Supersonic separators (3Ss) are applied in gas separation processes. Two‐dimensional simulation is employed to investigate the effect of operational and thermophysical parameters on the shockwave position. In addition, the impact of the cyclonic part and wet outlet geometry is evaluated by proposing four cases. Increasing the length of the cyclonic part exerts positive and negative influences on the performance of the 3S and the pressure recovery coefficient, respectively. The optimum length is determined between 10 and 15 cm. To demonstrate negative effects of wasted air from the wet outlet, its flow has been increased from 3.6 to 8.1 % of the inlet flow. Improved performance of the 3S is obtained by reducing the flow disturbances around the wet outlet and moving the shockwave towards the outlet.
To investigate the effect of the swirl generator (SG) on shockwave position and pressure drop, 3D simulation is conducted and validated by Arina's study. An increase of the blade number, height, and end angle leads to shockwave displacement toward the nozzle outlet. The maximum increment of the shockwave displacement, which is due to enlarging the angle of the blade end, is about 47 %. For this case, the pressure drop share of the SG is nearly half of the total pressure drop, while the residence time of particles is prolonged by about 51 %. As a general finding, increasing the swirl intensity provides a longer residence time to separate adequately the liquid from the gas. However, a higher energy loss is not desirable for the high-pressure process at the downstream of the 3S separator.
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