Performance of a New Geometry of Deoiling Hydrocyclones: Experiments and Numerical Simulations

Abstract

A new geometry of liquid-liquid hydrocyclones is proposed seeking to perform the separation of oil emulsified in water. The hydrocyclone performance was investigated by means of a factorial experimental design (2 3 ) leading to a total of ten experiments. The results enabled the determination of empirical mathematical models that describe capacity, total separation efficiency, and flow ratio as a function of oil concentration in the feed inlet, operating pressure drop, and presence or absence of a vortex finder in the geometry. Numerical simulations were also carried out to further understand the flow field characteristics in the studied hydrocyclone.

Analysis of droplet behavior in a de-oiling hydrocyclone

“…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. A further understanding the characteristics of flow field in the new hydrocyclone was carried out by numerical simulations.…”

“…On account of this fact, many researches have been performed via computational fluid dynamics (CFD) techniques [4] . And the appropriate results have been compared with the experimental values.…”

“…However, the droplet-droplet interactions have been ignored in these CFD simulations of liquid-liquid flow through hydrocyclones. 4 Droplet breakup and coalescence are basic processes taking place, and specific characteristics of a given liquid-liquid dispersion [9] . The processes of the droplet breakup and coalescence not only govern the droplet size distribution but also directly affect interfacial mass transfer by the renewal of droplet surfaces.…”

Modular mini-hydrocyclone desilter type of 30mm: An experimental and optimization study

“…Despite its very simple geometry, fluid flow inside a hydrocyclone is highly complex, including high gradients of velocity, high turbulence, free and forced vortex formation, and possible air core formation (Nascimento et al, 2013). Because of this complexity, a large part of research has focused on the proposal of empirical models to predict the performance of these devices.…”

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

“…In the past years, many studies have been conducted to determine velocity distribution, pressure distribution, and particle separation performance by using the Doppler effect, computational fluid dynamics (CFD), and other experimental methods [14,15]. A few studies [16][17][18] have focused on the shear distribution and the effect of shear stress on the movement and surface properties of dispersed particles.…”