Separator (oil Production) - Wikipedia

Separator (oil production) - Wikipedia

Agitation, heat, special baffling, coalescing packs, and filtering materials can assist in the removal of nonsolution gas that otherwise may be retained in the oil because of the viscosity and surface tension of the oil. Gas can be removed from the top of the drum by virtue of being gas. Oil and water are separated by a baffle at the end of the separator, which is set at a height close to the oil-water contact, allowing oil to spill over onto the other side, while trapping water on the near side. The two fluids can then be piped out of the separator from their respective sides of the baffle. The produced water is then either injected back into the oil reservoir, disposed of, or treated. The bulk level (gas-liquid interface) and the oil water interface are determined using instrumentation fixed to the vessel. Valves on the oil and water outlets are controlled to ensure the interfaces are kept at their optimum levels for separation to occur. The separator will only achieve bulk separation. The smaller droplets of water will not settle by gravity and will remain in the oil stream. Normally the oil from the separator is routed to a coalescer to further reduce the water content.

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If we completely stop oil production today how will we make these products?

No one with half a brain is saying we get rid of oil entirely. It still fuels 90% of our energy. But is it really to hard to ask that we slap some regulations on the oil industry? Its out of control. BP makes 30 billion dollars a year and yet it cant invest a few million in proper safety regulations and protocols and inspections? And most of those products are plastic products. Lots of plastic is made from petroleum. But there are hundreds, if not thousands of replacements to make plastic. You can make plastic from corn, chicken feathers, hemp, etc etc. Edit: Actually, that entire list is quite misleading. Aside from the chemical products (ex. dish-washing detergent) all of those products can be replaced with petroleum-free plastics.

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Has anyone heard of the abiotic theory of oil?

There are two competing theories concerning the origins of petroleum. One theory, peak oil, claims that oil is an organic 'fossil fuel'—deposited in finite quantities near the planet's surface. The other theory, abiotic, claims that oil is continuously generated by natural processes in the Earth's magma. There is currently a debate amongst the peak oil theorists and the abiotic oil theorists. Much to my chagrin, I have not been able to ascertain the relative implications of their arguments—with substantial certainty. The primary considerations are: What are the relative percentages of peak v.s. abiotic oil? Is the supply of oil renewable? How does technology, politics, and economics play into the exploration and the supply of oil? -------- The peak oil theory says that oil production will reach a peak—or already has—and then, as production declines while demand increases, our oil-dependent global industrial system will break down The peak oil theory argues that the abiotic generation rates would have to be so small as to be politically insignificant. The consensus is that there might be abiotic oil, but that it's not going to delay the crash. Oil generation is, in part, a geological process. It proceeds at an extremely slow rate—from our human perspective. The oil we are currently using up will not be replaced within our lifetime—or within many lifetimes. That is why hydrocarbons are called non-renewable resources. -------- There is some speculation that oil is abiotic in origin—generally asserting that oil is formed from magma instead of an organic origin. The theory of abiogenic petroleum origin holds that natural petroleum was formed from deep carbon deposits, perhaps dating to the formation of the Earth. The ubiquity of hydrocarbons in the solar system is taken as evidence that there may be a great deal more petroleum on Earth than commonly thought, and that petroleum may originate from carbon-bearing fluids which migrate upward from the mantle. -------- This does not mean that all oil is abiotic. This does not mean current oil wells will start filling up again. There are vast stores of oil somewhere deep underground—perhaps remnants of our planet's alloted share of the solar system's methane. Nevertheless, oil deposits that are very deep under the ground are virtually useless. The technology to drill down to these wells—much less the technology to find them—is not available (or all that economically feasable).