Novel Compact Integrated Cyclone and Filtration System for Solid Mercury Removal

Abstract

Abstract Mercury presence in produced fluid poses serious issues to gas production process due to HSSE risk, process disturbance and product quality for export. Mercury management is conducted based on type of mercury presence, for instance elemental mercury and solid mercury. For elemental mercury, adsorbent is typically being used, while solid mercury removal is managed via filtration. However, established mercury removal strategy is limited to "single" phase (gas, hydrocarbon liquid, water) thus can only be carried out post phase separation, while there is no available mercury removal technology for full well stream (FWS) treatment as early as at the wellhead. A novel compact separation concept based on integrated cyclone and filtration design for removing solid mercury in gas dominant full well stream was developed, to allow for flexibility in implementation location (from multiphase at wellhead to single phase post separation) and achieve reliable and consistent separation performance at 1 μm particulate size. Testing with solid mercury particles demonstrated the technology feasibility in removing particles of 1 μm and larger, where particles of 1 μm and larger was not detected by the high-speed imaging camera used at the clean fluid outlet for solid monitoring. CFD simulation conducted provided reference on the feasibility of the technology based on fluid regime and dynamics in removing solid mercury at test conditions, as well as at intended site conditions. A reliable and flexible solution is key to ensure effective contaminant management from the target production, and safeguarding production loss due to contaminant presence in the long run.