CFD Simulation of Inlet Design Effect on Deoiling Hydrocyclone Separation Efficiency

Abstract

An Eulerian-Eulerian three-dimensional CFD model was developed to study the effect of different inlet designs on deoiling hydrocyclone separation efficiency. Reynolds averaged Navier Stokes and continuity equations were applied to solve steady turbulent flow through the cyclone with the Reynolds stress model. In addition, the modified drag correlation for liquid-liquid emulsion with respect to the Reynolds number range and viscosity ratio of two phases was used and the simulation results were compared with those predicted by the Schiller-Naumann correlation. Pressure profile, tangential and axial velocities and separation efficiency of the deoiling hydrocyclone were calculated for four different inlet designs and compared with the standard design. The simulation results for the standard design demonstrate an acceptable agreement with reported experimental data. The results show that all new four inlet designs offer higher efficiencies compared to the standard design. The difference between the efficiency of the LLHC, of the new inlets and the standard design can be improved by increasing the inlet velocity. Furthermore, the simulations show that the separation efficiency can be improved by about 10 % when using a helical form of inlet.

Impact of bubble coalescence on separation performance of a degassing hydrocyclone

“…The liquid-gas flow is injected into the degassing tank through the hydrocyclone. Four tangential inlets are designed to provide a more stable flow pattern and a higher separation efficiency [7,16]. The inner cone and cylinder column both contribute to the bubble separation force due to a smaller flow pressure drop.…”

Analysis of droplet behavior in a de-oiling hydrocyclone

“…A partition infrared method (InfraCal Model CVH, WILKS Enterprise, Inc., USA) was 8 applied to measure the oil concentration in water. The tetrachloroethene was used as a solvent for extraction.…”

“…Huang [7] used the RSM turbulence model and the Eulerian-Eulerian approach for prediction of the flow behavior in high concentration of oil in the entrance feed through the Colman-Thew hydrocyclone type. Noroozi and Hashemabadi [8] investigated numerically the influence of different inlet designs and inlet chamber bodies on the de-oiling hydrocyclone efficiency. Nascimento et al [4] used the Euler-Lagrange method to investigate the performance of a new geometry of de-oiling hydrocyclones.…”

Effect of Shear Stress on Deoiling of Oil‐Contaminated Catalysts in a Hydrocyclone

“…CFD is one of the most commonly applied methods in various hydrodynamic studies because of its effectiveness, economic advantages, time-saving processes, and high reliability [22]. Predictions of CFD can be used to obtain data that cannot be easily measured with experiments, especially the distribution of shear forces [23].…”