Supersonic Swirling Separator for natural gas heavy fractions extraction: 1D model with real gas EOS for preliminary design

摘要

A Supersonic Swirling Separator (SSS) device could be usefully adopted in the natural gas transmission pipelines in order to condense and separate the heavy hydrocarbons from the gaseous phase without significant pressure losses. In the present work, two models were developed to simulate the phenomena involved in the process: supersonic flow acceleration in a nozzle, flow swirling effect, centrifugal separation of liquid and gaseous phases in the last straight pipe. The model allows a satisfactory first attempt 1D design of the whole separator.