Design and Computational Fluid Dynamics Analysis of a Three-Phase Decanter Centrifuge for Oil-Water-Solid Separation

The separation of oil, water, and sand has always been a significant problem in the treatment of oily sludge in oil field and petroleum refinery. The flow field and separation performance in a new three-phase decanter centrifuge with vertical boards and annular liquid separation plate for oil-water-solids separation were investigated, using the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software Fluent with Euler-Euler three-phase flow model, which provides a basis for the improvement and optimization of the centrifuge. After calculation, the velocity and pressure field were analyzed. The increase of solids content of the feed affected the separation efficiency regularly, and high or low treatment capacity also had a certain impact on the separation efficiency.