PRODUCTION FACILITIES AND DIGITAL & AI APPLICATIONS

SSD – ING-IND/27, 4 CFU (42 hours)

Teacher: prof.  Samir Bensaid (collaborator Prof. Giuseppe Pipitone)

LEARNING CONTENTS PRESENATION

The course is devoted to the fundamental concepts of surface production facilities of the oil and gas industry.  Both a theoretical and practical approach is followed during the lessons, thanks to the use of a simulation software. In addition, in a safety-related context, the fundamentals of combustion will be provided.

EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES

Aim of the course is providing a critical background for the understanding of physic-chemical phenomena involved in the production and transportation of oil and gas. The student will develop a quantitative knowledge of the surface production facilities.

PROGRAMME

The following list shows the main subjects tackled during the course

-       Energetic exploitation of oil and gas

-       Combustion fundamentals

-       Recovery technologies of oil and gas

-       Chemical enhanced oil recovery

-       Surface facilities

Aside these fundamental concepts, the following equipment will be sized through a process simulator, gaining quantitative insight on their function:

-       Thermodynamic methods for the prediction of Liquid-Vapor equilibria

-       2- and 3-phase separators for liquid-vapor, gas-liquid, liquid-liquid, gas-liquid-liquid separations

-       Equilibrium and rate-based stage equipment (stripping, absorption, distillation)

-       Heat exchangers

-       Chemical reactors (equilibrium and kinetics based)

-       Optimization tools for sensitivity analyses and design specifications

-       Processes with recycles, convergence criteria and estimation of missing parameters

-       Pumps, compressors, turbines

-       Pseudo-component calculation starting from an experimental oil distillation curve

-       Separation of oil fractions

Elements of digital and AI applications will be provided by ENI personnel.

 

TEACHING METHODOLOGY

The course is equally divided between theoretical (21 hours) and practical (21 hours) lessons. The former have the goal of analyzing the subjects mainly under a qualitative point of view, looking at the physic-chemical roots of the technical choices; the latter use a simulation software to analyze suitable case studies under a quantitative point of view, mirroring the fundamental concepts reported in the theoretical lessons.