LEAMS Low Emissions Atmospheric Metering Separator for Drilling and Well Testing

Abstract

The LEAMS Project stands for the development of a Low Emissions, Atmospheric, Metering, Separator for geothermal drilling and well-testing use. This novel system is designed to be environmentally friendly, intrinsically safe, can be used for air/mud/mist or foam drilling with the ability to meter steam and brine flow while drilling ahead. Currently, no drilling separator can perform all these functions under a single system nor can they perform any one of these functions exceptionally well. This new system is intended to replace the old Blooie Muffler (cyclone) which is notorious for its low separating efficiency (covering hillsides with drilling debris), instability (blown off location by slugs), inability to meter two-phase while drilling ahead, and difficulty in transporting and moving the separator. The LEAMS is expandable to wells beyond 25MW. The LEAMS is designed to reduce the solid and liquid pollution by up to 99 percent on large wells. The vented steam will be clean of formation debris, abatement chemicals, and toxic waste. It will have the ability to internally abate hydrogen sulfide gas, have the ability to meter two-phase flow without drilling rig down-time and can be shipped in containerized components and erector set assembled. The design of the system dissipates high-energy slugs, keeping such pieces of equipment from being launched off the location.