Steam plays a pivotal role in Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) applications, and its quality can profoundly impact efficiency, operational costs, and environmental sustainability. With emerging technologies and innovative systems in place, the shift towards higher steam quality becomes increasingly relevant for industries aiming for optimized outcomes.
- The Impact of Steam Quality:
- Incremental Production: A jump from 80% to 95% steam quality sees an increase in average incremental production, moving from an approximate 280%-300% to around 420%.
- Operational Costs: Both 80% and 95% steam quality levels have operational costs averaging around $15k/day.
- Corrosion Risks: A higher steam quality at 95% considerably reduces the risk of corrosion in comparison to the 80% steam quality, which presents a higher risk.
- Hydration Problems: Problems associated with hydration are minimized substantially at 95% steam quality, while they are more likely to occur at 80%.
- Efficiency in Distribution & Transfer: 95% steam quality assures an even and optimized steam distribution with enhanced heat transfer efficiency, contrasting with the uneven distribution and reduced efficiency observed at 80%.
- Resource Utilization: Systems operating at 95% steam quality consume 12% less water and 15% less fuel, offering improved resource optimization.
- Productivity of Wells: While 80% steam quality might pose potential challenges, a 95% steam quality level is optimized for maximum recovery.
- Environmental Impact: A leap to 95% steam quality leads to reduced emissions, contrasting with the larger carbon footprint associated with 80% steam quality.
- Conventional OTSG vs. Nakasawa OTSG w/ Super Matroid Technology:
- Operational Efficiency: Nakasawa’s system integrates the General Italia burner with precise software-controlled VFD, ensuring superior combustion across all operational ranges. This stands in contrast to the conventional OTSG, which uses a basic burner with rudimentary controls, potentially not ensuring complete combustion.
- Steam Quality: Conventional OTSG produces steam with 80% dryness, which can degrade to 75-77% by the time it reaches the well. In comparison, Nakasawa’s OTSG achieves between 95-98% steam quality, maintaining an impressive 92-94% quality even at distant wells, negating ambient heat loss.
- Environmental Impact: The Nakasawa OTSG with SMT substantially reduces greenhouse gas emissions and uses less water, thanks to its high-efficiency burner. On the other hand, conventional OTSG may emit higher levels of greenhouse gases and consumes more resources due to its lower steam quality.
- Resource Utilization: Generating high-quality steam with Nakasawa’s OTSG results in 12% less water usage and eliminates 15% of fuel loss. Conversely, using 80% steam quality in a conventional OTSG leads to a daily loss of 55,680 liters of water and 1,950 kg of LPG fuel.
- Well Productivity & Compliance: High steam quality, as observed in Nakasawa’s system, ensures optimal heat transfer, reduced corrosion risk, and even steam distribution. It underscores the point that steam quality can be directly linked to operational excellence and compliance with future environmental regulations.
Conclusion:
Elevating steam quality offers end-users the opportunity to bolster their operational efficiency, reduce environmental impact, and realize long-term savings. With innovations like the Nakasawa OTSG with SMT, achieving and maintaining high steam quality is both feasible and beneficial.
Owner of several companies in the energy and mining sector, and inventor of the design and engineering of the Super Matroid Heater and Ultra Filtration Systems for the oil and gas industries.
