Predictions of wet natural gases condensation rates via multi-component and multi-phase simulation of supersonic separators

Non-equilibrium condensation of water vapour in supersonic flows with shock waves

“…They employed the model to evaluate the influence of the external particle on the droplet condensation and their numerical results indicated that it was reasonable to add external nuclei to increase the size of the condensed droplet [20]. Shooshtari and Shahsavand [21,22] developed a one-dimensional condensing flow model to calculate condensation rates in supersonic separators, and their computational results agreed well with process simulation results and experimental data. Based on the CFD model in [21,22], they investigated the effect of heterogeneous condensation processes on the removal of water vapour inside a supersonic separator, and the optimization analysis showed that the injection of 2.4% solid particles of 2 μm diameter provided the best separation performance [23].…”

“…Based on the CFD model in [21,22], they investigated the effect of heterogeneous condensation processes on the removal of water vapour inside a supersonic separator, and the optimization analysis showed that the injection of 2.4% solid particles of 2 μm diameter provided the best separation performance [23]. In the aforementioned studies, the nucleation and condensation of water vapour in a supersonic separator was numerically calculated with the ideal gas model [19,20] or one-dimensional flow model [21][22][23].…”

A novel strategy for process optimization of a natural gas liquid recovery unit by replacing Joule–Thomson valve with supersonic separator

“…Under the influence of induced centrifugal force, the liquid droplets are thrown toward the separator’s wall and form a liquid film. Due to the strong centrifugal force, even submicron water and natural gas condensate droplets will be pushed to the separator wall 62 . To evaluate the separation performance of the investigated 3S, a sufficient number of spherical droplets were injected at the inlet of the 3S.…”

An efficient approach to separate CO2 using supersonic flows for carbon capture and storage

“…Ma et al [31] also studied the effect of the location where the external particles were added on the droplet condensation by using the heterogeneous nucleation theory, and proposed that it is reasonable to add external nuclei to increase the size of the condensed droplets. Schooshtari et al [32] developed a new theoretical approach based on the mass transfer rates to calculate the liquid droplet growth in supersonic conditions for binary mixtures, and also analysed the condensing flow of the multi-component gas mixtures with the nucleation theory [33]. Castier [34] carried out numerical simulations of natural gas flow within a Laval nozzle both considering both single-phase flow and phase equilibrium processes.…”