Controlled Inline Fluid Separation Based on Smart Process Tomography Sensors

Today's mechanical fluid separators in industry are mostly operated without any control to maintain efficient separation for varying inlet conditions. Controlling inline fluid separators, on the other hand, is challenging since the process is very fast and measurements in the multiphase stream are difficult as conventional sensors typically fail here. With recent improvement of process tomography sensors and increased processing power of smart computers, such sensors can now be potentially used in inline fluid separation. Concepts for tomography‐controlled inline fluid separation were developed, comprising electrical tomography and wire‐mesh sensors, fast and massive data processing and appropriate process control strategy. Solutions and ideas presented in this paper base on process models derived from theoretical investigation, numerical simulations and analysis of experimental data. Multiphase flow entering an inline fluid separation system can be measured fast and precise with a wire‐mesh sensor. A vortex‐shaped gas core, as a response of such system, can be quantified using an electrical resistive tomography sensor. In this study, both sensors together with a fast data processing hardware are part of a concept to control fluid separation.