CFD simulation of designed coalescing plates for separating water and oil in water treatment plants used in petroleum projects

Petroleum production generates an immense amount of oily polluted water which may have harmful effects on environment. At the same time, produced water is the biggest waste stream produced in the petroleum industry. In the past decades produced water treatment was the point of attention. However, the processes of treatment to separating water and oil have been enhanced gradually. This study used a two-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model to investigate the effect of space between coalescing plates, orifice diameter and mixture inlet velocity on separation efficiency. Spacing values of 8, 12, 16, 20, 24 mm between plates, orifice diameters of 10, 15, 20 mm with different cross sections (e.g., cylindrical, rectangular, ellipse, and triangle) along with four different mixture inlet velocities of 0.02, 0.03, 0.04, 0.05 m/s were utilized to discover the effect of each parameter on the separation efficiency. The investigation revealed that the increase in the distance between plates was inversely proportional to the separation efficiency and the increase in the velocity of the mixture or mass flow rate inlet was inversely proportional to the separation efficiency. It was also found that the highest separation efficiency was obtained for the cylindrical shape with a hole diameter of 15 mm. It was also observed that the separation efficiency varied between 25% and 99.25% depending on the values of mixture inlet velocities and distance between plates.

Petrol projelerinde kullanýlan su arýtma tesislerinde su ve petrolün ayrýþtýrýlmasý için tasarlanan birleþtirilmiþ plakalarýn CFD simülasyonu

Petrol üretimi, çevreye zararlý etkileri olabilecek bol miktarda yað ile kirlenmiþ su ortaya çýkarmaktadýr. Ayný zamanda üretilen su petrol endüstrisinin ürettiði en büyük atýk akýmdýr. Geçmiþ yýllarda dikkat, üretilen su iþlemleri üzerineyken suyu yaðdan ayýrma yöntemleri zamanla önemli þekilde iyileþtirildi. Bu çalýþma kapsamýnda birleþik plakalarda, plakalar arasýndaki mesafenin, orifis çapýnýn ve karýþým giriþ hýzýnýn ayýrma verimine olan etkilerini incelemek için iki-boyutlu hesaplamalý akýþkanlar dinamiði (HAD) modeli kullanýldý. Ayrýlma verimini etkiyen parametreleri belirleyebilmek için 8, 12, 16, 20, 24 mm plakalar arasý mesafesi, 10, 15, 20 mm farklý enine kesit (örneðin, silindirik, dikdörtgen, elips ve üçgen) orifis çap deðerleri ile 0.02, 0.03, 0.04, 0.05 m/s olan dört farklý karýþým giriþ hýzlarý kullanýldý. Bu inceleme plakalar arasý mesafedeki artýþýn, karýþým giriþ hýzýndaki artýþýn veya kütle akýþ debisinin ayrýlma verimi ile ters orantýlý olduðunu ortaya çýkardý. Diðer taraftan en yüksek ayrýlma verimi 15 mm delik çaplý silindir þeklindeki orifiste elde edildi. Üstelik ayrýlma veriminin, plakalar arasýndaki mesafeye ve karýþým giriþ hýzlarýna baðlý olarak %25’ten %99.25’e kadar deðiþtiði gözlemlenmiþtir.