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. 2020 Nov 18;10(11):350.
doi: 10.3390/membranes10110350.

Impact of Permeable Membrane on the Hydrocyclone Separation Performance for Oily Water Treatment

Sirlene A Nunes  1 , Hortência L F Magalhães  2 , Severino R de Farias Neto  2 , Antonio G B Lima  3 , Lucas P C Nascimento  3 , Fabiana P M Farias  4 , Elisiane S Lima  3
Affiliations

Impact of Permeable Membrane on the Hydrocyclone Separation Performance for Oily Water Treatment

Sirlene A Nunes et al. Membranes (Basel). .

Abstract

In the oil industry and academy, the treatment of water contaminated with oil using conventional hydrocyclones and membranes has been an alternative to meet the requirements established by environmental control agencies. However, such equipment is not fully efficient in the treatment of much diluted oily water, with both presenting restrictions in their performance. In this sense, the present work proposes to study the separation process of oily water using a new configuration of hydrocyclone, equipped with a porous ceramic membrane in the conical part's wall (filtering hydrocyclone). For the theoretical study, a Eulerian-Eulerian approach was applied to solve the mass and momentum conservation equations, and the turbulence model, using the computational fluid dynamics technique. The results of the velocity, pressure and volumetric fraction of the involved phases, and the separation performance of the hydrocyclone, are presented, analyzed, and compared with those obtained with a conventional hydrocyclone. The results confirmed the high potential of the proposed equipment to be used in the separation of the water and oil mixture.

Keywords: Ansys software CFX®; ceramic membrane; hydrocyclone; multiphase flow; water/oil separation.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Representation of the cyclonic filter separator.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Representation of the numerical mesh of the study domain.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Details of the meshes produced: (a) Mesh M1; (b) Mesh M2 and (c) Mesh M3.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Water and oil streamlines inside the separation equipment. (a) Conventional cyclonic separator, (b) filtering cyclonic separator, (c) detail of the conventional cyclonic separator outlet, and (d) detail of the filtering cyclonic separator outlet.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Pressure field on the xy and xz planes. (a) Conventional cyclonic separator and (b) filtering cyclonic separator.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Pressure profile in conventional and filtering hydrocyclones at positions (a) y = 0.15 m, (b) y = 0.45 m and (c) y = 0.75 m.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Water tangential velocity field in the yz plane. (a) Conventional hydrocyclone and (b) filtering hydrocyclone.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Tangential velocity profile in conventional and filtering hydrocyclones at the positions (a) y = 0.15 m, (b) y = 0.45 m and (c) y = 0.75 m.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Water axial velocity field in the yz plane. (a) Conventional hydrocyclone and (b) filtering hydrocyclone.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Axial velocity profile in the conventional and filtering hydrocyclones at the positions (a) y = 0.15 m, (b) y = 0.45 m and (c) y = 0.75 m.
Figure 11
Figure 11
Oil concentration field in the yx and xz planes at positions y = 0.15 m, y = 0.45 m and y = 0.75 m. (a) Conventional cyclonic separator and (b) filtering cyclonic separator.
Figure 12
Figure 12
Oil concentration profile in conventional and filtering hydrocyclones at the positions (a) y = 0.15 m, (b) y = 0.45 m and (c) y = 0.75 m.
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References

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    1. Farias F.P.M., Lima A.G.B., Neto S.R.F. Influence of the cyclone’s lower outlet duct used as a dryer: Modeling and simulation; Proceedings of the XVII Brazilian Congress of Chemical Engineering; Recife, Brazil. 14–17 September 2008; (In Portuguese)
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    1. Luna F.D.T. Master’s Thesis. Federal University of Campina Grande; Campina Grande, Brazil: 2014. Numerical Study of the Separation Process of a Two-Phase System in a Cyclonic Separator. (In Portuguese)

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