Gas-liquid two-phase flows in double inlet cyclones for natural gas separation

The gas-liquid two-phase flow within a double inlet cyclone for natural gasseparation was numerically simulated using the discrete phase model. The numericalapproach was validated with the experimental data, and the comparison resultsagreed well with each other. The simulation results showed that the strong swirlingflow produced a high centrifugal force to remove the particles from the gas mixture.The larger particles moved downward on the internal surface and were removeddue to the outer vortex near the wall. Most of the tiny particles went into the innervortex zones and escaped from the up-outlet. The swirling flow was concentric dueto the design of the double inlet for the cyclonic separator, which greatly improvedthe separating efficiency. The separating efficiency was greater than 90% with theparticle diameter of more than 100 μm.