Vertical Heater Treater For Well Testing Industry

Vertical Heater Treater

The most commonly used single-well treater is the vertical heater-treater. The vertical heater-treater consists of four major sections:

Gas separation

Incoming fluid enters the top of the treater into a gas separation section, where gas separates from the liquid and leaves through the gas line. . If the treater is located downstream of a separator, the gas separation section can be very small. The gas separation section should have an inlet diverter and a mist extractor.

Free-water knockout

The liquids flow through a down-comer to the base of the treater,which serves as a free-water knockout section. If the treater is located downstream of a free-water knockout or a three-phase separator, the bottom section can be very small. If the total well stream is to be treated,this section should be sized for 3 to 5 minutes’ retention time to allow the free water to settle out. This will minimize the amount of fuel gas needed to heat the liquid stream rising through the heating section. The end of the down-comer should be slightly below the oil–water interface so as to “water-wash” the oil being treated. This will assist in the coalescence of water droplets in the oil.

                                            Vertical Heater Treater

 

Heating and water-wash

A fire tube is commonly used to heat the emulsion in the heating and water-wash section. After the oil and emulsion are heated, the heated oil and emulsion enter the coalescing section, where sufficient retention time is provided to allow the small water droplets in the oil continuous phase to coalesce and settle to the bottom.

Coalescing-settling section

 Baffles are sometimes installed in the coalescing section to treat difficult emulsions. The baffles cause the oil and emulsion to follow a back-and-forth path up through the treater.

Oil Settling section

Treated oil flows out the oil outlet, at the top of the coalescing section, and through the oil leg heat exchanger, where a valve controls the flow.

Gas Separation Section

              Any gas, flashed from the oil due to heating, is captured on the condensing head. Any gas that didn’t condense flows through an equalizing line to the gas separation section. , a vane-type mist e xtractor removes the liquid mist before the gas leaves the treater.