Oil, Gas and Petrochemical

ANSYS software has assisted a large number of companies in the oil and gas industry to improve equipment longevity, increase performance and decrease risk through a wide range of engineering simulation capabilities.

By applying advanced computational fluid dynamics, ANSYS CFX software is used to improve yield, decrease downtime, shorten off-loading time, increase capacity and improve efficiency in the oil, gas and petrochemical industries.

Results have included:

• increasing yield by improving flows in fluidized bed reactors and optimizing oil/water separation hydrocyclones
• reducing operating costs through improvements in valve and heat exchanger designs
• increasing efficiency of packed bed reactor by assessing uniformity of flow and investigating design improvements
• improving performance in stirred tank reactors
• optimizing drilling through improving performance of Measurement While Drilling (MWD) modulator
• increasing separation speed in oil/gas settling tanks using
  ANSYS CFX multiphase and particle tracking analysis
• shortening off-load time in Product Off Loading Systems (POLS) by determining temperature of oil, pump specifications and need for heating coils
• extending system component longevity by decreasing erosion due to sand particles through involvement in process component and system design or redesign
• decreasing risk by simulating wind effects on oil-pool fires or by predicting propagation of liquid spillages
  

A compressible two-fluid model was used to analyze feed nozzle configurations in distillation columns. It was possible to track the liquid phase and to foresee the accumulation of this phase in specific parts of the flash zone. The results demonstrate clearly the importance of using a multiphase flow model. Courtesy of Petrobras.

Examples

Debottlenecking the Hannibal Slug Catcher
Simulation Helps Improve Oil Refinery Operation
Oil and Gas Spotlight

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