High cut measurements, mixing and good practice

The EESIFLO – EASZ-1 is a full bore Watercut Monitor . The instrument is loop powered , completely solid state and is able to instantly and accurately determine the percent watercut in an oil emulsion without requiring the physical separation of the fluids. The high cut versions (where higher amounts of water are found) have built in mixers so that whether automatic samples are taken by API methods or continuous inline measurement by the watercut sensor the same standards apply. Operators who have been struggling in the past and have been unable to properly correlate between the laboratory results and their field readings are able to do so since a baseline of extraction of sample or measurement of sample from a homogeneous liquid liquid mixture can been set.

The continual inline measurement of dielectric permittivity of the fluid is an established technique that has been accepted in the oil and gas industry for many decades . With the advancement of modern electronics EESIFLO International have designed the EASZ-1 Watercut Monitor to use extremely low power and the products have been certified to European and US certification bodies for Zone 0/1 or Class 1 Div 1 applications.

The EESIFLO Water Cut Analyzer represents a very successful approach to measuring the water content in oil/water dispersions. EESIFLO have had background in custody transfer crude oil sampling to API 8.2 and ISO 3171 for more than two decades. The same principles that apply to these worldwide standards also apply to electronic sampling of mixtures. Since water and oil do not readily mix, it is of utmost importance to follow “good practice” to ensure that the data (whether obtained mechanically or electronically) represents that of the flowing stream. A homogeneous mixture is achieved by adequate mixing to ensure that proper correlation is possible. This brings a sense of confidence to oil operators who have previously struggled with data that is compromised by the fact that there is no real way to ensure good results which lead the operators to a total dependance on a manufacturers opinion, rather than on good practice and adherence to standards.

Oil operators rely on the fact that separation will occur between oil and water in a process. The same separation can occur in a flowing stream. This is why it is extremely important to adequately mix water/oil mixtures before auto sampling or electronically sampling with Watercut Analyzers especially when water content is high.