Patent ID: 8574350

Claim:
A water separation system for multiphase hydrocarbon production streams, the system comprising: (a) a gas/liquid separator to separate the multiphase hydrocarbon production stream into a gas stream and a liquid stream, the liquid stream being comprised of droplets within a continuous phase; (b) a flow conditioner in fluid communication with and positioned downstream from the gas/liquid separator, the flow conditioner being configured for increasing the average droplet size, the flow conditioner further comprising a first section and a second section, wherein the first section of the flow conditioner comprises a coalescer having a first pipe of enlarged cross-section to reduce the velocity of the liquid stream; (c) an inline coalescing element within the flow conditioner, the inline coalescing element comprising a lattice of tunnels or slots, the inline coalescing element being adapted for separating lighter oil and heavier water; (d) a first cyclone separator in fluid communication with and positioned downstream from the flow conditioner, the first cyclone separator being capable of dividing the liquid stream into an oil dominated portion and a water dominated portion; and (e) a second cyclone separator in fluid communication with and positioned downstream from the first cyclone separator, the second cyclone separator being capable of extracting water from the oil dominated portion to further reduce the percentage of water in the oil dominated portion.