A Modular Differential Dielectric Sensor for Use in Multiphase Separation, Process Measurement, and Control—Part II: Experimental Investigation

Accurate and continuous measurement of the percent water in crude oil production streams (watercut) over 0 to 100% range is critical for petroleum industry. High accuracy and stability are also required for surface measurement to support process control applications aimed at removing trace amounts of oil and particulates from produced water. This paper is a two-part paper—the first part [1] deals with analytical modeling of the differential dielectric sensors (DDS) and the second part (current paper) discusses the results of key experimental investigations. A dedicated closed-loop experimental facility is used to obtain in-line real-time measurement of DDS data in a controlled configuration. A complete description of test facility is presented followed by detailed experimental results. The results show that DDS is unique in its use of very low noise and high sensitivity differential measurements between two identical sensors. In a process control system, DDS shows good measurement stability and is adaptive to composition measurements compensating for changes in oil composition, gas fraction, emulsion state, water salinity, temperature, and flow rate. Because of its auto calibration capability, DDS can also perform real-time calibration for sensor configuration changes caused by factors such as corrosion and erosion.