A study on separation performance of a vortex finder in a liquid-liquid cylindrical cyclone

This paper outlines the influence of design parameters such as different diameter, different shapes and insertion depth of a vortex finder on Liquid-Liquid Cylindrical Cyclone (LLCC) oil-water separation characteristics through experiments and numerical simulations. Through numerical simulations, the separation efficiency for water-dominated flow conditions is obtained and the results show that there exists an optimal shape, diameter and insertion depth of a vortex finder in cylindrical cyclones under certain conditions. In our laboratory, a 100mm inner diameter LLCC is adopted to test the influence of different insertion depths of the vortex finder and the results again indicate that an optimal insertion depth exists. The numerical results agree well with the experimental data of Rajkumar S et al. So numerical simulations can be used to predict the complex flow behavior, the separation efficiency in a LLCC for optimizing the structure and provide some design guidance for their industrial application as the oil-water separators on offshore platforms and oil field inland.