Multiphase Desander – Cyclonic Vs. Desanding Technology

(Note: Much of this information is a retelling of that presented in previous posts B-FSM-043 through -045.)

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The Multiphase Desander is a derivative of the Liquid Desander which in turn is a derivative of Hydrocyclone Technology which is a subset of Cyclonic Technology. To fully understand the multiphase desander we must first start with fundamentals of Cyclonic Technology.

Definition of Cyclonic Unit Process:

Unit process converting potential energy of a fluid (pressure) at the inlet into rotating kinetic energy using only the shape of the device in order to partition two or more phases in that fluid into the respective number of concentrated outlet streams

What makes cyclonic technology so valuable for the offshore oil & gas industry is that it has the highest throughput-to-size ratio of any partitioning device. For a given flow rate a cyclone will have the smallest size and weight of any separation piece of equipment.

Cyclone Family

The nature of the fluid continuous phase is the first delineation in naming cyclonic unit equipment. If the fluid is a gas, then the unit is termed a Pneumatic Cyclone – if the fluid is a liquid then the unit is a Hydrocyclone. And correspondingly a Multiphase Cyclone treats gas-liquid mixed flow.

There are several key design and operating factors that define a piece of equipment as a cyclone unit process;

• No moving parts – no motors, no seals, no bearings, etc. – very simple machine
• Tangential or involute inlet – starts the swirling flow pattern
• Cylinder-cone geometry – increases swirl down the length of the unit
• Free-forced vortex split flow pattern – defines how the two exit-streams form and where the separated phase goes
• Classifying device – separates based on weight, not size

Hydrocyclones

The hydrocyclone is a contraction of the term “hydraulic cyclone” and signifies that the carrying fluid phase is a liquid. While the use is predominantly in aqueous systems with water as the carrying fluid, hydrocyclones can be used on any liquid. I’ve ran them on glycol, diesel, fruit juice, and picante sauce to name a few. The hydrocyclone is a subset of the cyclone unit process – it has the same features and benefits as previously discussed.

Desanders

The term “Desander” is short for the full name of Desanding Hydrocyclone. The desander is derived from the mineral processing hydrocyclone, thus is a subset of that technology. A technical term for the desander is a “flooded-core hydrocyclone”, since the encapsulation of the underflow prevents formation of the air-core – thus the body section is fully flooded.

The Multiphase Desander – first developed in 1994-1995 – is a flooded-core hydrocyclone that treats mixed gas-liquid fluid flow.

The next article will (re) discuss the Five-Steps of Sand Management and where multiphase desanding fits into this methodology. (Note: this is the subject of my current SPE Distinguished Lecture tour)

References:

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1. Rawlins, C.H. 2017. “Separating Solids First – Design and Operation of the Multiphase Desander”, paper 185658-MS presented at the SPE Western Regional Meeting, Bakersfield, CA, 23-27 April.

Post: B-FSM-079

Date: 23-Apr-19

Dr. Hank Rawlins is the Technical Director of eProcess Technologies with 27 years’ experience in the upstream oil & gas industry. Hank is responsible for development programs in Facilities Sand Management, Produced Water Treatment, and Compact Separations Systems. He blogs weekly and teaches courses in these areas and will be traveling as an SPE Distinguished Lecturer during the 2018-2019 season. Connect with Hank on LinkedIn, Twitter, website, or at hrawlins@eprocess-tech.com.

HYDROCYCLONES originally were developed for MINERAL PROCESSING industry for solid liquid separation, here it is used as heavy media separation. Also were successfully used for removing oil from water in the REFINERY AND OFFSHORE OIL INDUSTRIES, finely dispersed oil in water can be separated down to a few tens of ppm.

FOOD AND CHEMICAL INDUSTRY, cyclones are primarily used in dewatering application. Chemical industry is using it to separate out solid in Gas Scrubbing and separating out crystals in Inline evaporator systems. Food industry uses cyclones for stripping gluten from starch particles, pulp removal from liquid products. Improving quality of Puree going into high-speed milling machine. Removal of seeds, dirt, and solids from crushed grape juice in wine industry. Removal of sand from cooked seaweed. Removal of crumbs from cooking oil.

WATER TREATMENT INDUSTRY, Intake water treating cyclones are used as desander, removing sand particle down to 5 microns. In Sewage / Effluent treatment de-gritting cyclones efficiently remove solids from raw sewage / effluents, and they are less expensive than gravity-based sedimentation systems.

AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY, cyclones are installed to remove weld balls, urethane sealer, steel particles, sand, glass, and any other solids and debris from cleaning tanks in automotive paint systems. Can be installed in Eductor spray process, Well ball removal process and Phosphate sludge concentrator.

FIBER GLASS INDUSTRY uses cyclones to remove glass shot from rock wool fibers and glass fibers. The shot is beads of rock or glass that form when the fibers are being spun. By removing the shot, the quality of the fiber material is improved. PLASTIC RECYCLING INDUSTRY cyclones are installed to separate floating from sinking plastics and to remove glass, rocks, metal, and other heavy trash from plastics.

Hydro cyclone is your answer if:

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• Want to handle / process very low to very high volume and flowrate.
• Sperate solids from liquid and liquid from liquid.
• Improve capacity and enhance performance of filter press, screens, and centrifuge.
• Reduce your capex and operational cost compared to other dewatering techniques.
• Protect you downstream equipment from wear.
• Multiple more solutions.