Hand made rose and greeting card
Happy Valentine's Day
14.2.2014
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Thursday, February 13, 2014
Thursday, February 6, 2014
Oil and Gas Processing (History)
Oil has been used for lighting purposes for many thousands of years. In areas where oil is found in shallow reservoirs, seeps of crude oil or gas may naturally develop, and some oil could simply be collected from seepage or tar ponds.
Historically, we know the tales of eternal fires where oil and gas seeps ignited and burned. One example is the site where the famous oracle of Delphi was built around 1,000 B.C. Written sources from 500 B.C. describe how the Chinese used natural gas to boil water. The oil was produced from bamboo-drilled wells in China. The well reach 1000 meters deep.
In western history, it was not until 1859 that "Colonel" Edwin Drake drilled the first successful oil well, with the sole purpose of finding oil. The Drake Well was located in the middle of quiet farm country in northwestern Pennsylvania, and sparked the international search for an industrial use for petroleum.
These wells were shallow by modern standards, often less than 50 meters deep, but they produced large quantities of oil. In this picture of the Tarr Farm, Oil Creek Valley, the Phillips well on the right initially produced 4,000 barrels per day in October, 1861, and the Woodford well on the left came in
at 1,500 barrels per day in July, 1862.
The oil was collected in the wooden tank pictured in the foreground. As you will no doubt notice, there are many different-sized barrels in the background. At this time, barrel size had not been standardized, which made statements like "oil is selling at $5 per barrel" very confusing (today a barrel is 159 liters). But even in those days, overproduction was something to be avoided. When the "Empire well" was completed in September 1861, it produced 3,000 barrels per day, flooding the market, and the price of oil plummeted to 10 cents a barrel. In some ways, we see the same effect today. When new shale gas fields in the US are constrained by the capacity of the existing oil and gas pipeline network, it results in bottlenecks and low prices at the production site.
Soon, oil had replaced most other fuels for motorized transport. The automobile industry developed at the end of the 19th century, and quickly adopted oil as fuel. Gasoline engines were essential for designing successful aircraft. Ships driven by oil could move up to twice as fast as their coal-powered counterparts, a vital military advantage. Gas was burned off or left in the ground.
Despite attempts at gas transportation as far back as 1821, it was not until after World War II that welding techniques, pipe rolling, and metallurgical advances allowed for the construction of reliable long distance pipelines, creating a natural gas industry boom. At the same time, the petrochemical industry with its new plastic materials quickly increased production. Even now, gas production is gaining market share as liquefied natural gas (LNG) provides an economical way of transporting gas from even the remotest sites.
With the appearance of automobiles and more advanced consumers, it was necessary to improve and standardize the marketable products. Refining was necessary to divide the crude in fractions that could be blended to precise specifications. As value shifted from refining to upstream production, it became even more essential for refineries to increase high-value fuel yield from a variety of crudes. From 10-40% gasoline for crude a century ago, a modern refinery can get up to 70% gasoline from the same quality crude through a variety of advanced reforming and cracking processes.
Chemicals derived from petroleum or natural gas – petrochemicals – are an essential part of the chemical industry today. Petrochemistry is a fairly young industry; it only started to grow in the 1940s, more than 80 years after the drilling of the first commercial oil well.
During World War II, the demand for synthetic materials to replace costly and sometimes less efficient products caused the petrochemical industry to develop into a major player in modern economy and society.
Before then, it was a tentative, experimental sector, starting with basic materials:
Historically, we know the tales of eternal fires where oil and gas seeps ignited and burned. One example is the site where the famous oracle of Delphi was built around 1,000 B.C. Written sources from 500 B.C. describe how the Chinese used natural gas to boil water. The oil was produced from bamboo-drilled wells in China. The well reach 1000 meters deep.
In western history, it was not until 1859 that "Colonel" Edwin Drake drilled the first successful oil well, with the sole purpose of finding oil. The Drake Well was located in the middle of quiet farm country in northwestern Pennsylvania, and sparked the international search for an industrial use for petroleum.
Photo: Drake Well Museum Collection, Titusville, PA
These wells were shallow by modern standards, often less than 50 meters deep, but they produced large quantities of oil. In this picture of the Tarr Farm, Oil Creek Valley, the Phillips well on the right initially produced 4,000 barrels per day in October, 1861, and the Woodford well on the left came in
at 1,500 barrels per day in July, 1862.
The oil was collected in the wooden tank pictured in the foreground. As you will no doubt notice, there are many different-sized barrels in the background. At this time, barrel size had not been standardized, which made statements like "oil is selling at $5 per barrel" very confusing (today a barrel is 159 liters). But even in those days, overproduction was something to be avoided. When the "Empire well" was completed in September 1861, it produced 3,000 barrels per day, flooding the market, and the price of oil plummeted to 10 cents a barrel. In some ways, we see the same effect today. When new shale gas fields in the US are constrained by the capacity of the existing oil and gas pipeline network, it results in bottlenecks and low prices at the production site.
Soon, oil had replaced most other fuels for motorized transport. The automobile industry developed at the end of the 19th century, and quickly adopted oil as fuel. Gasoline engines were essential for designing successful aircraft. Ships driven by oil could move up to twice as fast as their coal-powered counterparts, a vital military advantage. Gas was burned off or left in the ground.
Despite attempts at gas transportation as far back as 1821, it was not until after World War II that welding techniques, pipe rolling, and metallurgical advances allowed for the construction of reliable long distance pipelines, creating a natural gas industry boom. At the same time, the petrochemical industry with its new plastic materials quickly increased production. Even now, gas production is gaining market share as liquefied natural gas (LNG) provides an economical way of transporting gas from even the remotest sites.
With the appearance of automobiles and more advanced consumers, it was necessary to improve and standardize the marketable products. Refining was necessary to divide the crude in fractions that could be blended to precise specifications. As value shifted from refining to upstream production, it became even more essential for refineries to increase high-value fuel yield from a variety of crudes. From 10-40% gasoline for crude a century ago, a modern refinery can get up to 70% gasoline from the same quality crude through a variety of advanced reforming and cracking processes.
1 barrel (42 gallons) crude oil breakdown to various products in gallon
Chemicals derived from petroleum or natural gas – petrochemicals – are an essential part of the chemical industry today. Petrochemistry is a fairly young industry; it only started to grow in the 1940s, more than 80 years after the drilling of the first commercial oil well.
During World War II, the demand for synthetic materials to replace costly and sometimes less efficient products caused the petrochemical industry to develop into a major player in modern economy and society.
Products Flow Chart of Petroleum Based Feedstocks
Before then, it was a tentative, experimental sector, starting with basic materials:
- Synthetic rubbers in the 1900s
- Bakelite, the first petrochemical-derived plastic, in 1907
- First petrochemical solvents in the 1920s
- Polystyrene in the 1930s
And it then moved to an incredible variety of areas:
- Household goods (kitchen appliances, textiles, furniture)
- Medicine (heart pacemakers, transfusion bags)
- Leisure (running shoes, computers...)
- Highly specialized fields like archaeology and crime detection
With oil prices of $100 a barrel or more, even more difficult-to-access sources have become economically viable. Such sources include tar sands in Venezuela and Canada, shale oil and gas in the US (and developing
elsewhere), coal bed methane and synthetic diesel (syndiesel) from natural gas, and biodiesel and bioethanol from biological sources have seen a dramatic increase over the last ten years. These sources may eventually
more than triple the potential reserves of hydrocarbon fuels. Beyond that, there are even more exotic sources, such as methane hydrates, that some experts claim can double available resources once more.
With increasing consumption and ever-increasing conventional and unconventional resources, the challenge becomes not one of availability, but of sustainable use of fossil fuels in the face of rising environmental impacts, that range from local pollution to global climate effects.
Reference sources:
- Oil and gas production handbook:An introduction to oil and gas production,transport, refining and petrochemicalindustry.Håvard Devold, 2013
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
The Making of FPSO Armada Sterling (youtube)
Production capacity: 60,000 bpd
Storage capacity: 580,000 bbls
Length Overall: 246.80 metres
Breadth: 42.0 metres
Depth: 21.3 metres
Deadweight tonne: 90,819 tonnes
Mooring type: Internal turret
Hull type: Double hull
Accommodation: 70 persons
Year built: 1997
Year converted to an FPSO 2012
Convertion Shipyard: Keppel Shipyard, Singapore
Class: ABS
Saturday, January 25, 2014
PSV Inlet Line 3 Percent Rule
When I was young process engineer, I learnt sizing of pressure relief valve, include inlet line sizing rule:
API RP 520 Part II (Ed 2003), section 4.2 recommends that the total non-recoverable pressure loss between the protected equipment and the pressure relief valve should not exceed 3 percent.
WHY?
In API RP 520, section 4.2 "PRESSURE-DROP LIMITATIONS AND PIPING CONFIGURATIONS"
"Excessive pressure loss at the inlet of a pressure-relief
valve can cause rapid opening and closing of the valve, or
chattering. Chattering will result in lowered capacity and
damage to the seating surfaces."
"When a pressure-relief valve is installed on a line directly
connected to a vessel, the total non-recoverable pressure loss
between the protected equipment and the pressure-relief
valve should not exceed 3 percent of the set pressure of the
valve except as permitted in 4.2.3 for pilot-operated pressure relief
valves."
"Keeping the pressure loss below 3 percent becomes progressively
more difficult at low pressures as the orifice size of a
pressure-relief valve increases. An engineering analysis of the
valve performance at higher inlet losses may permit increasing
the allowable pressure loss above 3 percent."
Clearly, the API guideline is to avoid the PSV chatter.
In 2007, API is responded that the 3% rule is under investigation:[1]
In March 2010 Ballot outlines: [2]
- Typical blowdown set by the manufacturer for PRVs is 7 to 12% of the set pressure
- Original basis of 3% inlet pressure loss was related to blowdown settings in the range of 4 - 5 %
- A suitable margin relative to the blowdown shall be specified by the user
- When exceeding 3% inlet loss, an engineering analysis shall include but is not limited to the following:
a. Verification from the manufacturer the minimum blowdown value for the PRV model based on the manufacturer’s standard setting.
b. Prior to any increase in blowdown to allow for higher inlet pressure drop, the manufacturer shall be consulted to make sure that an increase in blowdown is possible.
c. Re-evaluation of the flow capacity of the valve taking into consideration the reduction in pressure at the inlet to the valve.
d. The user shall conduct a thorough review of the valve’s inspection/maintenance records and obtain experience from Operations, to identify any indications of chatter
History of Inlet Pressure Drop
- API RP 520 introduced maximum PRV inlet pressure drop in 1963
- API sponsored 1940’s work at University of Michigan by Sylvander and Katz “The Design and Construction of Pressure Relieving Systems”
- University of Michigan Press (1948) pages 72-73 excerpts:
- “Pressure drop through inlet piping has a two-fold importance in relief system design. First, flow capacity varies with the pressure drop available. Second, the operating characteristics of many relief devices indicate that improper pressure drop on the inlet side may cause intermittent operation.“
- “For a relief valve having approximately 4 per cent blow-down (that is, the valve will snap shut when the pressure has decreased to 4 per cent below the opening or set pressure), these recommendations are made:
- Combined pressure loss of 3% maximum related to PRVs with 4% blowdown (margin of 1%)
In Spring 2011Metting [3]
In November 2011, Hydrocarbon Processing featured a Special Report [5] Title : "Relief Device Inlet Piping: Beyond the 3 Percent Rule"
Current status, (3/7/2013), API RP520 Part 2, 6th Ed Committee Draft [4]
PSV Inlet Pressure Loss Criteria:
The total non-recoverable
pressure loss between the protected equipment and the pressure-relief valve should not exceed 3 percent of
the pressure relief valve set pressure except as noted below:
- Thermal relief valves
- Remotely sensed pilot operated relief valves
- keeping the pressure loss below 3 percent becomes progressively more difficult at low pressures as the orifice size of a pressure relief valve increases
- An engineering analysis is performed for the specific installation
Reference link
1. API replied
2. Spring 2010 API CRE Meeting
3. Spring 2011 API Meeting Minutes
4. API RP520 Part 2, 6 Ed, Committee Draft
5. Relief Device Inlet Piping: Beyond the 3 Percent Rule, Hydrocarbon Processing, Novmber 2011 issue
Friday, January 24, 2014
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