Optimizing the design of an industrial three-phase gravity separator to debottleneck the separation process

Multi-phase gravity separators are one of the most useful equipment used to separate immiscible phases in different industries. Debottlenecking of the separation process was investigated in this study, to improve the performance of an industrial three-phase boot separator. So, the effect of altering the inlet diverter (replacing the slopped inlet diverter with a vane inlet diverter), placing a baffle at the middle, and placing a mist extractor at the end of the separator, were considered. Results of this research showed that by using the new design, the performance of the separator improved so that the liquid amount at the gas outlet decreased by 83.8% compared to the current design of the industrial separator. This new design was successful in improving the flow behavior at the inlet zone, improving the droplet size distribution at the outlet zone, and preventing the impressive decrease of the separator performance while increasing the inlet flow rate.