Experimental Investigation on the Separation Performance for a New Oil-Water Separator

To reduce the cost of oil exploitation, it is necessary to promote the development of cyclones for oil-water separation due to the increase of the water content in produced fluids. However, there are some limitations and disadvantages for the conventional separation device including bulky settling tanks and hydrocyclones. In this paper, a new axial inlet separator with two reverse flow outlets and a downstream flow outlet is introduced. In addition, an experimental system was designed and fabricated to investigate the effects of inlet flow rate, oil fraction, and a controlled split ratio on separation performance. The separator maintains high separation efficiency within the experimental range, namely water flow rate (4–7 m3/h), and oil fraction (1%–10%). Furthermore, the results show that a higher water flow rate and oil fraction will affect the separation efficiency. The change of a pressure drop in the separator was analyzed as well. Moreover, the controlled split ratio is a serious operating parameter, and a larger controlled split ratio is conducive to the separation performance.