Natco Technology Crossflow Scrubber
Applications
- Oil removal from produced water
- Solids removal from produced water
Benefits
- Simplified operations with only a single vessel required for large flows
- Minimal operator intervention
- Good HSE profile
- Minimal downtime and operating costs
Features
- Removes free oil from produced water
- Processes large volumes of water in a single small-footprint vessel
- Includes a maximized cross-sectional area that minimizes water velocity, driving effective separation
- Tolerates higher solids concentrations compared with alternative technologies
How it works
The inlet fluid is distributed through our patented high-flow distributor, which provides a 90% or greater distribution efficiency down the length of the vessel. This helps to prevent flow channeling and bypassing that can be present in other designs.
Leaving the distributor, the oily water flows through a perforated distribution baffle followed by 0.75 m of Natco technology packing and then through a second perforated distribution baffle prior to exiting through a proprietary shrouded collection header. The proprietary packing provides a large surface area for coalescing oil drops and a large open area to allow solids to fall through. This design facilitates processing a significantly higher level of inlet solids compared with other media coalescers and without running the risk of plugging.
As oil droplets are coalesced and separated, a thin layer of oil forms on top of the water. Periodically, the liquid level can be raised, and the oil layer can be skimmed into a collection trough and removed from the vessel. A reverse demulsifier is usually dosed to enhance oil droplet coalescence and cationic polymer is used to enhance oil droplet coalescence.
How it improves performance
The Natco™ separation technology portfolio includes a crossflow scrubber, which effectively removes moderate amounts of free oil from produced water streams prior to final treatment and disposal. Its crossflow design enables processing large volumes of water in a smaller vessel, and the vessel's large cross-sectional area improves the separation efficiency.
Additional information
Product range
- 80,000–240,000 bbl/d
- Horizontal designs
- Single unit replaces multiple corrugated plate interceptor (CPI) units
- Oil droplet removal > 50 um
Performance
- Optimal operation under steady-state or slowly changing conditions
- Increased efficiency at reduced flow rates
- Solids removal by settlement
- Higher tolerance for solids compared with CPIs
- Suggested maximum inlet oil content of around 10,000 ppm
Operability
- No active controls required—fixed weir operation
- Minimum personnel interventions
- Regular inlet and outlet sampling and testing recommended
- Internals removable though a utility hole
Chemical requirements
Chemical coagulants can be used to improve unit oil and suspended solids separation and removal efficiency. Chemical selection, dosage rates, and addition points should be developed by empirical field testing.
Customer service
SLB water treatment experts have gained decades of first-hand knowledge and experience in produced water treating.
- Computer modeling
- Laboratory testing
- Pilot testing
- Conceptual studies
- Process design
- Debottlenecking studies
- Startup assistance
- Field service and repairs
- Troubleshooting
