Selecting the inlet configuration for gas-liquid cylindrical cyclone separator

Abstract

Abstract Gas-Liquid Cylindrical Cyclone Separator (short for GLCC) is a compact separator that has been widely used in petroleum production. The inlet configuration has significant impact of the GLCC capacity separation. By utilization of both FEM simulation and practical experiments, three inlet configurations and twelve inclined angles are investigated to find the steadily operating inlet configuration for industrial applications. In this study, the flow pattern and kinematic behaviour of each configuration are thoroughly analysed. Besides, the distribution of three velocity components of the body flow in GLCC is compared with one of the practical experiments. The result shows that the current inclined-inlet angle of 27° is not the steadily operating angle for industrial applications. In steady, it is a range of inclined inlet angle from 0° to 35° for three inlet configurations. The dual-inlet configuration indicates better properties for separating efficiency.