Hydrocyclones for De-oiling Applications-A Review

The de-oiling hydrocyclone is a device for liquid-liquid separation and production water cleanup. Significant progress has been made in the development of such a device since its first introduction and use in the late 1970s. The present article is a literature review of development and research work performed so far on de-oiling hydrocyclones. It reviews the performance parameters affecting the de-oiling hydrocyclone operation; namely, the inlet oil concentration and drop size distribution, the turn-down ratio, the pressure drop ratio, the flow split, and the geometrical parameters. The article addresses work done to elucidate the internal flow structure and performance of de-oiling hydrocylones in both experimental and computational fluid dynamics areas. Challenges and remaining research issues are also identified.