Experimental study on the separation performance of air-injected de-oil hydrocyclones

Abstract

The developing status and separating principle of de-oil hydrocyclones are first simply introduced. The ways to enhance the hydrocyclone's separation efficiency are described based on theoretical analysis. One of the ways is to inject air into the hydrocyclones so as to combine them with oil to form oil–gas compound bodies, and then increase the de-oil efficiency. By means of injecting air into the hydrocyclone, a new type of hydrocyclone, i.e. air-injected de-oil hydrocyclone (AIDOH), was developed. The basic separation principle of the AIDOH, prototype structure, the experimental technical process and facilities are introduced. Laboratory experiments were carried out. The effects of different geometric parameters, including the vortex finder diameter, and the length, the micro-pore diameter, and different operating conditions, such as flowrate, split ratio, gas–liquid ratio, and especially the air-injecting position, were studied. It was also found that the best injecting part is at the fine cone segment. Further experimental studies were continued to confirm the detailed part in the fine cone segment, which included one-third segment and two-thirds segment. Results show that the best air-injecting part is the first one-third of the fine cone segment. Research indicates that the AIDOH has satisfied the separation effect.