Abstract:

Three phase separation hydrocyclone is a new type hydrocyclone used for the gas-liquid-solid three-phase separation of the Alkali-Surfactant-Polymer(ASP) flooding produced fluid. Based on the Reynolds stress model (RSM) of the computational fluid dynamics(CFD) software Fluent, the velocity field, pressure characteristics and separation efficiency of the gas-liquid-solid three-phase separation hydrocyclone are analyzed by numerical simulation. Results show that when the viscosity is no more than 6.42 mPa·s, although affected by the increase of viscosity the tangential velocity of the hydrocyclone decreased by 12.4%, but has less effect velocity field on the whole. When the viscosity is no more than 6.42 mPa·s, de-gassing efficiency and de-sanding efficiency of the hydrocyclone are higher than 80%, the highest degassing efficiency can reach 95.97%, and the corresponding de-sanding efficiency is 95.19%.The rise of viscosity has great influence on the cyclone pressure drop, the overflow pressure drop decreases, while underflow pressure drop increases. According to the similarity parameter criterion, the hydrocyclone experimental prototype is made, and the laboratory separation tests of the field produced fluid are carried out. The experiment results are in good agreement with the experimental results, which verifies the reliability of the simulation results. Research results can provide a reference for the design for three phase separator with higher viscosity medium separation.

Key words: ASP flooding, de-gassing and de-sanding, experimental verification, numerical simulation, separation, viscosity, hydrocyclone