Phase separation of liquid‐liquid two‐phase flow at a T‐junction

Abstract

Abstract The phase separation of liquid‐liquid two‐phase flow at a T‐junction has been studied using kerosene and deionized water as working fluids and a T‐junction with a horizontal main pipe and a vertically upward side arm. Separation data are evaluated by a new criterion: separation efficiency. The results show that the T‐junction is highly efficient at separating two immiscible liquids when the flows approaching the T‐junction are stratified and when the fractional mass take offs close to the inlet kerosene mass fraction. A new model has been proposed for the phase separation. Comparison between the model and the experimental data shows that the data is well represented by the model. © 2005 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2006