ABSTRACT
Hydrocyclones have been used in a variety of process industries for over 100 years. They are a simple and effective device, but still widely misunderstood in the oil and gas industry. Hydrocyclones ideally lend themselves to numerous separation applications, overcoming conventional technical and economic operating constraints.
The objective of this paper is to "demystify" the basic operation of hydrocyclones and identify separation situations where hydrocyclones can offer significant advantages. These include a significant reduction in equipment size and weight which equates to significant costs savings on new projects, especially offshore. Hydrocyclones also provide the opportunity for additional processing capacity on existing facilities where little or no expansion space is available. Furthermore, hydrocyclones offer enhanced separation efficiencies when compared to conventional equipment.
When coupled with complementary conventional process equipment the resultant hydrocyclone based water treatment system is smaller than an equivalent conventional system. This results in an increase in process efficiency per volume utilized.
