Multiphase flow effects in a horizontal oil and gas separator

Frank, Michael and Kamenicky, Robin and Drikakis, Dimitris and Thomas, Lee and Ledin, Hans and Wood, Terry (2019) Multiphase flow effects in a horizontal oil and gas separator. Energies, 12 (11). 2116. ISSN 1996-1073 (https://doi.org/10.3390/en12112116)

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Abstract

An Oil and Gas separator is a device used in the petroleum industry to separate a fluid mixture into its gaseous and liquid phases. A Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) study aiming to identify key design features for optimising the performance of the device, is presented. A multiphase turbulent model is employed to simulate the flow through the separator and identify flow patterns that can impinge or improve its performance. To verify our assumptions, we consider three different geometries. Recommendations for the design of more cost and energy effective separators, are provided. The results are also relevant to broader Oil and Gas industry applications, as well as applications involving stratified flows through channels.