GEOTHERMAL SEPARATOR

THEORY AND APPLICATION AT PT

SUPREME ENERGY MUARA LABUH
By : Hutra Guswinanda
PROFILE
NAME
HUTRA GUSWINANDA

BORN
PADANG, JULY 1ST, 1990

BACKGROUND
GEOTHERMAL ENGINEERING

PROGRAM
TRAINING GEOTHERMAL OPERATION & MAINTENANCE
DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM (GEODEP)

COMPANY
PT. SUPREME ENERGY MUARA LABOH
OUTLINE
INTRODUCTION

GEOTHERMAL SEPARATOR THEORY

TYPES OF GEOTHERMAL SEPARATOR

GEOTHERMAL SEPARATOR AT PT. SUPREME ENERGY MUARA LABUH

CONCLUSION
INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND:
■ The energy from geothermal fluid can be converted into electricity
■ steam and brine must be separated by the separator
■ The dryness (x) needs to be calculated for knowing the steam mass flow rate as the
working fluid to rotate the turbine .
INTRODUCTION
OBJECTIVE:
1) To explain the function of
geothermal separator
2) To explain what the type and the
work principle of geothermal
separator
3) To determine dryness and vapor
mass flow rate output separator
at PT. Supreme Energy Muara
Laboh
GEOTHERMAL SEPARATOR
THEORY
THE FUNCTION OF GEOTHERMAL SEPARATOR

The function of
geothermal
separator:

To separate the To maintain the

geothermal fluid quality of the steam
between the liquid that will be carried
and vapor phases. to the turbine.
 GEOTHERMAL SEPARATOR
■ Separate the geothermal fluid
between the liquid and vapor
phases.
■ Steam drive the turbine and
generate electricity by generator.
■ Brine is injected back into the
reservoir

Geothermal Separator (Rizaldy, 2016)

 HEAT AND MASS BALANCE
• Dryness (x) in the separator as follow:
ℎ2 − ℎ3
𝑥=
ℎ4 − ℎ3

𝑥 : Dryness
ℎ2 : Enthalpy of 2 phase fluids
from well (kJ/kg)
ℎ3 : Enthalpy of liquid (kJ/kg)
ℎ4 : Enthalpy of steam (kJ/kg)

• Mass flow rate of steam separated

from separator as follows:
ṁ𝑣 = 𝑥. ṁ𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙

• Mass flow rate of brine separated from

separator as follows:
ṁ𝑙 = 1 − 𝑥 . ṁ𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙

Diagram TS (Zarrouk, 2015)

TYPES OF GEOTHERMAL
SEPARATOR
TYPES OF GEOTHERMAL SEPARATOR

Type of Geothermal
Separator:

Horizontal Separator Vertical Separator

 1. HORIZONTAL SEPARATOR
■ Work Principle:
A horizontal separator relies on
gravitational force to separate
water from steam. Water,
which has higher density, will
fall to the bottom of separator
and will be separated from the
steam flow.
■ Worldwide, horizontal separators
are used less frequently in
geothermal steam fields.
■ Iceland, Japan and Russia are
the main countries that use
horizontal separators when
Horizontal Separator (Swanborn, 1988) designing the steam field
 2. VERTICAL CYCLONE SEPARATOR
Work Principle:
■ The vertical cyclone separator uses centrifugal
force to separate steam and water. Steam,
which has lower density than water, tends to
flow in the middle area of the vessel whereas
liquid flows on the separator wall, causing the
liquid to lose its momentum and fall to the
bottom of separator under gravity.

Geothermal Separator (Rizaldy, 2016)

2. VERTICAL CYCLONE SEPARATOR
Type Of Vertical
Cyclone
Separator:

Top Outlet
Cyclone (TOC)
Separator

Bottom Outlet
Cyclone (BOC)
Separator

TOC (Zarrouk, 2005) BOC (Rizaldy, 2016)

GEOTHERMAL SEPARATOR AT PT.
SUPREME ENERGY MUARA LABUH
GEOTHERMAL SEPARATOR AT PT. SUPREME
ENERGY MUARA LABUH
There are 3 Separators :
■ 2 High Pressure (HP) Separator
■ 1 Low Pressure (LP) Separator
GEOTHERMAL SEPARATOR AT PT. SUPREME
ENERGY MUARA LABUH
Separator specifications:
■ Type of separator : Weber Cyclone Separator
■ Nozzle : Spiral inlet nozzle
■ Material : Carbon Steel
GEOTHERMAL SEPARATOR AT PT. SUPREME
ENERGY MUARA LABUH
■ Nozzle : Spiral inlet nozzle
■ Spiral inlet nozzle has smooth
velocity magnitude inside the vessel
and relatively uniforms than
tangential inlet.
■ Tangential inlet has high velocity and
not uniform. So, water might be
carried over by the steam, resulting
in an increase of the steam wetness
at the outlet of the separator.

(a) Spiral inlet (b) Tangential inlet

Velocity profile (Purnanto, 2012)
DOUBLE FLASH
CYCLE POWER PLANT
There are 3 Separator :
■ 2 High Pressure (HP)
Separator
■ 1 Low Pressure (LP) Separator
.
GEOTHERMAL SEPARATOR AT PT. SUPREME
ENERGY MUARA LABUH
■ Heat and Mass Balance analysis in normal operation:

HP Separator 1
Parameter Value Unit
Pressure Separator 9.10 bara
249 kg/s
Mass flow rate input Separator 249.00 kg/s
Enthalpy input Separator 1236.00 kJ/kg
Dryness (x) 24.00 %
Vapor (steam) mass flow rate 60.29 kg/s
Liquid (brine) mass flow rate 188.71 kg/s

188.7 kg/s
60.29 kg/s

Geothermal Separator (Rizaldy, 2016)

GEOTHERMAL SEPARATOR AT PT. SUPREME
ENERGY MUARA LABUH
■ Heat and Mass Balance analysis in normal operation:

HP Separator 2
Parameter Value Unit
Pressure Separator 9.10 bara
249 kg/s
Mass flow rate input Separator 249.00 kg/s
Enthalpy input Separator 1236.00 kJ/kg
Dryness (x) 24.00 %
Vapor (steam) mass flow rate 60.29 kg/s
Liquid (brine) mass flow rate 188.71 kg/s

188.7 kg/s
60.29 kg/s

Geothermal Separator (Rizaldy, 2016)

GEOTHERMAL SEPARATOR AT PT. SUPREME
ENERGY MUARA LABUH
■ Heat and Mass Balance analysis in normal operation:

LP Separator
Parameter Value Unit
Pressure Separator 4.50 bara
401 kg/s
Mass flow rate input Separator 401.00 kg/s
Enthalpy input Separator 756.00 kJ/kg
Dryness (x) 6.00 %
Vapor (steam) mass flow rate 25.11 kg/s
Liquid (brine) mass flow rate 375.89 kg/s

375 kg/s
25.11 kg/s

Geothermal Separator (Rizaldy, 2016)

STEAM TO TURBINE

HP 1 steam : 60.29 kg/s

HP 2 steam : 60.29 kg/s Total steam: 145.69 kg/s. 85.26 MWe
LP Steam : 25.11 kg/s
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSIONS
■ The function of geothermal separator is to separate the geothermal fluid between
the liquid and vapor phases and to maintain the quality of the steam that will be
carried to the turbine.
■ Types of geothermal separator consists of Horizontal and Vertical Separator. Vertical
Separator has high output quality use centrifuge effect for separated steam and
brine.
■ PT. Supreme Energy uses the vertical bottom outlet cyclone (BOC) or weber
separator. In normal operation, the vapor mass flow rate of HP1, HP2, and LP
separator is 60.29 kg/s, 60.29 kg/s and 25.11 kg/s. Total output vapor mass flow
rate is 145.69 kg/s.
THANK YOU