Project

Supported by DHRTC-DTU via Smart Water Flooding Flagship Programme. Two PhD positions. The objective of the SWTS is to develop a smart water management system that addresses both optimal operational performance and process development/design, by employing the advanced control and big data analytics technologies. This work will focus on innovative analysis, design and development of both Produced Water Treatment (PWT) and Injection Water Treatment (IWT) for offshore enhanced oil recovery using advanced water-flooding technology.

Globally, over 250 million barrels of water are produced daily from the oil and gas fields, and more than 40% of the produced water is discharged into the environment. As a consequence, a highly focused area for the Danish North-Sea oil field operators, as well as the authorities and public, is the content of oil in the produced water discharged to sea.

This project is to propose a software-based innovative Produced Water Treatment (PWT) solution by using the advanced plant-wide control methodology. This will be achieved through integration of an advanced Multiple Input and Multiple Output (MIMO) anti-slug control, which is developed based on a large process scope covering from the production wells over the 1st-stage inlet separators to the produced water treatment systems, where these systems are equipped with multiple manipulators and transmitters, with a coordinated separator (water) level control and pressure control of hydrocyclones, which are developed in an optimal cooperative manner.

The achieved solution will promote a completely new generation of PWT system in terms of better environmental protection, along with significantly improved production and reduced cost-vs-production ratio.