Chemical Defoamer Reduction with New Internals in the Mars TLP Separators

Abstract

Abstract High injection rates of chemical defoamers had been required to operate the production and test separators on the Mars TLP. In an effort to reduce the chemical consumption, different means of mechanically breaking the foam were investigated in the test separator: gas outlet axial flow demisting cyclones and inlet cyclones. For two different wells, the chemical rate was reduced by 20% and 80% respectively when the existing vane packs were replaced by axial flow demisting cyclones using liquid carryover in the gas outlet as a performance measure. Additionally, the chemical rate was further decreased for several wells by about 30% by replacing the existing 6-tube cyclone inlet with a different design single tube cyclone inlet. On the basis of the successful test separator results, the four main production separators were retrofitted with new internals. Chemical reduction has been on the order of 50%. Description of the old and new internals, test separator results, and the main vessel retrofits are discussed in this paper.