8 Modeling Real Separators in Aspen HYSYS

Process Overview

8 © 2009 AspenTech – All rights reserved.

 Modeling Real Separators in Aspen HYSYS 9

Workshop
Process Description
In this workshop, a 3-phase Separator is used to separate an oil/water/gas mixture.
Entrained liquids in the gas product have been identified as a potential process issue.
The Aspen HYSYS Real Separator will be used to account for liquid entrainment in the
model.
Carryover of liquids can be troublesome, especially if the gas is then passed through
a turbine/compressor where liquid droplets can cause major damage to the internals
of the machine. We will determine if a demisting pad is appropriate to prevent
carryover and how to size it appropriately. The separator considered in this workshop
is part of a pre-built two stage compression flow sheet.
You will begin building the case by creating a copy of an existing separator. This
means that while experimenting with the parameters of the separator, the rest of the
flow sheet (recycles, adjusts, etc.) does not have to solve each time.
An exercise later will involve incorporating the rigorous separator into the full
model.

Build an Ideal Separator

1. Open the provided simulation case RealSeparator – Starter.hsc

2. Create a material stream called To LP Sep Clone.

The file RealSeparator -
Starter.hsc contains the 3. Double-click the To LP Sep Clone stream.
To LP Sep stream.
4. The stream property view appears. Click the Define from Other Stream button.

5. In the Available Streams list, select To LP Sep.

6. In the Copy Stream Conditions group, check all the available conditions and
click OK.

7. Create a stream called Water and specify its temperature and pressure to be the
same as To LP Sep Clone with a flow rate of 4000 kg/h.

© 2009 AspenTech – All rights reserved. 9

10 Modeling Real Separators in Aspen HYSYS

8. Add a Mixer and provide the following information:

In this cell… Enter…
Connections
Name MIX-100
Inlet streams To LP Sep Clone
Water
Outlet stream Feed
Parameters
Automatic Pressure Assignment Set Outlet to Lowest Inlet

9. Add a 3-phase Separator and specify it with the following information:

In this cell… Enter…
Connections
Name V-101
Inlet stream Feed
Vapor stream Vapor
Light Liquid stream LLiquid
Heavy Liquid stream HLiquid

10. Open the separator unit operation and select the Worksheet tab.

What is the vapor fraction and molar flow of the vapor product stream?

Vapor fraction______________________________________________________________

Light Liquid flow_____________________________________________________________

Heavy Liquid flow____________________________________________________________

10 © 2009 AspenTech – All rights reserved.

 Modeling Real Separators in Aspen HYSYS 11

Add Carryover Effects

Let us say that we know (from a plant mass balance or as a design assumption) that
approximately 800 kg/h of liquid is entrained in the vapor stream. How do we
specify this in our model and ensure an accurate mass balance?

11. Select the Rating tab. Click the C.Over Setup page to bring up the carryover
models, and choose Product Basis as the active model.

12. Enter the entrainment data. Select Specification By: Flow and choose Basis =
Mass. Enter 800 kg/h for Light liquid in gas.
Figure 1

13. Examine the product streams and the C.Over Results page and compare to the
ideal separation case.

What is the vapor fraction of the vapor product stream?___________________________

What is the rate of liquid carryover (kgmole/h)?____________________________________

© 2009 AspenTech – All rights reserved. 11

12 Modeling Real Separators in Aspen HYSYS

Using the Carryover Correlations

As an alternative to specifying the carryover, we can use correlations to predict the
carryover:

14. Return to the C.Over Setup page and change the model selection to
Correlation Based. For steps 15 – 17 select the appropriate radio button.

15. Correlation Setup (radio button):

The Setup and Results a) Select Overall Correlation and choose the ProSeparator correlation.
views will be different
depending on which
correlation is used. Refer b) Click the View Correlation button to enter inlet and separation parameters.
to page 6 for a detailed
description of each In this case, the Inlet setup page can be left as is. The ProSeparator correlations
correlation and its required will calculate the inlet dispersion without the need for further information.
parameters.
Since we do not have an exit device, we need to set this for the ProSeparator
correlation. Select the Vap. Exit Device page; select Mesh Pad; enter thickness
= 0.0.

Close the View Correlation window.

16. Dimensions Setup (radio button): Enter the vessel dimensions as length 8.0 m,
diameter 3.0 m, light liquid level 1.5 m.
Figure 2

Vessel dimensions can

also be entered on the
Sizing page of the Rating
tab. Data on these two
pages is linked.

12 © 2009 AspenTech – All rights reserved.

 Modeling Real Separators in Aspen HYSYS 13

17. DP / Nozzle Setup (radio button): Enter the following values for nozzle
location (this is the horizontal or radial distance from the feed location): Feed
0.0 m, Vapor 6.0 m. Keep the default values for nozzle diameter and height.
Figure 3

Analyze the Results

There are several pages where useful results are displayed:

• Open the Worksheet tab.

What is the vapor fraction in the Vapor stream?__________________________________

© 2009 AspenTech – All rights reserved. 13

14 Modeling Real Separators in Aspen HYSYS

• Open the Rating tab and select the C.Over Results page. To view the
carryover details, click the View Dispersion Results button. You should
see results similar to this:
Figure 4

We need to eliminate all droplets larger than 50 microns (0.05 mm). Do we need an exit
device to do secondary separation? ______________________________________________

Adding a Secondary Separation Device

18. Open the Rating tab and select the C.Over Setup page.

19. Click the View Correlation button and open the Setup tab.

20. Select the Vap. Exit Device page; select Mesh Pad and enter a thickness of
100.0 mm.

What effect does this have on the carryover? ______________________________________

14 © 2009 AspenTech – All rights reserved.

 Modeling Real Separators in Aspen HYSYS 15

Exercise 1
It is expected that the inlet hydrocarbon flow to the separator may vary by up to
25%. Anticipating that the separator may not be able to handle this increased flow,
the engineer decides to model the new conditions in the separator and design a
demister pad to remove the larger droplets.

1. Increase the flow rate of the To LP Sep Clone stream by 25%.

2. Select the C.Over Results page, and then click the View Dispersion Results
button.

What is the Total Carryover with no mesh? With 100mm of mesh?

____________________________________________________________________________

What is the removal efficiency of 50 micron droplets?

____________________________________________________________________________

Based on this predicted dispersion, the engineer decides to install a thicker mesh pad.
How would you suggest the engineer use Aspen HYSYS to determine the correct
thickness?

Perform the analysis yourself; how thick should the mesh pad be?
____________________________________________________________________________

Now what is the vapor fraction of the Vapor product stream?

____________________________________________________________________________

Exercise 2
Connect the real separator into the two-stage compression loop to replace the ideal
separator that is currently in use. Keep the Water feed stream connected. Is the real
separator still capable of stopping 50 micron drops reaching the compressor suction?

© 2009 AspenTech – All rights reserved. 15