2008 Engineering Simulation Energy Conference, Houston, Texas

November 11-12, 2008

Application of CFD
Technique for
Modeling NATCO’s
Process Equipments

Rafiqul Khan, Ph.D.

Process Solution Group
NATCO Group Inc.
 Designs, manufactures and services oilfield production
equipment since 1926.
Products
Desalting

Fuel Gas
Treating

Gas Processing

Produced Oily Water

Crude Oil Dehydration

Membrane Consultancy

Liquid & Gas Dominant Processing

 Overview of NATCO’s Process
Equipments
• Separator Solutions
– Horizontal and vertical
separators

• Produced Oily Water

– Vertical and horizontal
induced gas floatation
unit
 Overview of NATCO’s Process
Equipments
• Crude Oil
- Dehydration
- Desalting
Dual polarity electrostatic treater Dual frequency electrostatic treater

• Membrane
Separation
NATCO Offers Solutions to Many
Separation Problems

• Eliminate expensive defoaming chemicals

• Increase throughput
• Reduce footprint area and weight
• Eliminate liquid carryover in your outlet gas
• Reduce BS&W content in your outlet oil
 Computational Fluid Dynamics

• FLUENT CFD software has been used to solve many

challenging problems to design new products and
improve existing product design
• This has significantly lowered the cost of product
development and reduced the turn-around time
• Some examples of the CFD projects are discussed
in the next few slides
 Box-type CHF Heater
Advantages
• Only Convective Heat • Rapid Process Heat
• No Radiant Heat • Redundant Safeguards
• High Thermal Efficiency
 CHF Heater
with no distribution baffle
Narrow distribution of flow path lines with several zones
of flow recirculation
Recirculation zones
Narrow distributions

Back side

Flow Path Lines Colored by Velocity (m/s)

Front Side
 CHF Heater Flow Distribution

● Higher mass flux through the mid section of the burner

● Temperature distribution on the burner baffle plate shows
regions of hot spots on the four corners
 CHF Heater flow distribution
with distribution plates/modified burner baffles
No baffle on the
Mid-back side
Diverter Distribution plates

No baffles at the corners

of the burner
 CHF Heater Flow Distribution
with distribution plates/modified burner baffles
- More uniform flow path lines with reduced recirculation zones
- Significant reduction of the recirculation zones
 CHF Heater Flow Distribution

More uniform flow distribution observed for the case with

distribution plates with corners of the burner place open

Without distribution plates With distribution plates

Temperature Distribution on Burner
Baffles
Maximum temperature reduced by 300o F

Without distribution plates With distribution plates

Separator Drawing for
Existing Vessel
Revolution tubes Inlet baffle Weir

14
 LP Separator Flow Path Lines
for the Existing Vessel
Flow Pathlines colored by Velocity magnitude (M/sec) for LP
separator original case showing overall flow pattern of (a) oil phase
(b) water phase. Overall volumetric utilization is 68%.

15
 LP Separator Drawing for
Recommended Internal Modifications

Revolution tubes perforated baffle Weir

4375

3050
2388

1375
660

16
 LP Separator Flow Path Lines with
modified internals and fluid levels
Flow Pathlines colored by Velocity magnitude (M/sec) for LP
separator recommended case showing overall flow pattern of (a)
oil phase (b) water phase. Overall volumetric utilization = 94%.

17
Volumetric Utilization for the LP
Separator of the Two Designs
Original Design Recommended Design

100 94 95 94
87
Volumetric Utilization (%)

80
68

60
52

40

20

0
Overall Liquid Phase Wat er Phase Oil Phase

18
Wave Induced Sloshing Simulations
● Sloshing induces undesirable mixing between the
phases
● Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is a useful tool in
predicting the sloshing induced flow dynamics.
● Sloshing induced six degrees of motions include: Surge,
Sway, Heave, Roll, Pitch and Yaw.
Wave Induced Sloshing Simulations

Length (tan-tan) = 33 ft
Diameter (D) = 14 ft
Wave Induced Sloshing Simulations
No Longitudinal Baffle
• Oil-water interface rises above the weir height on the
right side but not on the left side
• Fluids on the right side experience higher roll motion
due to greater distance from the COR

Y X
Longitudinal Baffle Fully Extended to the
Bottom of the Tank
• No water spilled over the weir
• But oil-water interface reached very close to the weir
height on the right side
Effect of the Baffle Perforation
20% Open Area

Better suppression
of the oil-water
interface observed
for 10% open baffle

10% Open Area

 Conclusions

• FLUENT CFD software has been effectively

used to design and develop new products and
improve the existing design
• CFD evaluations help reduce cost and time
• CFD analysis is also used to validate NATCO’s
product design