Liquid Piston Compressor for Multiphase Boosting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current multiphase pump technologies face issues with high operating costs, complexity, and reliability, leading to poor uptime and frequent maintenance, especially when handling low-pressure multiphase production fluids with high gas content, resulting in inefficient production and heat transfer issues.
Innovation Solution
A system comprising a gas-liquid separator and a liquid piston compressor that separates low-pressure multiphase mixtures into gas and liquid components, using a conventional liquid pump to increase liquid pressure and a liquid piston compressor to boost gas pressure, with optional isothermal operation to enhance efficiency and reliability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If multiphase pumps are used to handle low-pressure multiphase production fluids, then the system can operate without prior separation infrastructure, but the system experiences poor uptime, frequent maintenance, and high operating costs
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the multiphase fluid handling into separate gas and liquid streams using a gas-liquid separator. The liquid phase is pumped through conventional liquid pumps while the gas phase is compressed through compressors, allowing each component to be optimized for its specific phase rather than forcing a single multiphase pump to handle both phases simultaneously.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention extracts the gas phase from the multiphase mixture before pumping, using a gas-liquid separator to remove gas bubbles from the liquid stream. This eliminates the problem of gas interference with pump operation while maintaining the ability to handle multiphase production fluids.
2Adaptability or versatility
If dynamic multiphase pumps are used to handle high gas concentration fluids, then the pump can accommodate a wide range of liquid flow rates, but the system becomes extremely sensitive to small changes in inlet conditions and experiences large torque changes
Solution Approach 1:
A flow homogenizer (buffer tank) is introduced as an intermediary device between the inlet and the dynamic pump. This buffer tank absorbs liquid slugs and evens out fluctuations in gas density and pressure, minimizing repetitive torque changes within the pump and reducing sensitivity to inlet condition variations.
Solution Approach 2:
Variable speed drive (VFD) is used to dynamically adjust the motor speed to maintain constant inlet pressure despite variations in inlet conditions. This dynamic control allows the system to adapt to changing flow rates while maintaining stable pump operation.
3Use of energy by moving object
If electrical submersible pumps are used for liquid handling, then the pumps are very efficient at handling liquids, but their performance decreases significantly in the presence of gas
Solution Approach 1:
The gas phase is extracted and removed from the liquid stream using a gas-liquid separator before the liquid enters the electrical submersible pump. This ensures that the pump operates with gas-free liquid, maintaining high efficiency while the removed gas is handled separately through compression.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system improves production efficiency and reliability by maintaining consistent high-pressure multiphase output, reducing operating costs, and overcoming heat transfer limitations, while using well-understood components for compact and reliable operation.
Implementation Method 1
A gas-liquid separator is operable to separate the low-pressure multiphase mixture into a low-pressure gas and a low-pressure liquid
Implementation Method 2
The liquids pump is operable to convert the low-pressure liquid into a high-pressure liquid
Implementation Method 3
The liquid piston compressor is operable to compress the low-pressure gas into a high-pressure gas using the high-pressure liquid
Implementation Method 4
The liquid piston compressor can be operable to cool such that substantially isothermal compression occurs
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method for boosting the pressure of a low-pressure multiphase mixture into a high-pressure multiphase mixture. The system includes a gas-liquid separator, a liquids pump and a liquid piston compressor. The method includes introducing the low-pressure multiphase mixture into the pressure boost system, operating such that a low-pressure liquid and a low-pressure gas form, boosting the pressure of the low-pressure liquid to a high-pressure liquid, introducing low-pressure gas during a charging period into the liquid piston compressor, converting the low-pressure gas into high-pressure gas using the high-pressure liquid during a compression period, discharging the high-pressure gas form the liquid piston compressor, and mixing the high-pressure liquid and gas such that the high-pressure multiphase mixture.