Gas Well Deliquification Workshop
Sheraton Hotel, Denver, Colorado
February 23 – 25, 2015
E-Factor: Measuring Plunger Sealing Efficiency
Manish Agarwal, Product Line Engineering Manager
Hydraulic, Plunger, Capillary Lift
Feb. 23 - 25, 2015 2015 Gas Well Deliquification Workshop
Denver, Colorado
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Agenda
• Plungers – types, selection
• Plunger sealing efficiency
• Plunger Flow Fixture
• E-Factor (efficiency factor)
• WFT Plungers test results
• Comparing CFD vs Actual Test
Plunger – types, design, features
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PLUNGERS
PAD Plungers
RING Plungers
BRUSH Plungers
Single Pad, Dual Pad, Triple Pad
Pad design
Spring design
Ring design
Number of rings
Plunger length
Length of brush
Brush design
Brush interference
HYBRIDS
Feb. 23 - 25, 2015 2015 Gas Well Deliquification Workshop
Denver, Colorado
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Which one to
choose ?
http://shaletec.com
http://petrowiki.org/images/d/d8/Vol4_Page_871_Image_0001.png
Plunger – which one to choose?
Feb. 23 - 25, 2015 2015 Gas Well Deliquification Workshop
Denver, Colorado
Plunger – desirable characteristic
• Best “sealing” plunger is the one which requires
lower casing pressure to lift the same amount of
fluid.
• To accomplish above, the best plunger should have
best sealing efficiency.
5 Feb. 23 - 25, 2015 2015 Gas Well Deliquification Workshop
Denver, Colorado
Measuring Plunger’s sealing efficiency
• Field testing to measure different plunger’s
sealing efficiency is very difficult –
– Changing well condition
– Line pressure
– Man power
– Time consuming
6 Feb. 23 - 25, 2015 2015 Gas Well Deliquification Workshop
Denver, Colorado
Plunger Flow Fixture – Theory
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• Hold a given plunger stationery in the
flow loop.
• Flow Nitrogen.
• Maintain consistent flowrate (Q) and
back pressure (P1) on plunger
• Measure upstream pressure (P2) for
each plunger to calculate pressure
drop (P2-P1)
Higher Pressure drop =
higher sealing efficiency
Feb. 23 - 25, 2015 2015 Gas Well Deliquification Workshop
Denver, Colorado
Plunger installation
• Plunger held stationery by
3 screws as shown.
• The arrangement allowed
the plunger to move
sideways thus centralizing
itself during flow.
8 Feb. 23 - 25, 2015 2015 Gas Well Deliquification Workshop
Denver, Colorado
Test Plan & Graph
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Back Pressure (P1) Psi
Flowrate at STP (Q) MCF/D
Plunger Upstream Pressure (P2) Psi
Plunger Drop (P2-P1) Psi
50 100
50 200
50 300
Feb. 23 - 25, 2015 2015 Gas Well Deliquification Workshop
Denver, Colorado
E-Factor (efficiency factor)
E-Factor(300 MCF/D, 50psi) = (P2-P1)/P2 %
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• Flow rate at STP = 300 MCF/D of Nitrogen
• Back Pressure = 50 psi
Higher E-Factor = higher pressure drop = higher sealing efficiency
Feb. 23 - 25, 2015 2015 Gas Well Deliquification Workshop
Denver, Colorado
Plunger Flow Fixture
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PLUNGER
Feb. 23 - 25, 2015 2015 Gas Well Deliquification Workshop
Denver, Colorado
Plunger Flow Fixture
12 Feb. 23 - 25, 2015 2015 Gas Well Deliquification Workshop
Denver, Colorado
WFT Plungers Tested
• WFT Plungers (2-3/8)
– WFT Brush
– WFT Spiral 17”
– WFT Dual Pad (Long)
– WFT Dual Pad (Short)
– WFT Spiral 12”
– WFT Spiral 8”
• Can you RANK them?
• Which is better…..?
• ……..by how much? 13 Feb. 23 - 25, 2015 2015 Gas Well Deliquification Workshop
Denver, Colorado
Graphical Result – WFT Plungers
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WFT Brush
WFT Dual Pad (Long)
WFT Dual Pad (Short)
WFT Spiral 17
WFT Spiral 12
WFT Spiral 8
Feb. 23 - 25, 2015 2015 Gas Well Deliquification Workshop
Denver, Colorado
E-Factor – WFT Plungers
15 Feb. 23 - 25, 2015 2015 Gas Well Deliquification Workshop
Denver, Colorado
E-Factor(300 MCF/D, 50psi) = (P2-P1)/P2 %
Conclusion
• Standardized Plunger flow fixture testing
• Quantify Plunger sealing efficiency using E-Factor
• Provides tool to the industry to rank different plunger
• Help in plunger selection
16 Feb. 23 - 25, 2015 2015 Gas Well Deliquification Workshop
Denver, Colorado
CFD Analysis
• Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) tool is used
to design and improve plunger.
• CFD results are dependent on how the problem
was defined and modelled.
• How do you know if the CFD analysis done is
accurate?
17 Feb. 23 - 25, 2015 2015 Gas Well Deliquification Workshop
Denver, Colorado
WFT Spiral Plunger 17” - CFD
18 Feb. 23 - 25, 2015 2015 Gas Well Deliquification Workshop
Denver, Colorado
WFT Spiral Plunger – CFD vs Test
19 Feb. 23 - 25, 2015 2015 Gas Well Deliquification Workshop
Denver, Colorado
• Validated accuracy of CFD model
• CFD model can be accurately used to design and
improve plungers
Thank You
• Method of Evaluating Plungers – Nathan Bloomfield
COP, Bill Hearn COP presented at DLQ Feb 2014.
• ConocoPhillips Team
– Bill Hearne
– Nathan Bloomfield
– Sebastian Pivnicka
• Cardinal Nforgwei, Design Engineer, Weatherford.
• Peri Sabhapathy, Modeling & Simulation, Weatherford.
20 Feb. 23 - 25, 2015 2015 Gas Well Deliquification Workshop
Denver, Colorado
Feb. 23 - 25, 2015 2015 Gas Well Deliquification Workshop
Denver, Colorado
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Feb. 23 - 25, 2015 2015 Gas Well Deliquification Workshop
Denver, Colorado
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Disclaimer
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