The effect of different geometrical configurations of the performances of Gas-Liquid Cylindrical Cyclone separators (GLCC)

Abstract

Gas-Liquid Cylindrical Cyclone (GLCC) separator is widely used in the petroleum industry with potential fields of applications. Its performance is strongly influenced by the inlet configuration thus the importance of the behavior of flow in the GLCC and the effects of different geometrical configurations for enhancing its separation are interested in this paper. The main goal of this paper is the deep studying of the effect of different inlet configurations of the performances of GLCC by method 3D CFD simulation. Four different inlets configurations with the inclined angle of 27° and the same cross-sectional nozzle area of about 25% of the area of the cylinder have constructed, namely: (1) one circular inlet, (2) two circular inlets, (3) one taper square reduced nozzle inlet and (4) two taper square reduced nozzle inlets. Axial and tangential velocity of flow across the GLCC diameter are measured at 3 different axial locations (x=−200mm above the inlet; x=200mm and 300mm below the inlet). Two of flow rates are selected to investigate the effect of flow rate (Reynolds number) on the flow behavior. As a result, we propose the use of two taper square reduced nozzle inlets to enhance the separation efficiency because of their effects.