Desanding hydrocyclones

The Aker Solutions liner style desander vessel is ideal for the online desanding of produced water and is the key element in any sand management system.

Contact

Aker Process Systems SAS (France)
General enquiries

28, avenue de Petit Parc
94306 Vincennes Cedéx
France
Phone: +33 1 41 93 82 20

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Features:

Efficient separation down to 10 microns in liquid, gas, or multiphase flow streams.
Low pressure drop (10-50 psid) allows for easy retrofit into most any application.
Highest throughput-to-size ratio of any solids separation technology.
Modular component design isolates erosion zone from pressure vessel. This inherently safe design protects the desander pressure vessel from experiencing high velocity sand.
Internal wear components made from robust materials. Ceramic materials are used as standard (alumina or silicon carbide), and often overlain on hard metals (410 SS or AR plate).
Modular overall desander design allows for integration into solids handling system (with accumulator, sand cleaning, dewatering, and transport systems).

The desander vessel consists of the upper section, where the sand separation takes place, and the lower section, where the sand is collected.

The cyclonic liners are located in the upper section of the unit between two support plates with specially designed sealing system. The sand is collected in the lower part of the desander in an integrated accumulator. The desander bottom is designed with a corbougen end cup with a specially patented flushing arrangement. The flushing arrangement ensures efficient sand fluidisation for the sand disposal sequences.

Our liners are constructed of a special ceramic material with excellent erosion resistance and low fragility. The traditional ceramic material (alumina) is erosion resistant, but because of the fragility it is susceptible to damage. The APS liners are made of ceramic material which is superior to the traditional ceramic material (alumina) both in fragility and erosion resistance.

Principle of Operation

By definition, all hydrocyclones operate due to pressure drop. The feed, a mixture of liquids and solids, enters the cyclone through the involute inlet at the operating feed pressure. The change in flow direction forces the mixture to spin in a radial vortex pattern. This vortex flow is accelerated as the internal diameter is reduced over the length of the cone. Due to the angular acceleration of the flow pattern, centrifugal forces are imparted on the solid particle forcing them toward the internal wall of the cone. The solids continue to spin in a radial vortex pattern, down the length of the cone, to discharge through the apex, creating the underflow stream. Due to the cone convergence, the liquid flow is reversed, and sent upward through the vortex finder to create the overflow stream. The solids that exit through the apex collect into an accumulation chamber, where they are periodically washed and purged, while the overflow discharges continually.