Destablizing turbulence in downhole fluid and solid separation in a well

Abstract

Some implementations may include a downhole oil-water separation (DOWS) system configured to be positioned downhole in a well. The DOWS system may include a perturbation device configured to be positioned in a borehole of the well and configured to perturb a fluid having turbulent flow to collapse the turbulent flow to a laminar flow, and a fluid separator configured to be disposed in the borehole and configured to separate the fluid.

1 . A downhole oil-water separation (DOWS) system configured to be positioned downhole in a well, the DOWS system comprising:
 a perturbation device configured to be positioned in a borehole of the well and configured to perturb a fluid having turbulent flow to collapse the turbulent flow to a laminar flow, and   a fluid separator configured to be disposed in the borehole and configured to separate the fluid.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the fluid is formation fluid. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the fluid comprises at least a formation fluid, a production fluid or a nonproduction fluid. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the well is a multilateral well. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the fluid separator is a multi-channel device with a dynamic inlet. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the well comprises an inclined wellbore having an angle of approximately 30-degrees or more from vertical. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the well comprises an additional one or more lateral wellbores extending from a main bore of the well. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the perturbation device includes one or more perturbators configured to disturb the fluid. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the perturbation device includes
 a cylindrical body;   a at least one support member each having at least mounting point on an inner surface of the cylindrical body; and   a at least one rotor mounted on the support member and configured to disturb the fluid.   
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 1  further comprising one or more pumps configured to pump a first portion of the fluid into a formation fluidically connected to the well and a second portion of the fluid toward a surface-based container. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the perturbation device includes
 one or more protrusions mounted to an inner surface of a tool in the borehole, the one or more protrusions configured to disturb flow of the fluid.   
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the fluid separator is configured to utilize gravity to separate the production fluid. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the perturbation device is configured to be powered by a device at a surface of the well via a power cable. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a turbine driven electrical generator configured to generate power based on fluid flow in the well, wherein the perturbation device and the fluid separator are configured to operate using the power generated by the turbine driven electrical generator.   
     
     
         15 . A method for downhole oil-water separation in a well, the method comprising:
 perturbing, via a perturbation device configured to be disposed in a borehole of the well, a fluid having turbulent flow to collapse the turbulent flow to a laminar flow; and   separating, via a fluid separator configured to be disposed in the borehole, the fluid having the laminar flow into production fluid and nonproduction fluid.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the fluid is formation fluid. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the fluid comprises at least a formation fluid, a production fluid or a nonproduction fluid. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 15  further comprising:
 pumping, via one or more pumps, the non-production fluid into a formation fluidically connected to the well and the production fluid toward a surface-based container. 
 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the perturbation device includes a rotor configured to perturb the fluid. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the perturbation device includes
 a cylindrical body;   a least one support member having a mounting point on an inner surface of the cylindrical body; and   a rotor mounted on the support member.   
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the well is a multilateral well. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the perturbation device includes
 a cylindrical body; and   a rotor having an axis of rotation aligned with a longitudinal axis of the cylindrical body.   
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the fluid separator is configured to utilize gravity to separate the production fluid and non-production fluid. 
     
     
         24 . A perturbation device to be disposed in a borehole of a well comprising:
 a perturbator configured to perturb a fluid having turbulent flow in the borehole and to collapse the turbulent flow to a laminar flow.   
     
     
         25 . The perturbation device of  claim 24 , wherein the perturbation device is configured to be controlled to change an amount of perturbance caused by the perturbation device. 
     
     
         26 . The perturbation device of  claim 24 , wherein the perturbator includes one or more rotors configured to disturb the fluid. 
     
     
         27 . The perturbation device of  claim 24 , wherein the perturbator includes one or more protrusions. 
     
     
         28 . The perturbation device of  claim 24  further comprising:
 a processor; 
 a computer-readable medium having instructions executable by the processor, the instructions including
 instructions to determine whether a flow downstream of the perturbation device is turbulent, laminar, or in transition between turbulent and laminar; 
 instructions to adjust the perturbation device to perturb an upstream flow to cause the flow downstream of the perturbation device to become less turbulent; and 
 instructions to adjust a pump to decrease the flow of a fluid to cause the flow downstream of the perturbation device to become less turbulent. 
 
 
     
     
         29 . The perturbation device of  claim 28 , further comprising:
 instructions to change perturbation of the fluid by the perturbation device; and   instructions to adjust the flow of a fluid via a pump to adjust the flow of a fluid to optimize one or more fluid parameters.   
     
     
         30 . The perturbation device of  claim 28  further comprising:
 at least a first sensor positioned downstream of the perturbation device and configured to sense one or more flow parameters; 
 instructions to initiate adjusting the perturbation device, at least in part, on a flow rate measurement obtained by at least the first sensor, wherein a flow rate measurement is higher than a flow rate threshold initiates an increase of perturbation.