Design and Analysis of an Axial Center-Piercing Hydrocyclone

Yang Gao (), He Liu, Jiaqing Yu, Xiaojie Zhao, Gang Cao, Qinghai Yang, Deli Jia and Lichen Zheng
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Yang Gao: Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration & Development, PetroChina, Beijing 100083, China
He Liu: Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration & Development, PetroChina, Beijing 100083, China
Jiaqing Yu: Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration & Development, PetroChina, Beijing 100083, China
Xiaojie Zhao: Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration & Development, PetroChina, Beijing 100083, China
Gang Cao: Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration & Development, PetroChina, Beijing 100083, China
Qinghai Yang: Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration & Development, PetroChina, Beijing 100083, China
Deli Jia: Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration & Development, PetroChina, Beijing 100083, China
Lichen Zheng: Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration & Development, PetroChina, Beijing 100083, China

Energies, 2023, vol. 16, issue 19, 1-16

Abstract: To enhance the separation efficiency of downhole oil–water hydrocyclones in co-produced wells, an axial center-piercing hydrocyclone structure is proposed. A mathematical relationship model between the structural parameters and separation efficiency of the axial center-piercing hydrocyclone is constructed based on the response surface methodology. The numerical simulation method is employed to analyze both the unoptimized and optimized hydrocyclone structures, and their separation performances are simulated under identical operational conditions. The results indicate that the optimal structural parameter values are as follows: main diameter D = 70.4 mm, large cone angle α 1 = 32.4°, small cone angle α 2 = 3.9°, bottom flow tube length L 3 = 311.7 mm, and inverted cone length L 4 = 166.0 mm. The optimal operation parameters of the optimized structure are also obtained. Under the same operating parameter conditions, the separation efficiency of the optimized structure is consistently higher than that of the unoptimized structure. The highest efficiency achieved by the optimized structure is 98.6%, which is a 2% improvement over the unoptimized state. Finally, experiments are conducted with the optimized hydrocyclone separator structure under different split ratios. This study significantly contributes to the field of injection and production in a single well, particularly in promoting the application of hydrocyclones.

Keywords: axial center-piercing hydrocyclone; response surface method; separation efficiency; structural parameters (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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