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• The current review emphasizes the findings from simulation, optimization, experimental, and recent research innovations. • The role of advanced simulation tools like ASPEN HYSYS and CFD models in improving the supersonic separator performance has been discussed. • Research gaps are identified on hydrate separation, droplet coalescence, heat and mass transfer phenomena, homogenous and heterogeneous condensation, and optimization of structural parameters. • Potential future research directions are proposed based on improving the droplet nucleation model, heat and mass transfer model, structural parameters, and hybrid approach of hydrate and gas separation. Exploitation of high CO 2 content (up to 75%) oil/gas fields, the conventional processing to bring up the CO 2 to the surface is economically and operationally challenging due to high separation costs and environmental impacts. The implementation of supersonic separation technology, particularly for downhole/topside installations near wellheads, offers a promising solution for efficient CO 2 removal. This technique could significantly reduce operational costs, minimize greenhouse gas emissions, and optimize separation efficiency, offering sustainable production as compared to other uneconomical fields. The objective of this comprehensive review is to critically analyze the contemporary findings on supersonic separation, focusing on key aspects such as geometric/shape design, operational parameters, feedstock composition, selection of equation of state, condensation modeling approaches, phase change phenomena, separation efficiency, etc. The methodology of this review study offers an extensive survey of simulation, optimization, experimental, and latest research studies on supersonic separators. The simulation based studies integrated the pivotal role of ASPEN HYSYS and ANSYS FLUENT in the enhancement of natural gas processing, CO 2 capture, droplet and film interactions, and separation efficiency. The review of optimization studies revealed that the advanced CFD techniques and multi-objective optimization provided efficient results for the optimization of impeller design, static vanes, delta wings, and inertial particles of the separator. The assessment of experimental studies presented the critical advancements in supersonic technology that include the enhancement of gas separation, swirling flow phenomena, phase change phenomena, and non-equilibrium condensation. This review extensively points out the key challenges and major research gaps related to nucleation and condensation of flow, phase change phenomena, downhole gas/ hydrate separation, and structural parameters optimization. Based on this extensive review, future research should prioritize advanced experimental accuracy, high-fidelity modeling of droplet dynamics and phase change, and optimized structural design for enhanced separation efficiency under extreme conditions.
Khan et al. (Sat,) studied this question.