Downhole fluid and solid separation with sediment and nonproduction fluid management in a well

Abstract

A well system comprising: a sediment separator to be positioned downhole in a well, wherein the sediment separator is configured to receive a formation fluid from a subsurface formation surrounding the well, the sediment separator configured to separate out sediment from the formation fluid, wherein the sediment is disposed or stored at surface of the well or a different downhole location in the well; and a fluid separator to be positioned downhole in the well, the fluid separator configured to receive the formation fluid from the sediment separator, wherein the fluid separator is configured to separate the formation fluid into production fluid and nonproduction fluid.

1 . A well system comprising:
 a sediment separator to be positioned downhole in a well, wherein the sediment separator is configured to receive a formation fluid from a subsurface formation surrounding the well, the sediment separator configured to separate out sediment from the formation fluid, wherein the sediment is disposed or stored at surface of the well or a different downhole location in the well; and   a fluid separator to be positioned downhole in the well, the fluid separator configured to receive the formation fluid from the sediment separator, wherein the fluid separator is configured to separate the formation fluid into production fluid and nonproduction fluid.   
     
     
         2 . The well system of  claim 1 , wherein the sediment is to be temporarily stored in one or more solids containers downhole after being separated from the formation fluid. 
     
     
         3 . The well system of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a sediment injector configured to inject the sediment into a flow channel for delivery of the sediment to a destination location that comprises at least one of the surface of the well or the different downhole location in the well.   
     
     
         4 . The well system of  claim 1 , wherein the well is a multi-bore well configured with a first bore and a second bore. 
     
     
         5 . The well system of  claim 4 , wherein the formation fluid is received from the subsurface formation surrounding the first bore, and wherein the sediment, the nonproduction fluid, or any combination thereof is disposed of into the subsurface formation surrounding the second bore. 
     
     
         6 . The well system of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a production flow channel configured to deliver the production fluid to the surface of the well.   
     
     
         7 . The well system of  claim 6 , wherein a sediment injector is configured to inject the sediment into the production flow channel for delivery of the sediment to the surface of the well while the production fluid channel continues to deliver the production fluid to the surface of the well. 
     
     
         8 . The well system of  claim 7 , wherein one or more chemicals are added to the production fluid to carry the sediment to the surface. 
     
     
         9 . The well system of  claim 8 , wherein the one or more chemicals include one or more chemicals to increase a viscosity of the production fluid. 
     
     
         10 . The well system of  claim 1  further comprising:
 a production flow channel configured to deliver the nonproduction fluid to the surface of the well, wherein a sediment injector is configured to inject the sediment into the nonproduction fluid for delivery of the sediment to the surface of the well with nonproduction fluid. 
 
     
     
         11 . The well system of  claim 1 , wherein the nonproduction fluid includes water. 
     
     
         12 . The well system of  claim 1 , wherein the production fluid includes hydrocarbons. 
     
     
         13 . The well system of  claim 1 , wherein the sediment separator is configured to receive the formation fluid directly from the subsurface formation, a well bore, or one or more devices that transport a fluid. 
     
     
         14 . The well system of  claim 1 , wherein the sediment separator is positioned in a flow path of the nonproduction fluid downstream of the fluid separator and configured to separate the sediment from the nonproduction fluid, and wherein the sediment separator is positioned in a flow path of the production fluid downstream of the fluid separator and configured to separate the sediment from the production fluid. 
     
     
         15 . The well system of  claim 1 , wherein one or more sediment separator components may be removed from the sediment separator for cleaning, repair, or replacement, and wherein one or more fluid separator components may be removed from the fluid separator for cleaning, repair, or replacement. 
     
     
         16 . The well system of  claim 1 , wherein one or more parameters of an inlet of the sediment separator may depend on fluid properties, sediment properties, or any combination thereof, and wherein the one or more parameters of the inlet of the fluid separator may depend on the fluid properties, the sediment properties, or any combination thereof, and wherein the one or more parameters includes shape, orientation, or any combination thereof. 
     
     
         17 . The well system of  claim 1 , wherein the sediment separator includes a hydrocyclone configured with a backpressure device configured to control a pressure in the hydrocyclone, and wherein the fluid separator includes the hydrocyclone configured with the backpressure device configured to control the pressure in the hydrocyclone. 
     
     
         18 . The well system of  claim 1 , wherein the sediment separator is configured with one or more transportation systems to prevent sediment from accumulating at a discharge end of the sediment separation. 
     
     
         19 . The well system of  claim 9 , wherein at least one of a sediment separator, a fluid separator, a sediment injector, or a chemical injector, is configured with one or more sensors. 
     
     
         20 . The well system of  claim 19 , wherein a component is configured with one or more computers. 
     
     
         21 . The well system of  claim 20 , wherein the computer may sense a one or more parameter of a component and perform one or more of monitoring, testing, controlling, troubleshooting to, in order to extend the life or prevent failure by at least one of adjusting, diagnosing, analyzing, repairing, or maintaining a separator, a sediment injector, and/or a chemical injector and/or component thereof. 
     
     
         22 . The well system of  claim 21 , wherein a computer comprises at least an instruction from an Artificial Intelligence processor, an Artificial Intelligence algorithm, a Machine Learning processor, and/or a Machine Learning algorithm, 
     
     
         23 . A method comprising:
 receiving, from a subsurface formation into which a well is formed, formation fluid into a downhole separation system positioned in the well;   separating, via the downhole separation system, sediment from the formation fluid, wherein the sediment is disposed or stored at surface of the well or a different downhole location in the well; and   separating, via the downhole separation system, the formation fluid into production fluid and nonproduction fluid.   
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 23 , wherein the well is a multi-bore well configured with a first bore and a second bore. 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 24  further comprising:
 receiving, from the subsurface formation surrounding the first bore of the well, the formation fluid; 
 distributing the nonproduction fluid into one or more flow channels configured to deliver the nonproduction fluid to at least one of a surface of the multi-bore well or to the subsurface formation surrounding the second bore of the multi-bore well; and 
 distributing the production fluid into one or more flow channels configured to deliver the production fluid to surface of the multi-bore well. 
 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 23  further comprising:
 separating, via a sediment separator, the sediment from the formation fluid, the production fluid, the nonproduction fluid, or any combination thereof; and 
 temporarily storing the sediment in one or more solids containers that are located downhole in the well. 
 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 26  further comprising:
 transporting the sediment from the one or more solids containers to a sediment injector, wherein the sediment is mixed with the production fluid, the nonproduction fluid, or any combination thereof to generate a solid-laden slurry; and 
 injecting the solid-laden slurry to a destination location. 
 
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 27  further comprising:
 detecting, via one or more sensors, a volume of the sediment in the one or more solids containers; 
 diverting flow of the production fluid, the nonproduction fluid, or any combination thereof to the one or more solids containers to generate the solid-laden slurry; and 
 transporting the solid-laden slurry to the sediment injector based on the volume of the sediment in the one or more solids containers. 
 
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 28 , wherein a timing of the injection of the solid-laden slurry is coordinated with the production of the production fluid in a tubing. 
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 28 , wherein the destination location includes surface, a cavern in the subsurface formation, another location in the well, or any combination thereof. 
     
     
         31 . The method of  claim 28 , wherein a computer is configured to sense a one or more parameter of the one or more flow channels, solids containers, sediment injector, formation fluid, nonproduction fluid, production fluid, solid-laden slurry or a component thereof, and perform one or more of monitoring, testing, controlling, troubleshooting, adjusting, diagnosing, analyzing, repairing, and/or maintaining a downhole separation system or component thereof. 
     
     
         32 . A downhole separation system positioned in a well formed in a subsurface formation comprising:
 a sediment separator configured to be positioned downhole in the well and configured to receive a formation fluid from the subsurface formation, the sediment separator configured to separate out sediment from the formation fluid;   a fluid separator configured to be positioned downhole in the well and configured to receive the formation fluid from the sediment separator, wherein the fluid separator is configured to separate the formation fluid into production fluid and nonproduction fluid; and   a sediment injector configured to be positioned downhole in the well and configured to inject the sediment to a destination location.   
     
     
         33 . The downhole separation system of  claim 32 , wherein the well is a multi-bore well configured with at least a first bore and a second bore. 
     
     
         34 . The downhole separation system of  claim 33 ,
 wherein the fluid separator is configured to receive the formation fluid from the subsurface formation surrounding a first bore,   wherein the nonproduction fluid is distributed into one or more flow channels configured to deliver the nonproduction fluid to at least one of a surface of the well or to a second bore of the well, and   wherein the production fluid is distributed into one or more flow channels configured to deliver the production fluid to surface of the well.   
     
     
         35 . The downhole separation system of  claim 34 , wherein a chemical is added to at least one of the sediment, the production fluid, or the nonproduction fluid to aid in carrying the sediment to the destination location. 
     
     
         36 . The downhole separation system of  claim 32 , wherein the sediment separator and the fluid separator are oriented with respect to gravity. 
     
     
         37 . The downhole separation system of  claim 32 , wherein the nonproduction fluid is transported to surface, and wherein the nonproduction fluid is disposed into a location beneath the surface, and separate from the well, for storage. 
     
     
         38 . The downhole separations system of  claim 32 , wherein the production fluid is transported to surface, and wherein the nonproduction fluid is disposed into a location beneath the surface, and separate from the well, for storage. 
     
     
         39 . The downhole separation system of  claim 35 , wherein a computer may sense a one or more parameter of the one or more flow channels, sediment injector, fluid separator, formation fluid, nonproduction fluid, production fluid, or a component thereof, and perform one or more of monitoring, testing, controlling, troubleshooting, adjusting, diagnosing, analyzing, repairing, and/or maintaining a downhole separation system or component thereof. 
     
     
         40 . The downhole separation system of  claim 39 , wherein a computer may comprise at least an instruction from an Artificial Intelligence processor, an Artificial Intelligence algorithm, a Machine Learning processor, and/or a Machine Learning algorithm.