Investigating the separation efficiency of Air-Water-Oil flow in a three phase pipe separator

Abstract

The possibility of using a three phase pipe separator to separate a mixture of air-water oil was investigated. A 30 ID laboratory based pipe separator was designed, fabricated and installed to study the separation efficiency of air-water-oil mixture. A mixture of airwater-oil flow run through the pipe separator and the separation efficiency calculated in term of the percentage of clean water by volume at the water-rich outlet calculated. The results obtained showed that a clean water stream at the water-rich outlet of the pipe separator is achievable at high water volume fractions and low oil content. This confirmed the possibility that the three phase pipe separator can function as a free water knock-out device.