for non-intrusive ultrasonic sand monitoring in flow pipeline

“…It is usually considered that the frequencies generated by particle impacts are from 100 to 500 kHz and are different than the frequencies of the noise generated by gas bubbles or liquid droplets striking the pipe wall (Brown et al, 2000). Normally the noise from non-sanding events possesses lower amplitude and lower frequency compared to the acoustic signals generated by the sand impacts (Nabipour et al, 2012).…”

“…The most common sand monitors include Electrical Resistance (ER) probes and acoustic sand monitors. The latter includes acoustic probes and non-intrusive acoustic sensors (Nabipour et al, 2012).…”

“…By measuring the electrical resistance of the sensing element over time, the amount of thickness reduction of the element can be determined. Empirical equations are used to relate the loss of element wall thickness to the amount of produced sand (Nabipour et al, 2012). This type of sand monitors is not used at low sand velocities or concentrations.…”

“…The probe responds to entrained solids and produces an output pulse signal. The output is proportional to the kinetic energy of the striking sand, which can be related to the solid concentration (Nabipour et al, 2012). The ultrasonic sensor works best at high flow velocities, which are usually found in gas wells.…”

“…1 shows the working principle and location of non-intrusive sand sensors (Emiliani et al, 2011). They Contents lists available at ScienceDirect journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/petrol can provide real-time sanding information and allow building an early warning system for any increased sanding activities (Nabipour et al, 2012). Non-intrusive acoustic sand monitors are also able to detect far lower sand concentrations than the intrusive types (Allahar, 2003).…”