Custody transfer is a process that is mainly used in the oil and gas industry but is certainly not limited to it. It is where materials are physically handed over from one operator to another. Generally raw or refined petroleum is transferred between two or more petroleum tankers when this happens. There is a lot of regulation around the process and it needs to abide to certain standards such as Industry standards, national metrology standards, contracts or agreements between the operators involved and also government legislation as per the jurisdiction. Given all the standards, there are some challenges that operators face during custody transfer, and a custody transfer mixer can alleviate many of these difficulties effectively.

What is a custody transfer mixer?

The custody transfer mixer is essentially a low pressure drop static mixer which was designed and developed solely because of demand for such a device. It is mainly used by the oil and gas industry to ensure that companies in this market segment get back all of the money they spend.

The transfer mixer’s main objective is to optimize the accuracy of crude oil sampling. Inaccurate or erroneous crude oil sampling costs the oil and gas industry big bucks.

How does a custody transfer mixer work?

The custody transfer mixer works by solving issues such as wall streaming and also by assuring uniform distribution which results in reliable sampling. It has inverted vortices which send some of the flow back upstream within the mixer apparatus and this reduces spikes of bottom sediment and water concentration.

This way, the thorough and smart mixing allows for the custody transfer sampler to measure and analyze a given sample with great precision.

Since the Komax custody transfer mixer has entered the industry, it has been installed in over ten thousand different instances across the globe. It is also shown to be a vast improvement over the previously used standard vertical pipe loop mixing methods.

In fact, custody transfer mixers are said to be so beneficial when it comes to cost saving that it will pay back for its own cost within just a mere six hours. Furthermore, the custody transfer mixer may be installed in either vertical pipeline or a horizontal pipeline as required.

One of the special features in the custody transfer mixer is the addition of a special exit straightening fin which fights and voids all axial rotation of the downstream flow from the mixer.