Degasser Performance Study
Background
Jorin were asked to investigate the effect on separation efficiency that the operational conditions of a degasser vessel generated. This was conducted for a client whose process discharges were excessive.
Aim
Jorin's client wished to test the performance of their installed degasser under a number of conditions and differing control philosophies. Therefore the aim of this study was to explore the vessel's performance envelope.
Results
The site data was primarily collected using Jorin's mobile ViPA technology which is designed and constructed to operate in hazardous environments.
The graph of oil concentration is shown in Figure 1 while the mean oil droplet size is shown in Figure 2. From the plotted data it can be seen that the discharge is initially significantly higher than would normally be expected.
Just after 08:00 a change in the oil bucket drainage regime was implemented. This had the effect of lowering the OIW content leaving the vessel. However, the vessel appeared to be less stable than before. In an aim to increase the stability the operating pressure of the vessel was reduced from 1 Barg to 0.7 Barg; this took place at about 09:00.
Again the OIW concentration was seen to drop to an acceptable level for discharge. The plant was then returned to its pre-test condition to demonstrate that the two modifications were effective and the data was not coincidental.
Conclusions
This work clearly shows that a more effective degasser management regime could be implemented; the work conducted, though limited, indicated the modifications that should be executed.
These results clearly show the benefit of installed ViPA technology for the monitoring and management of the degasser, providing necessary process data that could lead to increased performance.