Measurement of BSW in crude oil streams
AssigneeShell Oil Company
InventorThomas L. Stewart
Life of this patent
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Abstract
To improve both the accuracy and reliability of capacitance-type basic sediment and water (BS&W) recorders, it is desirable to provide a clean, dry reference stream whose dielectric constant can be compared to that of a wet stream. This compensates for any variation in the physical composition of the fluid (e.g., pipeline crude oil) which might otherwise yield a false value for the BS&W content. In accordance with the present invention, the dry reference stream is provided by filtration and reverse centrifugation of part of the wet stream.
Claims8
A process for measuring the water and sediment content of flowing crude oil having a varying intrinsic dielectric constant comprising, continuously removing a sample stream of the crude oil, feeding the sample stream into an outer chamber containing an inner chamber having a wall formed of a filter, rotating the inner chamber while pressuring the sample from the outer chamber into the inner chamber, filtering sediment from the sample passing into the inner chamber and allowing centrifugal force in the inner chamber to force water in the sample back into the outer chamber, withdrawing clean dry sample from the inner chamber, and continuously measuring the difference between the dielectric constants of the sample and the clean dry sample to facilitate determining the true water and sediment content of the crude oil.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.