Liquid Carry-over in Gas-Liquid Cylindrical Cyclone Compact Separators

Abstract

Abstract The liquid carry-over phenomenon in Gas-Liquid Cylindrical Cyclone (GLCC©1) compact separators has been studied experimentally and theoretically. Experimental data have been acquired including the operational envelope for liquid carry-over and percent liquid carry-over beyond the operational envelope. The data show that at low gas and high liquid flow rates, under churn flow conditions in the upper part of the GLCC©, large amount of liquid can be carried over relatively easily. On the other hand, at high gas and low liquid flow rates, under annular flow conditions, one should exceed the operational envelope significantly in order to have large amount of liquid carryover. A mechanistic model has been developed for the prediction of the percent liquid carry-over beyond the operational envelope, for churn flow conditions. An existing model for the prediction of the operational envelope for liquid carry-over has been extended to high-pressure conditions, including improved models for zero-net liquid flow holdup, droplet region and blowout and critical velocities. Comparisons between the new mechanistic model predictions for percent liquid carry-over with the experimental data, under churn flow conditions, show a good agreement. Also, in the lack of experimental data, the predictions of the operational envelope for liquid carry-over at high-pressure conditions show reasonable trends.