Multi-interface level in oil tanks and applications of optical fiber sensors

Abstract On the oil production also involves the production of water, gas and suspended solids, which are separated from the oil on three-phase separators. However, the control strategies of an oil separator are limited due to unavailability of suitable multi-interface level sensors. This paper presents a description of the multi-phase level problem on the oil industry and a review of the current technologies for multi-interface level assessment. Since optical fiber sensors present chemical stability, intrinsic safety, electromagnetic immunity, lightweight and multiplexing capabilities, it can be an alternative for multi-interface level measurement that can overcome some of the limitations of the current technologies. For this reason, Fiber Bragg Gratings (FBGs) based optical fiber sensor system for multi-interface level assessment is proposed, simulated and experimentally assessed. The results show that the proposed sensor system is capable of measuring interface level with a relative error of only 2.38%. Furthermore, the proposed sensor system is also capable of measuring the oil density with an error of 0.8 kg/m3.

[1]  E. E. Havinga.  The temperature dependence of dielectric constants , 1961 .

[2]  Arezoo Eshraghi,et al.  Development and Validation of Fiber Bragg Grating Sensing Pad for Interface Pressure Measurements Within Prosthetic Sockets , 2016, IEEE Sensors Journal.

[3]  K. Peters.  Polymer optical fiber sensors—a review , 2010 .

[4]  Moisés R. N. Ribeiro,et al.  Multi-Parameter Interferometric Sensor Based on a Reduced Diameter Core Axial Offseted Fiber , 2017, IEEE Photonics Technology Letters.

[5]  Yu-Lung Lo,et al.  Application of Fiber Bragg Grating Level Sensor and Fabry-Pérot Pressure Sensor to Simultaneous Measurement of Liquid Level and Specific Gravity , 2012, IEEE Sensors Journal.

[6]  Tong Sun,et al.  [INVITED] Developments in optical fibre sensors for industrial applications , 2016 .

[7]  Moisés R. N. Ribeiro,et al.  Corrosion Resistant FBG-Based Quasi-Distributed Sensor for Crude Oil Tank Dynamic Temperature Profile Monitoring , 2015, Sensors.

[8]  Wuqiang Yang,et al.  Multi-interface Level Sensors and New Development in Monitoring and Control of Oil Separators , 2006, Sensors (Basel, Switzerland).

[9]  Sophie Schneider,et al.  Non-Aqueous and Crude Oil Foams , 2014 .

[10]  Kenneth T. V. Grattan,et al.  Fibre Bragg Grating-Based Cascaded Acoustic Sensors for Potential Marine Structural Condition Monitoring , 2016, Journal of Lightwave Technology.

[11]  Maurice Beck,et al.  Capacitance-based instrumentation for multi-interface level measurement , 1991 .

[12]  O. Isaksen,et al.  A capacitance-based tomography system for interface measurement in separation vessels , 1994 .

[13]  M. Meribout,et al.  An acoustic system for providing the two-phase liquid profile in oil field storage tanks , 2009, IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control.

[14]  Yong Zhao,et al.  Recent advancements in optical fiber hydrogen sensors , 2017 .

[15]  Carl J. Schaschke,et al.  Density and Viscosity Measurement of Diesel Fuels at Combined High Pressure and Elevated Temperature , 2013 .

[16]  Peter Jackson,et al.  Recent developments in hydrocarbon separator interface imaging , 2001, SPIE Optics East.

[17]  Ph. André,et al.  Cost effective refractive index sensor based on optical fiber micro cavities produced by the catastrophic fuse effect , 2016 .

[18]  Jerry Worsley,et al.  OptaSense: Fibre Optic Distributed Acoustic Sensing for Border Monitoring , 2012, 2012 European Intelligence and Security Informatics Conference.

[19]  Gang-Ding Peng,et al.  Highly sensitive liquid level monitoring system utilizing polymer fiber Bragg gratings. , 2015, Optics express.

[20]  Guido Perrone,et al.  Assessment of a Dual-Wavelength Compensation Technique for Displacement Sensors Using Plastic Optical Fibers , 2012, IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement.

[21]  I. Hénaut,et al.  Crude Oil Emulsion Properties and Their Application to Heavy Oil Transportation , 2004 .

[22]  Sharul Sham Dol,et al.  Crude oil emulsion: A review on formation, classification and stability of water-in-oil emulsions , 2015 .

[23]  Peter K. Kilpatrick,et al.  Factors Contributing to Petroleum Foaming. 1. Crude Oil Systems , 2002 .

[24]  Prasant Kumar Pattnaik,et al.  Optical MEMS Pressure Sensors Incorporating Dual Waveguide Bragg Gratings on Diaphragms , 2016, IEEE Sensors Journal.

[25]  Jing Li,et al.  Liquid level and temperature sensor based on an asymmetrical fiber Mach-Zehnder interferometer combined with a fiber Bragg grating , 2016 .

[26]  Hao Hu,et al.  A new-type sensor for monitoring oil-water interface level and oil level , 2009, 2009 9th International Conference on Electronic Measurement & Instruments.

[27]  Hongliang Ren,et al.  A Diaphragm Type Fiber Bragg Grating Vibration Sensor Based on Transverse Property of Optical Fiber With Temperature Compensation , 2017, IEEE Sensors Journal.

[28]  E. Hegazi,et al.  Measuring the refractive index of crude oil using a capillary tube interferometer , 2003 .

[29]  H. Marzouk,et al.  Monitoring of concrete shrinkage and creep using Fiber Bragg Grating sensors , 2017 .

[30]  K. Hill,et al.  Fiber Bragg grating technology fundamentals and overview , 1997 .

[31]  Zude Zhou,et al.  Paralleled Structure-Based String-Type Fiber Bragg Grating Acceleration Sensor , 2017, IEEE Sensors Journal.

[32]  Maurice Beck,et al.  A multi-interface level measurement system using a segmented capacitance sensor for oil separators , 1994 .

[33]  Hamid Moghadas,et al.  A passive non-contact microwave loop resonance sensor for liquid interface , 2017 .

[34]  Hongyuan Wang,et al.  A simple and valuable method for detecting levels of interface of oil -water and oil layer , 2009, 2009 ICCAS-SICE.

[35]  Roy J. Issa,et al.  Rheology of water-in-oil emulsions for a medium crude oil , 2015, 2015 International Mediterranean Gas and Oil Conference (MedGO).

[36]  G. Betta,et al.  Microcontroller-based performance enhancement of an optical fiber level transducer , 1996, Quality Measurement: The Indispensable Bridge between Theory and Reality (No Measurements? No Science! Joint Conference - 1996: IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Technology Conference and IMEKO Tec.

[37]  Effah Yahya,et al.  The Rheology of Light Crude Oil and Water-In-Oil-Emulsion , 2016 .

[38]  Humberto Varum,et al.  Intensity-Encoded Polymer Optical Fiber Accelerometer , 2013, IEEE Sensors Journal.

[39]  Yunjiang Rao,et al.  Fabry–Perot optical fiber tip sensor for high temperature measurement , 2010 .

[40]  Mojgan Daneshmand,et al.  Microwave ring resonator-based non-contact interface sensor for oil sands applications , 2016 .

[41]  Xiaoqi Ni,et al.  An optical fiber Fabry-Perot pressure sensor using corrugated diaphragm and angle polished fiber , 2017 .

[42]  O. Casas,et al.  Oil-Water Interface Level Sensor Based on an Electrode Array , 2006, 2006 IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Technology Conference Proceedings.

[43]  Mahmoud Meribout,et al.  Design and Implementation of a New Nonradioactive-Based Machine for Detecting Oil–Water Interfaces in Oil Tanks , 2007, IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement.

[44]  D. J. Webb,et al.  Aviation Fuel Gauging Sensor Utilizing Multiple Diaphragm Sensors Incorporating Polymer Optical Fiber Bragg Gratings , 2016, IEEE Sensors Journal.

[45]  T. Asokan,et al.  Interface stability of oil-water system under electric stress , 2005, IEEE International Conference on Dielectric Liquids, 2005. ICDL 2005..

[46]  Ph. André,et al.  Mechanical Properties of Optical Fibers , 2012 .

[47]  Umesh Tiwari,et al.  Fiber grating sensors in medicine: Current and emerging applications , 2011 .

[48]  Georg Brasseur,et al.  A novel capacitance sensor principle applicable for spatially resolving downhole measurements , 2002, IMTC/2002. Proceedings of the 19th IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Technology Conference (IEEE Cat. No.00CH37276).

[49]  Bhajan Singh,et al.  A Compton scattering technique for concentration and fluid-fluid interface measurements using NaI(Tl) detector , 2017 .

[50]  Gerard C. M. Meijer,et al.  Liquid-level measurement system based on a remote grounded capacitive sensor , 2007 .

[51]  P. Krippner,et al.  Distributed Temperature Sensing: Review of Technology and Applications , 2012, IEEE Sensors Journal.

[52]  Brian Culshaw,et al.  Optical Fibre Sensors for Industrial Applications in Safety and Security , 2013 .

[53]  Radan Slavik,et al.  Single-mode optical fiber surface plasmon resonance sensor , 1999 .

[54]  Mahmoud Meribout,et al.  Interface Layers Detection in Oil Field Tanks: A Critical Review , 2011 .

[55]  Asrul Izam Azmi,et al.  Graphene diaphragm integrated FBG sensors for simultaneous measurement of water level and temperature , 2016 .

[56]  Cesar Jauregui,et al.  Lateral polishing of bends in plastic optical fibres applied to a multipoint liquid-level measurement sensor , 2007 .

[57]  Bai-Ou Guan,et al.  [INVITED] Tilted fiber grating mechanical and biochemical sensors ☆ , 2016 .

[58]  Bernt Lie,et al.  Using multi sensor data fusion for level estimation in a separator , 2006 .

[59]  M. Abdel-raouf,et al.  Factors Affecting the Stability of Crude Oil Emulsions , 2012 .