Abstract
A novel two stage cylindrical cyclone was developed for a 3 phase separator in shale oil production industry. The cyclone performance was compared with a cone type cyclone and multi cyclone at the same experimental condition using water and oil mists generated by a humidifier and atomizer at the flow rate 1 to $2m^3/min$. The removal efficiency of total suspended water droplets by the novel cyclone, calculated using inlet and outlet concentrations measured by an optical particle counter, was 99% which is higher than 90% of oil droplet removal efficiency at $2m^3/min$. It might be due to the evaporation of small water droplets during the tests. The water and oil droplet removal performance of the novel cyclone based on the quality factor which is a function of pressure drop and removal efficiency was the highest among three cyclones. The results indicate that the cyclone could be an economical device to remove water and oil mists from shale gas generation processes where a huge three phase separator is commonly used.
