CFD invesitigation of flow separation in a horizontal separator equipped with in inlet diverter
Inlet diverters are essential for the primary separation of incoming crude oil and natural gas from the reservoir in the upstream sector of the oil and gas industry. Primary separation of these components is crucial to avoid damage to the equipment. For example, liquid should not be present withi...
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2023
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| Summary: | Inlet diverters are essential for the primary separation of incoming crude oil and natural
gas from the reservoir in the upstream sector of the oil and gas industry. Primary
separation of these components is crucial to avoid damage to the equipment. For
example, liquid should not be present within the gas pipeline as the presence of liquid
will corrode the equipment along the gas pipeline. The inlet diverters utilize the
momentum mechanism which abruptly changes the velocity and direction of the
incoming mixture and due to their density differences, the components are then
separated according to their phases. Once separated, these components are then expelled
through the liquid and gas pipelines accordingly. This project is aimed to conduct a
CFD simulation and flow behavior study of a multiphase and multicomponent flow
which is governed by a mixture of liquid water and fuel-oil-vapor (methane gas) within
a two-phase horizontal separator vessel which is equipped with an inlet diverter.
Moreover, the project is also aimed to investigate the effects of the inlet diverter’s
placement and length on the separation efficiency of each fluid component within the
separator vessel. The objectives of this project have achieved by using the ANSYS
Fluent software. It is found that the configuration of the inlet diverter will affect the
separation efficiency of the components. Moreover, within the same configuration of
the inlet diverter, it is found that the separation efficiency of one component may be
higher than the other component. Thus, suggesting that depending on the composition
of the incoming crude oil or natural gas, may it be a gas-producing field or an oilproducing
field, one may consider the outcome of this project a benchmark for
considering the optimal configuration of an inlet diverter to increase production and |
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