Separation mechanism and influential factor study on vane-type-associated petroleum gas separator

To investigate the separation mechanism of a vane-type separator, a flow experiment and a numerical simulation were conducted. Electrical resistance tomography and Coriolis mass flow meters were used during the flow experiment. An Eulerian multiphase model coupled with the Reynolds stress turbulent model was applied to conduct a corresponding numerical simulation. Based on the phase, the velocity, and the swirling intensity distribution, the separation performance of the separator was discussed in terms of the separation efficiency, the entrainment ratio, and the critical split ratio. Results showed that the swirling intensity was sensitive to the separator geometry and operating parameters. The separation efficiency increased with the split ratio under fixed entrance conditions. Once the split ratio was larger than the critical split ratio, the gas phase collected becomes maximal with a larger liquid phase collected in the branch exit if the split ratio increased continuously. Subsequently, based on the definition of split flow face, the gas–liquid separation mechanism was revealed by discussing the relative location of the gas–liquid interface and the split flow face. Finally, the relationships among the operating parameters including the exit pressure difference, the split ratio, and the liquid phase flow rate were analyzed based on the proposed separation mechanism model. This study provides a better understanding of the vane-type gas–liquid separation procedure and optimization.