Nicoustic at Topsides UK

Topsides UK is an annual technical conference hosted by SPE Aberdeen. This year the conference was held on November 5th-6th at P&J Live near the Aberdeen airport. The topic was «Energising the North Sea: Focusing on Energy Security and Emissions Reduction».

Many older process facilities struggle with level measurement and control in their separators and tanks. These facilities are simply not equipped to measure levels of solids, emulsions and foam since this was not what they were designed for. There are modern intrusive instruments that would solve this issue, but the problem is that installation of an intrusive instrument means shutting down the production for a turnaround, something that is most often too costly to do.

Non-intrusive level measurement can contribute to emission reductions through increased facility utilization due to improved level control in separation. But there is more. Many facilities struggle with precise dosage of emulsion breakers and and de-foamer agents because they are not equipped for measuring emulsions and foam in situ. We aim to change this in our Joint Industry Project, where the goal is to develop a non-intrusive profiler. Allowing an easy retrofit of a profiler in any brownfield facility will contribute to reducing the use of process chemicals. Lastly, improved level control in separators will result in less oil in produced water, which also reduces emissions.

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