ABSTRACT:Three-phase separators are very useful for the separation of hydrocarbons and water. Their applications have added value to the oil and gas industry as well as minimize the negative impacts of oil and gas operations on the environment. The major challenge faced by Aje gas and condensate field is the issue of production of natural gas that contains water vapor of which if not removed can form hydrates, which may block pipeline, choke and valve. These Water can also cause corrosion in pipeline as well as cause damage to high speed compressor blades. The aim of this thesis is to develop a model and simulate the liquid separation from gas stream in HYSYS. Then, evaluate the amount of water collected from the gas stream after separation and then recommend a way of removing such water that exist in solution in natural gas. The model was designed and simulated using ASPEN HYSYS V8.8 simulation package. The separator effectiveness was investigated by evaluating the amount of water collected from the gas stream after separation. From the simulation result taken from the product stream, the Vapour Stream produces little amount of both water vapour (of about 1% concentration) and dry gas with high concentration of methane and ethane (of about 33%)and entrained higher amount NGL with high concentration propane, butane and pentane (typically 66%),while the Light Liquid stream also produces higher amount of NGL with high concentration of propane, butane and pentane as well (typically 99%)with little amount of entrained dry gas of ethane concentration (of about 1%) and the Heavy Liquid stream produces only water (typically 100% of the entire concentration).Therefore, these result shows that the horizontal separator is effective in separating the streams into their respective three phases. However, the little amount of water vapour (typically 1%) that is associated with the natural gas in the vapour stream can be negligible as hydrate inhibitor based on chemical inhibitor such as homopolymers or copolymers of cyclic amide (lactam) is injected into the pipeline alongside with the natural gas containing the 1% water vapour to delay the nucleation and crystal growth of hydrates during transportation. This approach can lead to substantial cost savings because of the small amount of the inhibitor is required for injection into a pipeline containing 1% of the weight of water in natural gas stream than spending a lot of income to dehydrate such amount of water vapour in processing plant.
Key words: Simulation, Water, Natural Gas, Three phase separator, Aje field

| DOI: 10.17148/IARJSET.2022.9107