An object of the present invention is to provide a separation method capable of efficiently separating a light liquid and a heavy liquid from a mixed liquid containing the light liquid, the heavy liquid, and an emulsion liquid of the light liquid and the heavy liquid, such as an emulsion-layer extraction liquid in a vicinity of an interface in an extraction column. The present invention relates to a separation method for continuously separating a light liquid and a heavy liquid having a specific gravity larger than that of the light liquid from a mixed liquid containing the light liquid, the heavy liquid, and an emulsion liquid of the light liquid and the heavy liquid by introducing the mixed liquid into a separation tank, in which a specific separation layer is used for the separation tank.

A fat conditioning apparatus includes a conditioning vessel enclosing a conditioning chamber and a displacable plug. The conditioning chamber is bounded on one end by the displacable plug and has a variable volume that is a function of the position of the plug within the conditioning vessel. The apparatus has utility in a fat conditioning method, wherein the conditioning chamber contains a harvested fat emulsion. A washing liquid is injected into the conditioning chamber and mixes with the harvested fat emulsion, thereby displacing the plug in an outward expansion direction and expanding the variable volume of the conditioning chamber. The resulting mixture of harvested fat emulsion and washing liquid is stratified in the conditioning chamber into a contaminant-lean fat fraction and a contaminant-rich remainder fraction. The fat fraction, which is substantially free of the remainder fraction, is recovered from the conditioning chamber as a desired product of the method.

Removable trap stations for hydrocarbon flowlines can be implemented as an apparatus. The apparatus includes a multi-phase fluid receiver body and a tank defining an interior volume. The fluid receiver body is configured to couple to a flowline carrying a multi-phase fluid including solids and liquids. The fluid receiver body includes an inlet portion configured to receive a portion of the multi-phase fluid including a portion of the solids flowing through the flowline into the receiver body. The fluid receiver body includes an outlet portion fluidically coupled to the inlet portion. The portion of the multi-phase fluid is configured to flow from the inlet portion to the outlet portion. The tank is fluidically and detachably coupled to the outlet and is configured to receive and retain the portion of the multi-phase fluid received through the inlet portion

Systems and methods for subsea fluid phase separation. A two phase embodiment of the subsea fluid separation system separates a multiphase flow into gas and liquid phases. A three phase embodiment of the subsea fluid separation system separates multiphase flow into gas, oil, and water phases. The subsea fluid separation systems include a wellhead desander system to remove solids from the multiphase flow, a vertical gas-liquid separation module having associated valves disposed in series with a horizontal gas-liquid separation module having associated valves, one or more pumps to provide fluid flow to the vertical and horizontal separators, and a control system to control operation of the valves and pumps. The three phase embodiment further includes oil-water separators and multi-stage hydrocyclones for produced water treatment in a subsea environment.

A subsea multiphase fluid separation system has a gas separator for separating gas from a well stream containing oil. A water separation stage downstream of the gas separator has at least one dual pipe separator for separating water from the oil of the wellstream. A water treatment system for cleaning oil from water is produced by the water separation stage. On an oil outlet path, downstream of the or each dual pipe separator, there is an electrocoalescer and at least one second separator in series.

The present disclosure relates to an apparatus for gravity separation, which comprises a plurality of gravity separation modules. Each of the gravity separation modules comprises an inlet, a first outlet, a first conduit connecting the inlet and the first outlet, a second outlet located vertically different from the first outlet, a second conduit in communication with the second outlet, and a plurality of third conduits connecting the first conduits and the second conduits. The present disclosure also relates to a corresponding method for gravity separation.

A conduit or pipeline system configured to use a liquid containing fluid, such as water, which typically accumulates in low flow pipelines causing corrosion and accumulation of sediments, to remove sediments and prevent corrosion. The liquid-containing fluid can be introduced into gas lines to remove solids, for example, black powder.

The present invention relates to a method of reducing the entrainment of polymer in the polymer-lean liquid phase in a separator, comprising the steps of: (i) Selecting the diameter of the polymer droplets in the polymer solution entering the separator; (ii) Determining the traveling time of the polymer droplets in the separator; and (iii) Adjusting the residence time of the polymer-dense phase in the separator to be at least the traveling time of the polymer droplets, a solution polymerization process using said method for reducing the entrainment of polymer in the polymer-lean liquid phase in the separator and the use of said method for determining the minimum residence time of the polymer solution in the separator required to ensure efficient separation of a polymer solution into a polymer-lean phase and a polymer-rich phase.

A fluid recovery system includes a separator configured to separate a hydrocarbon stream into an unfractionated mixture, water, and natural gas. The system further includes a storage vessel in communication with the separator and configured to store the unfractionated mixture separated from the hydrocarbon stream. The system further includes a compressor in communication with the separator and configured to pressurize the natural gas.

A process control system can include a vessel, and at least one heat transfer property sensor that measures a heat transfer property of a substance at the vessel. The process control system can also include a monitoring device that receives an output of the heat transfer property sensor, and a process control device that is adjusted in response to the heat transfer property sensor output. A method of controlling a process can include measuring a thermal conductivity of a substance at a vessel, and adjusting the process in response to the measuring.