Abstract
An experimental evaluation of a gas-liquid axial cyclone separator was conducted in a multiphase flow facilities al PDVSA-Intevep, the evaluation of the prototype was executed under controlled conditions of flow rates, between 24 and 60 Bbl/day for a liquid phase and between 80.000 and 190000 SCFD for a gas phase, considering three stator with 45°, 60° and 75° of blade angle in a swirl generator section.
The axial cyclone separator was built in plexiglass in order to record with video camera the phenomenon that was observed inside of the equipment the experimental data of the matrix was collected in a control room, considering the measurement of flow rate, local pressure and the pressure drop in the equipment. The axial cyclone separator consists of a flow conditioning section, as will generator section and a segregation section.
Finally, a total of 72 points were valuated, the performance of the axial cyclone separator was improved with 60° and 75° of the blade angle than a 45° because the collection efficiency was above of 90%, in this study the pressure drop increases inside the equipment 30% when the 75° of blade angle was used in the stator, the best performance was achieve considering the 60° of blade angle in a swirl generator section.
