International Journal of Oil, Gas and Coal Engineering 2019; 7(3): 82-88 http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/j/ogce doi: 10.11648/j.ogce.20190703.12 ISSN: 2376-7669 (Print); ISSN: 2376-7677(Online) An Analysis of Inlet Inclination on the Performance of a Gas-Liquid Cylindrical Cyclonic Separator Sunday Kanshio Department of Petroleum and Gas Engineering, Baze University, Abuja, Nigeria Email address: To cite this article: Sunday Kanshio. An Analysis of Inlet Inclination on the Performance of a Gas-Liquid Cylindrical Cyclonic Separator. International Journal of Oil, Gas and Coal Engineering. Vol. 7, No. 3, 2019, pp. 82-88. doi: 10.11648/j.ogce.20190703.12 Received: August 5, 2019; Accepted: August 24, 2019; Published: September 10, 2019 Abstract: Gas-Liquid cylindrical cyclonic separator plays a significant role with regards to gas-liquid separation in the oil fields. Its major operational challenges include liquid carryover and excessive pressure losses. The Inlet geometry of a gas- liquid cylindrical cyclone is one of its critical parts that affect the performance of the separator. The inlet geometry drives the performance of the separator in terms of liquid carryover and pressure drop. Traditionally, the 27° downward inclined inlet is usually used because of its advantage in terms of liquid carryover operating envelope. However, detail comparison in terms of pressure drop in the gas leg of the separator is yet to be reported. In this paper, the author presents experimental results on the effect of inlet inclination on the performance of a gas-liquid cyclonic separator in terms of separation efficiency (liquid carryover) and pressure drop. The results showed that under the same inlet conditions, the liquid carryover operating envelope of the 27° downward inclined inlet pipe cyclonic gas-liquid separator is slightly wider than the horizontal inlet of the same separator. However, the pressure drop across the gas leg of the 27° downward inclined inlet pipe cyclonic gas-liquid separator is far greater than the horizontal inlet of the same separator. The paper concludes that, where there is a strict requirement on pressure drop, the horizontal inlet cyclonic separator should be favoured against the 27° inclined inlet. Keywords: Multiphase Separation, Cyclonic Separator, Tangential Inlet, Inlet Inclination, Liquid Carryover, Inlet Nozzle, Pressure Transducer 1. Introduction Usually, the hydrocarbon fluids from the wellhead is a multiphase mixture of water, oil and gas. The mixture must be separated into its individual components to produce market products, namely, oil and natural gas. Separators are the process equipment used in the oil and gas fields to accomplish the task of separating the multiphase mixture into crude oil and natural gas. Traditionally, gravity separators are usually used in separating the multiphase produced fluids into their respective components, namely, oil, water and gas. In the offshore sector of the oil and gas industry because of space and weight limitation, compact separators such as the gas-liquid cylindrical cyclone (GLCC) are more attractive. The GLCC is cheap, pipe rated, light weight, compact and simple [1]. The operating principle of the GLCC separator is based on the combine effects of centrifugal and gravity forces. The centrifugal force is created because of the tangential inlet of the separator, which causes the multiphase flow to spin on entering the separator. Due to centrifugal force, the time required for phase separation is reduced and therefore, the size of the separator. In the oil and gas industry, the application of this type of separator is attractive, especially where space is a constraint such as offshore platforms, subsea and downhole. Another application of GLCC separator is as knock-out vessel for removal of liquid droplets at the inlet of a gas turbine. The concept of GLCC was developed by Chevron at the University of Tulsa [2]. Since then, tons of experiment has been conducted on the GLCC with the recent work being conducted by Kolla et al., [3-5]. Liquid carryover (LCO) and pressure drop are some of the performance indicators of any gas-liquid cyclone separator [6]. The LCO could be defined as the fraction of liquid that is transported out of the separator by the gas stream. While the LCO generally pertains to separation efficiency, pressure drop, on the other hand, pertains to the operating cost of the equipment. The ranges of gas and liquid flow rates within