On the Numerical Efficacy Evaluation of Industrial Droplet Separators

Abstract Droplet separators are essential components of the chemical process chain. If malfunctioning, the remaining droplets can damage the downstream elements. Thus, reliable functioning is critical and has to be guaranteed for all operating conditions. Computational fluid dynamic computations are commonly employed to analyse the turbulent flow in droplet separators and predict their efficiency. The two-phase flow is modelled using the k-omega SST turbulence model, while the trajectories of fluid particle distributions are computed to quantify the droplet separator efficiency. Fine wall resolutions are required to accurately predict the establishing water film on the solid walls. The industrial size of droplet separators can reach internal length scales over several meters, which is challenging due to the scale differences in the modelling strategies. We investigate the efficiency of industrial droplet separators by numerical simulations and show the application of the computational methodology based on examples. Over 36 million polyhedral mesh cells with wall-layer refinement are employed to obtain the best results. The flow field is analysed to identify the potential for improvement in terms of pressure drop and separation efficiency.