Experimental Study on Two Different Gas-Liquid Separators Under Different Flow Patterns

Abstract

Gas-liquid separation is widely used in many fields, such as nuclear energy and petroleum resources. And the gas-liquid mixture separated gradually shows the characteristic of wide range of gas void fraction and variable flow patterns. However, the current separators only suit for narrow range of gas void fraction or single flow patterns. In this research, two different new type separators using centrifugal technology were designed and an experimental system was constructed to test the two separators using dry air and water under different flow patterns, including bubble, slug and churn flow. One was called inline separator consisting of three swirls and another was called double-layer cylinder separator composed of a central tube, a swirl and an outer tube. The results show that the separation performance of the inline separator was sensitive to flow patterns and the two-layer cylinder separator keeps high efficiency in different flow patterns. In bubble flow and slug flow patterns, the two separators kept high efficiency, while the oscillation of the gas core in the inline separator aggravated under slug flow condition. When increasing the gas void fraction, the turbulence of the churn flow led to the diameter of the gas core change drastically and reduce separation efficiency significantly.

Experimental Investigation on a New Axial Separator for Oil–Water with Small Density Difference

“…Therefore, pre-separation downhole was proposed to decrease the water content, called downhole oil–water separation system, where oil–rich liquids are transported to the ground and the water–rich liquids are rejected back into downhole. Hydrocyclones using centrifugal method serve as key equipment installed downhole to decrease the water content due to its high separation efficiency, large processing capacity, and low maintenance cost. , …”

“…Hydrocyclones using centrifugal method serve as key equipment installed downhole to decrease the water content due to its high separation efficiency, large processing capacity, and low maintenance cost. 7,8 One can distinguish the hydrocyclones into two types by the way the liquids develop the swirling field. 9,10 One is called tangential inlet hydrocyclone where the liquids enter the apparatus via a multi tangential inlet and the swirling flow is induced by the curved surface.…”