Numerical investigation of water droplets trajectories during natural gas dehydration inside supersonic separator

Our simulation results indicate that even for the most optimal geometry and at extremely large centrifugal accelerations of 500,000 g, the condensed particles from MRNG are exceedingly small and can't reach the 3S walls for practical straight tube lengths. Our findings are verified with several previously reported experimental measurements and theoretical investigations results, borrowed from literature. To ensure proper dehumidification, sufficiently large water droplets are assumed to be injected preferably after the throat location. The computed results indicate that by injecting 5 μm diameter particles into MRNG of Khangiran refinery sweet gas stream and increasing its wetness fraction up to 0.12, the dehydration process is successfully achieved in an optimally designed supersonic separator.