Experimental study on the separation performance of a full-scale SG steam-water separator

Abstract

Steam separator package including swirl vane separator, gravity and dryer is crucial for guaranteeing steam humidity below 0.1% in SG. In this paper, a high-pressure flow system is designed to study the performance of a full-scale steam separator package at a rated pressure of 6 MPa and temperature of 275.6 °C. To obtain separation efficiency, moisture carryover and pressure drop of each stage, the Reynolds number steam and water are 1 × 106–6 × 106 and 8.27 × 105–3.2 × 106, corresponding to 25–145% load. Results indicate that the separation efficiency ranges from 97 to 99%, 0.5 to 2% and 0.2 to 0.75% for separator, gravity and dryer. The moisture carryover ranges from 2 to 16% and 1 to 4% for separator and gravity, and is below 0.1% at dryer outlet. The pressure drop ranges from 2 to 24 kPa and 0.3 to 3 kPa for separator and dryer. Empirical correlations for swirl vanes are proposed, which are responsible for more than 85% and 70% of total separation efficiency and pressure drop.