Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 89 (2018) 135–150

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Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/rser

Prospective applications of Ranque–Hilsch vortex tubes to sustainable T

energy utilization and energy efficiency improvement with energy and mass
separation
⁎
Bo Zhang , Xiangji Guo
Dalian University of Technology, Ministry of Education, Key Lab Ocean Energy Utilization & Energy Conservation, 2 Linggong Rd, Dalian 116024, Peoples Republic of
China

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: The scope of this review is to highlight the potential contributions of Ranque–Hilsch vortex tubes in meeting the
Vortex tube industrial requirements of energy efficiency improvement, sustainable energy utilization, and waste heat re-
Energy separation generation with its unique energy separation effect. Vortex tubes have received significant attention in recent
Mass separation years, as they meet the current requirements of energy conservation with their energy saving and environment-
Phase change
friendly operating modes. Vortex tubes have been widely exploited for the unique energy separation phenom-
Sustainable energy utilization
enon and the ability to provide instant cooling and heating effects, with air as the most common working fluid.
The functions fulfilled by the vortex tubes are numerous. In addition to the sole single gas-phase, there may be
phase changing processes involved in vortex tubes, and the adopted purposes of vortex tubes may be broadly
divided into energy separation and mass separation. The mass separation process in a vortex tube is more
complex, as the phase change and component separation is interrelated. The main objective of this review relates
to the analysis, carding, and construction of application and operation mechanism of vortex tubes from newly
emerging research fields in order to derive a clear classification and promising techniques. Thus, the main
content is divided into two parts to be summarized and discussed. The first is focused on energy or temperature
separation of which the hot or cold fluid stream produced by a vortex tube is the main purpose; the second
relates to the mass separation in which the mass or component separation, usually accompanied by phase change
and temperature variation, is produced by a vortex tube. In each part, the operation mechanism, system con-
figuration, performance influencing factors, and status of current techniques are introduced and described.

1. Introduction acceptable interpretation that attracted researchers’ interests. Hence,

1.1. Brief introduction of RHVT
A vortex tube is a simple thermal device, which separates an inlet
stream of compressed gas into two simultaneous streams. One of the
separated streams is at a higher temperature, and the other outlet
stream temperature is lower than that of the inlet. This unique phe-
nomenon is known as the temperature separation or energy separation
effect. This was discovered by Georges Ranque, who applied for a
French patent for the effect on December 21, 1931, followed by a si-
milar patent application in the United States in 1932, which was
granted in 1934 [1]. However, he could not provide a reasonable ex-
planation for the energy separation and was questioned by his peers at
that time. In 1947, a German physicist named Rudolf Hilsch [2] studied
its performance with improved structures and put forward an
the vortex tube is also known as the Ranque–Hilsch vortex tube
(RHVT), in memory of their contributions.
The schematic of a conventional counter-flow vortex tube is shown
in Fig. 1. The compressed gas is tangentially injected through the nozzle
(s) into the vortex chamber and forms an intense swirling gas flow
combined with a forced vortex in the core and a free vortex in the
periphery. The typical tangential velocity can reach 300 m/s, and the
rotation speed can reach 106 rad/min at the exit of inlet nozzle. When
the gas flow moves toward the hot end, an adverse-pressure gradient
along the axis direction is formed owing to the existence of the control
valve at the hot end, which causes a reverse flow in the core region near
the axis. Then, the gas flow at the periphery layer is heated and ex-
hausted from the hot exit located far from the inlet, while the gas at
inner layer gets colder and flows out to the cold exit near the inlet. The
maximum temperature difference between the hot and cold exits can

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: zhangbo@dlut.edu.cn (B. Zhang).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2018.02.026
Received 5 March 2017; Received in revised form 19 November 2017; Accepted 23 February 2018
Available online 05 April 2018
1364-0321/ © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
B. Zhang, X. Guo
Fig. 1. Conventional counter-flow vortex tube. [3].
reach 100 °C.
With its outstanding advantages such as no moving parts, a simple
construction, compact design, no electricity or Freon refrigerant re-
quired to generate a cooling effect, low maintenance, and long running
time, the vortex tube quickly garnered much attention after World War
II. A comprehensive literature survey conducted by Westly [4] cited
100 references about vortex tubes spanning the period 1931–1954 on
investigations carried out by universities and colleges, industrial firms
and government institutions, which presented enormous interest on
both theoretical studies and industrial applications. During the fol-
lowing decades, various industrial applications and enhancements had
been proposed, and vortex tubes had been favored by some gas com-
panies. However, given a lack of sufficient quantitative calculations, the
unambiguous physical model of energy separation and low thermal
efficiency made vortex tubes fade from wider application, with their
reputation as a simple instant cooling or heating device declining over
time. Recently, with the increasing demand for energy and the severe
air pollution, the interest in the Ranque effect has re-ignited. From the
statistical review of published papers on vortex tubes by decade con-
ducted by Subudhi and Sen [5], a distinct increase has occurred since
the 1990s. Apart from the external reason of demand for efficient and
clean energy strategies, the internal reason ascribed to the development
of advantageous noncontacting measuring instruments in experiments,
such as laser Doppler velocimetry, particle image velocimetry, and
computational fluid dynamics technologies, which enriched the ex-
planations of energy separation and allowed a clearer flow structure to
emerge. Overall, all these factors promoted the increase of the RHVT
being applied in various fields and enriched its functions.
1.2. The scope of this paper
Most literature reviews about the subject in recent decades focused
on the explanations of energy separation [6–8] and computational,
numerical, and optimal works [9,10]. Yilmaz et al. [11] reviewed the
design criteria for vortex tubes, and they concluded the factors affecting
the energy separation performance based on several aspects: the geo-
metrical parameters, such as tube length, diameter, and nozzle number,
cold mass fraction and overall mass flow rate, inlet pressure and tem-
perature, and working fluid properties. Through a comparison of the
experimental and numerical investigations until 2007, they also gave
some recommendations to achieve the optimal performance. Another
review article related to the working fluid was the investigation of
experiments using air [5]; however, the main purpose of it was to offer
practical and preliminary designs for vortex tubes by best-fit correla-
tions of the optimum performance. Air was mostly common adopted as
working fluid in experiments, owing to its accessibility, although dif-
ferent gases or gas mixtures had been adopted to compare their heating
or cooling effects. A detailed comparison and analysis of different
working fluids has not been done on the subject. Previously, it was
considered difficult to use liquid as a working fluid and obtain an ef-
fective energy separation performance, but with technical develop-
ments, it has been proved possible with test results, together with the
effects of phase change, which are both analyzed in this paper with
respect to past works. If phase change happens inside a vortex tube, the
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Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 89 (2018) 135–150
energy separation performance would be affected significantly. More-
over, the heat and mass transfer processes and mechanism between
liquid and gas in the strong swirling flows were seldom studied pre-
viously.
Among the various applications of vortex tubes, instant cooling or
heating is the most widely known and has developed for a long time,
but the role of the vortex tube has been merely that of an accessory in
most cases. Not until the applications of gas processes in the last 20
years has the vortex tube been paid more attention as an energy saving
and environmentally friendly separator, and more potential in various
fields have been explored. However, there has not been not an explicit
classification to describe the specific functions of vortex tubes. Few
studies have been published on the industrial applications of vortex
tubes [12,13], and they were more like introductory papers, lacking the
detail working principle and comprehensive classification and analysis.
The common application for an instant heater or cooler can be classified
into the energy separation category, and the conventional counter-flow
vortex tubes with dry gas are mostly used. When a vortex tube serves as
a gas–liquid mixture separator, a different construction than that of a
three-flow vortex tube is often needed. The flow behavior of different
working fluids involving phase change or not is another distinction
within the different types of vortex tube, and few experiments to date
have been openly reported on the characteristics of gas–liquid mixture
in strong swirling flow or on the design method of the three-flow vortex
tube. Thus, in order to have an elaborate further study on the appli-
cations of vortex tubes, a classification system is necessary to describe
the similarities and differences within the functions and flow behavior
of vortex tubes as separators. According to the applications thus far
proposed by various researchers, we classified the functions of vortex
tubes as energy and mass separators as shown in Fig. 2, and the mass
separator mainly consists of gas–gas mixture and gas–liquid mixture
separators. The relevant specific applications have been concluded by
the classification.
According to the main functions of vortex tubes serving in different
energy systems, they are classified into two categories, energy separa-
tion and mass separation, which are discussed in Sections 2 and 3. In
each section, first, the working mechanism is introduced and reviewed
and then, typical applications are discussed together with the main
achievements by researchers. As energy separators, vortex tubes can be
used as an instant heater and cooler and for thermodynamic systems. As
a mass separator, mainly gas–gas mixture separator and gas–liquid se-
parator, the applications for in-flight air separation, trans-critical CO2
refrigeration systems, and petroleum and natural gas plants are re-
viewed based on the existing literature. The conclusions of this work
and recommendations are presented in the final section.
2. Vortex tube as energy separation device
2.1. Summary of study of the working mechanism
The operation process and mechanics of vortex tubes with gases as
working fluids to generate cooler or hotter streams have been fully
introduced, which will not be repeated in this section. Although a
vortex tube is simple in construction and operation, the flow structure is
not sufficiently clear and the principle of energy separation has not
been coherently explained, owing to the highly turbulent and complex
swirling flow inside the tube. Many researchers have proposed useful
models to explain this phenomenon, although none of them could be
determined to perfectly explain the operation mechanism and quanti-
tatively yield the optimal structures. We would like to summarize them
into several main opinions for readers to have a clear grasp of the latest
developments.
2.1.1. Compression and expansion
The pressure gradient within the vortex tube was noticed and in-
vestigated by researchers at the earliest stage [14,15]. They believed
B. Zhang, X. Guo
Fig. 2. Schematic of classification and relevant applications of vortex tubes.
the compression and expansion was the main contribution to the energy
separation. The compressed gas being injected to the vortex-generating
chamber undergoes a sudden expansion process, resulting in a decrease
in temperature at the core. The flow field presents a pattern of forced
vortex distribution to form a radical pressure gradient and the tem-
perature at the periphery becomes hotter owing to the compression,
whereas in the core region, the flow field is colder for to the same
reason.
2.1.2. Viscous shear and turbulence
Fulton [16] established his model beginning with a careful ob-
servation of the tangential velocities at different layers. When the gas
stream was exhausted from the inlet, he observed that the tangential
velocity at the periphery layer was lower than that of the inner layer,
which formed a free vortex. Owing to the shear stress between different
layers, the gas stream at the outer layer was accelerated by the inner
layer gas, whereas the inner layer gas lost its energy and slowed down.
In this process, the kinetic energy was transferred from the inner to the
outer gas flow by the viscous friction. This opinion was later supported
by research based on numerical simulations [17–19].
2.1.3. Secondary flow
The secondary flow phenomenon [20–23] appeared when the inner
gas flowed toward the cold end, and the undersize cold exit forced this
part of gas to reverse direction to the hot end, and experiments and
numerical simulations have confirmed this phenomenon. Ahlborn et al.
[24,25] regarded it as a classic refrigeration cycle in which the move-
ment of the secondary flow in the tube was a combination process of
adiabatic expansion, energy absorption, adiabatic compression, and
energy release. However, this model was not accepted by all the re-
searchers because the secondary flow occasionally diminished or even
disappeared with the increasing diameter of the cold exit, whereas the
energy separation still existed.
2.1.4. Acoustic streaming
The operation of vortex tubes is always accompanied with an in-
tense squeal. Kurosaka [26] contributed that acoustic streaming was
related to the energy separation and he designed an experiment to
verify his assumption. He added a muffler on the vortex tube, and when
the squeal was suppressed at a certain frequency, the temperature at the
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Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 89 (2018) 135–150
measuring point located near the inlet abruptly increased at the same
time. He considered that a well-organized turbulence contributed to the
energy separation. However, because his acoustic streaming model
could not build a quantitative relationship with the thermal parameters
in the vortex tube, it did not gain a sustainable interest. Similarly,
Zhidkov et al. [27] also considered that the acoustic streaming gener-
ated the pulsations of the highest-pressure jet and its interaction with
the gas in the vortex chamber and the tube walls have a contribution to
the energy separation. The heat was transferred from the cold core to
the wall by the longitudinal and transverse compression and rarefaction
of β and ε waves.
2.1.5. Gas pocket
What is happening in the vortex tube to generate the energy se-
paration phenomenon is that which most concerned researchers. Liew
et al. [3] focused on the microcosmic motion of gas pockets in turbulent
eddies. He proposed that the energy was transferred by the gas pockets
from the inner cold region to the outer hot region, in a kind of heat
pump model with adiabatic compression and expansion. A similar ex-
planation was adopted by Kolmes et al. [28], in which the gas pocket
conducted a back and forth motion along the radical pressure gradient
to accomplish the heat pump cycle. In order to analyze the process of
the oscillating motion of the gas pocket, Zhang and Guo [29,30] at-
tributed to the vortex breakdown phenomenon and the regular vortex
core precession near the reverse flow boundary, which was considered
to be an inherent feature in strong swirling flows. They pointed out that
the vortex breakdown and precessing vortex core were the main source
of acoustic streaming and oscillation of the fluid field inside a vortex
tube, and they related the gas pocket motion during energy separation
to thermo-acoustic refrigeration process, which was also mentioned by
Kolmes et al. [28]. In their models, the vibrating vortex motion at
certain frequencies offered energy to the gas parcels and let them
shuttle back and forth between inner and outer layers, during which the
adiabatic compression and expansion processes happened; thus, the
energy was absorbed at the cold core region and released at the hot
periphery region.
To weigh the energy separation performance, the cold mass frac-
tion, ε , was often adopted as the most important parameter. The cold
mass fraction was defined as the ratio of cold out gas mass flow rate ṁ c
to the inlet gas mass flow rate ṁ in , and it could be altered by opening
B. Zhang, X. Guo Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 89 (2018) 135–150

the control valve, and the temperature performance changed at the 2.2.2. Typical application in thermodynamic systems
same time. ε was defined as, As the vortex tube can produce two different streams at higher and
ṁ c lower temperatures driven by high-pressure motive stream, when it is
ε= integrated into some thermodynamic systems based upon such a char-
ṁ in (1)
acteristic, there exist interesting applications to increase system per-
The temperature decrease of the cold end gas ΔTc was defined as the formance by regenerate losses or utilizing renewable energy sources.
difference in temperature between the inlet gas temperature Ti and the Prior works have presented several of these, of which the typical
cold end gas temperature Tc by the formula: achievements are summarized and discussed as follows.
ΔTc = Ti − Tc (2)
2.2.2.1. In city gate station. Natural gas can be transported by three
The temperature increase of the hot end gas ΔTh was defined as the main means, that is, pipe natural gas (PNG), compressed natural gas
difference in temperature between hot end gas temperature Th and inlet (CNG), and liquefied natural gas (LNG) according to the state of natural
gas temperature Ti , as gas. All three require increasing the density of natural gas to reduce the
ΔTh = Th − Ti (3) cost of transportation. For LNG, the natural gas is stored as liquid form
and the store temperature is − 162 °C at atmospheric pressure, whereas
for PNG and CNG, the gas is compressed at atmospheric temperature.
2.2. Applications of vortex tubes as energy separation devices
The typical transport pressure is nearly 10 MPa, and for CNG, the gas
pressure is up to 20–25 MPa. However, only the low-pressure gas can be
2.2.1. RHVT as a simple cooler or heater
used for the user; thus, before the pressurized gas is piped to the city
Compared to the traditional commercial refrigeration devices, a
pipeline network system at a medium pressure level of 0.2–0.4 MPa, the
vortex tube has the following advantages: it has a simple configuration,
pressure of the gas needs to be reduced at the city gate station (CGS).
without any moving parts. A significant cooling and heating effect can
In CGSs, the throttle valve is adopted as the decompressing device.
be generated without the drive force of electricity, and a certain amount
For natural gas, a positive Joule–Thomson coefficient occurs in the
of cooling capacity can be obtained without Freon or any chemical
pressure dropping process; that is, as the pressure reduces, the tem-
refrigerant, which meets current environmental requirements.
perature of natural gas decreases. Generally, every 1 MPa of pressure
Moreover, it has a small size, low weight, low cost, requires no main-
drop causes 4.5–6 °C temperature drop in the throttle valve [37]. As
tenance, and the operation is simple; the cooling or heating gas can be
mentioned earlier, the water and hydrate may condense in natural gas
generated quickly with only a control valve to adjust the outlet mass
owing to the temperature drop, resulting in the internal corrosion and
flow rate. The fabrication material is highly insensitive stainless steel,
erosion of valves and pipelines, or even causing the phenomenon of ice
which makes the RHVT resistant to corrosion, oxidation, and high or
blockage in winter. To prevent the condensation, a pre-heating of the
low temperatures, and gives it a long operating life. All these ad-
natural gas is necessary before it passes through the throttling valve.
vantages give the RHVT prospects for a wide range of applications.
Today, the generally employed methods in the CGSs for the pre-heating
Although the vortex tube has the abovementioned advantages, the
are electric heat tracing, line heaters, and water-bath heating; these
application is restricted owing to its low thermal efficiency, and the
methods have a low heat transfer efficiency and require much energy.
cooling efficiency is much lower than that of a turbine expander or
The heating methods of line heater and water-bath heater utilize an
centrifugal refrigerator. However, in various conditions when con-
extra natural gas as the fuel to burn in the combustion chamber, and the
venience, form factor, and low loss of equipment become the main
heat is transferred by water to the natural gas in pipelines, which
considerations; efficiency will no longer be the decisive factor to eval-
consumes a large amount of natural gas and generates combustion
uate the economic feasibility of equipment. The vortex tube can play an
pollution.
important role as a simple heating or cooling device in the following
As an energy separation device, the heating effect of vortex tubes
conditions, which are easy to understand and simple in arrangement;
was used to cope with this situation. Since the 1990s, the German
thus, they will not be extensively introduced:
company FILTAN [38] had put several vortex tube units into com-
mercial operation. The company reported that a unit in CGS had op-
(1) Cooling in manufacturing industry: cooling of plastic, metal pro-
erated continuously for 5 years in the pressure range of 0.8–1.6 MPa
cessing, wood processing, welding, thermal sealing, machine
and flow rate at 300–35,000 Nm3/h without any maintenance. In 1999,
parts.
Universal Vortex Inc. invented a new device named a vortex pilot gas
(2) Cooling of equipment in laboratories [31], cooling or dehumidi-
heater that utilizes the Ranque effect to prevent pilot gas freezing at
fication of gas samples, cooling of temperature sensors, chill for
CGSs. Kargaran et al. [39] experimentally investigated VT performance
environmental cabin, and dealing with explosive chemicals.
when it was used in CGS with the replacement of throttling valve.
(3) Cooling and temperature control of electronic components, in-
Moreover, they built a thermodynamic model to analyze the natural gas
struments, switches, and thermostats.
behavior in the VT with the second law and made a comparison with
(4) Temperature regulation for airtight electronic control systems,
air.
such as CNC cabin [32] and motor control center.
Recently, Ghezelbash et al. [37] proposed a system combining a VT
(5) Thermal softening plastic, melting glue, and sealing bags by the
and vertical ground heat exchanger for pre-heating the piped natural
heating effect without any flash fire or thermal explosion.
gas in CGS, as shown in Fig. 3. The pressure was reduced in the VT
(6) Cooling of firemen and mine workers’ suits, temperature control of
instead of the throttle valve, and the VT separated the incoming stream
divers’ air suppliers and manned underwater habitats [33].
into cold and hot streams. In order to prevent the hydrate formation
(7) Cooling of low-temperature magic angle spinning nuclear mag-
owing to the cooling effect, they chose an operating condition with a
netic resonance (NMR).
cold mass fraction of 0.8, and thus the cold stream temperature did not
(8) Quick start-up for steam power generation.
reach below the ice point, 0 °C. The hot stream exhausted from the VT
(9) Instant drying for food, or integrated with electricity in a drying
was not necessarily heated, and to solve the temperature drop at the
system [34].
cold end, the cold gas needed to enter a heat exchanger to receive
(10) Rapid and selective brain cooling, continuously cold air offered
geothermal heat. The warmed cold stream then mixed with the hot
into the nasal cavities [35,36].
stream and flowed toward the heater at low pressure. Based on the data
from Semnan station in Iran, they conducted an economic analysis and
compared with the previous proposed systems for the same purpose and

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B. Zhang, X. Guo Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 89 (2018) 135–150

Fig. 3. CGS equipped with vortex tube and geothermal heat exchanger. [37].

stated that the current system had the following significant advantages:
continuous all-day operation, low sensitivity to weather conditions,
peak heating energy reduction, up to 88% fuel saving, low water in
heater temperature, short payback period of 4.5 years, and high prof-
itability.
Benefiting from the temperature drop at the cold end of the vortex
tube, more heat from the geothermal heat exchanger can be compen-
sated to the cold gas. Thus, the system integrating vertical ground heat
exchangers with a vortex tube is more profitable than the system
adopting only vertical ground heat exchangers to heating natural gas.
However, the gas heating strategy proposed by Ghezelbash et al. [37]
had poor popularity, owing to the low coverage of geothermal heat.
When a vortex tube is adopted to heat natural gas at a CGS, a con-
venient and low-cost heat source is needed to handle the temperature
drop at the cold end; otherwise, there is not much profit from the
heating system with a vortex tube.

2.2.2.2. Other thermodynamic systems. Keller [40] proposed a vapor

compression refrigeration cycle with a vortex tube in 1997, as shown in
Fig. 4. The high-pressure stream from the gas cooler was cooled by
vapor from a separator, 8, to increase the refrigeration capacity; after
being heated in the intermediate cooler at state 9, the vapor stream Fig. 4. Cycle layout of vortex tube expansion cycle proposed by Keller. [40].
entered the vortex tube and separated into two streams: cold (state C)
and hot gas (state H) with a pressure drop. Although the hot fraction
must be hotter than the ambient owing to the Ranque effect, the hot gas
was cooled to state 10 in a desuperheater and mixed with the cold gas.
The mixture was then mixed with the vapor from the evaporator (state
7) before entering the compressor (state 1). He adopted the first and
second laws of thermodynamics to analyze the cycle performance and
used R22, R134a, CO2 as working fluids; the results showed that the
coefficient of performance (COP) increased by 5%, 10%, and 15%
compared to the conventional vapor compression cycle. Such an
arrangement benefited from higher discharge temperature, which was
produced by the desuperheater and the vortex tube.
Moreira [41] proposed a simple, closed-loop cycle, as shown in
Fig. 5 and performed a thermodynamic analysis on it in 2010. The Fig. 5. Schematic of the air-standard cycle with vortex tube. [41].
purpose of the analysis of the basic cycle was to determine the feasi-
bility of using a vortex tube in a refrigeration or heat pump system. The could absorb heat. The result showed that the isentropic COP optima
high-pressure air exhausted from the compressor, as the inlet working values related to the cold and hot mass fractions ranges fell within the
fluid, was injected into the counter-flow vortex tube. The vortex tube scope of 0.55–0.90. Its simplicity and use of air as the working fluid
performed the role of mechanical compressor, partly. The separated were the key points, but the low efficiency and required high pressure
heat stream discharged heat to the environment and the cool stream

139
B. Zhang, X. Guo
Fig. 6. RHVT equipment for seawater desalination. [42].
were the drawbacks.
A tentative application in seawater desalination with a vortex tube
was put forward by Stanescu [42], as shown in Fig. 6. Air or methane
was the working fluid in the loop with a vortex tube, which was an
embodiment of Moreira's cycle [41]. The cold gas flow was used to cool
the moist air in the cold side heat exchanger (CSHE), and the liquid sea
water was condensed in it. In the hot side heat exchanger (HSHE), the
cold low humidity moist was heated by the hot gas from the vortex
tube. Through a series of thermodynamic analyses and calculations,
when the waste pressures at the vortex tube's inlet pressure ranged from
300 to 700 kPa, it showed that there was a potential for producing
0.005–0.012 kg of drinking water/kg compressed gas. This cycle rea-
lized a simple and easy way to reach a seawater desalination system in
which air could be the working fluid, and an integration of heating and
refrigeration was proposed based on the characteristics of the vortex
tube to produce heat and cold streams at the same time.
It is believed that the high burning temperature in the diesel engine
produces high emission containments, especially NOX. Thus, a new
diesel exhaust gas recirculation system was proposed to control the
burning temperature by lowering the inlet air temperature, as shown in
Fig. 7. System diagram of exhaust gases recirculation and after treatment. [43].
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Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 89 (2018) 135–150
Fig. 7 [43]. The system was simple, in which a lower-temperature re-
circulated gas stream was produced by a vortex tube, and then it was
mixed with the air from the atmosphere to produce a lower-tempera-
ture inlet stream to the diesel engine. The authors experimentally stu-
died the content of nitrogen oxide and particulate matter in exhaust gas
under different operation modes of the diesel exhaust system, and the
result showed that the vortex tube could reduce the temperature of the
exhaust gas by up to 60 K. Thus, from the comparison between the
original system and the system with added recirculation and cooling,
the emission of containments had been significantly reduced.
2.2.3. Working fluid on energy separation performance
Although the effect of different working fluids is not the crucial
factor (inlet pressure has the dominant effect [44]) to the energy se-
paration performance, the fluid type does affect the performance to
some degree. Moreover, considering the extensive applications of
RHVT, various working fluids had been studied on the energy separa-
tion performance, as shown in Table 1, in which the achievements are
presented chronologically. The evaluation of different gas species’ effect
on the energy separation performance can be traced back to 1951 [45],
and various numerical simulations have been adopted in lieu of ex-
periments in recent years. It should be noted that the cases in which air
was the only working fluid used in experiment or numerical simulation
are not listed, because it is the most commonly adopted working fluid.
In this section, two aspects are reviewed and analyzed: one is a
comparison of gas properties and the energy separation performance of
various gases; the other concerns the effect of fluid flowing processes
involving the energy separation performance.
As shown in Table 2, regardless of the molecular weight or thermal
conductivity and diffusivity, hydrogen and helium have a distinct dif-
ference from other gases, and they have the most outstanding perfor-
mance. The Prandtl number of different gas species has little difference;
thus, it is not an important factor to determine the magnitude of tem-
perature separation.
Generally, helium has the best performance, which let researchers
to consider that the lower the molecular weight, the larger the value of
thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity. However, when hydrogen
was taken as a working fluid in the numerical simulation of Thakare
et al. [46], although it has a decent performance (ranked second), it did
not present a larger temperature difference than that of helium, as
expected. It was thought that the high heat capacity of hydrogen could
explain this unexpected result. A large amount of heat had been stored
in H2 itself during the energy transportation between different layers,
and thus temperature difference was weakened.
 B. Zhang, X. Guo

Table 1
Effect of adopted working fluid on the energy separation performance.

NO. Year Ref. Working fluid (s) Method Involve phase Change The Recommending gas Remarks
or not (Yes/No)

1 1951 Elser [45] Air, CH4, CO2, H2, Ar Experiment No – The ratio of the actual temperature drop of cold gas to the maximum temperature drop
is independent of fluid type.
2 1956 Martynovskii [49] NH3, CH4, CO2 Experiment No – A temperature reversal occurs when Prt < 0.5: the hot fluid flows from the cold end
while the cold fluid flows from the hot end.
3 1965 Gulyaev [50] He Experiment No – The Ranque effect is still effective at low temperature (80 K).
4 1968 Starostin [51] Steam, air Experiment No – The performances of both gases are similar; the required inlet pressure of steam is
higher than that of air.
5 1971 Williams [52] CH4-rich mixture Experiment Yes – Energy separation performance is weakened by the liquefied gas.
6 1979 Collins [53] Two-phase C3H8 Experiment Yes – When inlet quality x < 80%, the temperature separation effect diminishes rapidly.
7 1979 Thkahama [54] Steam Experiment Yes – Steam conditions from the high superheated state to the wetted state; dryness lager than
0.98 can maintain effective performance.
8 1984 Stephan [55] Air, He, O2 Experiment No He They confirmed the result of Elser [45].
9 1988 Balmer [56] Water Experiment No – The energy separation occurred when the inlet pressure was high enough (Pin =
20–50 MPa was used).
10 2003 Saidi [57] Air moisture, air, He, O2 Experiment Yes He Cold temperature difference and efficiency decrease by increasing the air moisture
content of the air.
11 2006 Aydin [58] Air, O2, N2 Experiment No N2
12 2006 Dincer [59] O2, N2, CO2 Experiment No CO2
13 2008 Zhang [60] air, N2, Ar, CO2 Experiment No CO2 Ar has relatively good performance, but its cooling capacity is not high owing to the low

141
heat capacity.
14 2009 Kirmaci [61] O2, air Experiment No O2
15 2009 Pinar [44] O2, N2, Ar Experiment No Ar Fluid type has the least dominant effect on total temperature separation.
16 2010 Kırmacı [62] Air, O2, N2, Ar Experiment No Ar
17 2012 Khazaei [63] He, air, N2, O2, CO2, NH3, water Numerical No He
simulation
18 2013 Han [64] R728 (N2), R744(CO2), R134a, R161, Experiment Yes R728 The energy separation performance of HFCs is weakened by the liquefied gas.
R32, R22
19 2013 Pourmahmoud [47] NO2, CO2, O2, N2, air Numerical No NO2
simulation
20 2013 Liew [65] N2 contains water droplets Experiment Yes – Energy separation occurs with all the water droplet vaporizing in the hot end
21 2014 Thakare [46] He, H2, N2, O2; gas mixture with CH4, Numerical No He The performance of H2 is less than He, because the specific heat value of H2 is much
H2O (vapor), air and CO2 simulation greater than that of He. There is no phase change model in their mathematical model.
22 2014 Agrawal [66] Air, N2, CO2 Experiment No CO2
23 2015 Thakare [67] N2, air, O2, CO2 Numerical No N2
simulation
24 2016 Rafiee [48] Air, N2, O2, CO2, NO2 Numerical No NO2
simulation
25 2016 Sharma [68] air, two phases of partially condensed Numerical No – The two-phase air with an inlet liquid-phase fraction of 0.4 still has energy separation,
air at 0.5 MPa and 88 K simulation but weaker than single-phase air, but in their VOF model, the phase change model is not
considered.
26 2016 Cebeci [69] Air, O2 Experiment No O2
27 2017 Kumar [70] Humid air Experiment Yes – Relative humidity at cold outlet increases to some optimum value, and then decreases
with the cold mass fraction.
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 89 (2018) 135–150
B. Zhang, X. Guo Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 89 (2018) 135–150

Table 2
Properties of the main gas adopted for comparisons on energy separation performance under typical inlet conditions of Tin = 20 °C, Pin = 5 bar.

Gas name Chemical formula Molecular weight, kg/ Thermal conductivity, k * 1000(W/ Pr * 100 Specific heat capacity, Cp (kJ/ Thermal diffusivity, (cm2/
kmol (m K)) (kg K)) s)

Hydrogen H2 2.02 182.83 69 14.3 0.31

Helium He 4 153.81 66.28 5.19 0.36
Methane CH4 16.04 33.51 73.41 2.25 0.04
Ammonia NH3 17.03 25 99.71 2.55 0.03
Nitrogen N2 28.01 25.61 72.14 1.05 0.04
Air 28.96 25.64 72.35 1.01 0.04
Oxygen O2 32 26.13 72.11 0.93 0.04
Argon Ar 39.95 17.63 66.84 0.53 0.04
Carbon dioxide CO2 44.01 16.44 78.58 0.88 0.02

Owing to the lack of sufficient data, the performance of methane, RHVT is not practical, and a new structure based on the vortex tube is
ammonia, and argon were not considered. Whereas in the results of required to achieve the best possible separation by simultaneously
Pourmahmoud et al. [47] and Rafiee et al. [48], the NO2 had the best cooling the gas and removing the formed condensate.
cooling effect. They did not give an illustration on why they choose Since the 1990s, a counter-flow vortex tube with an additional
these working fluids or a reasonable explanation for the reason why condensate liquid came into being, often called a three-flow vortex tube
NO2 performed better. For the remaining gases in the comparison lists, (3VT), which has been utilized in low-temperature systems for pro-
such as N2, air, O2, and CO2, a consistent answer could not be presented cessing natural and associated petroleum gases [73,74]. The 3VT has a
for whose performance is better, owing to their small differences in typical construction, as shown in Fig. 8 (in the vertical flow direction)
properties. Vortex tube as mass separation devices [27]. In order to extract the condensate liquid from the tube, a separ-
ating clearance is placed between cone baffle 9 and hot flow tube 5.
Thus, the condensed water or hydrocarbons will be deflected into the
2.3. Operating mechanism clearance, collected in the condensate gathering tank 6, and finally,
discharged from the condensate outlet 12. The wedge-shaped shutter 2
Unlike the single or single-phase working fluid usually adopted by can automatically control the performance of the 3VT.
the vortex tube as an energy separation device and the energy separa- For a thermodynamic analysis of the 3VT, the enthalpy balance
tion performance is of the most concern, the working fluid can also be initially for the dry-gas-operated vortex tube can be written as
gas mixtures or multiphase mixtures when the vortex tube operates as a
mass separation device, particularly the gas–liquid separator, which iin = εic + (1 − ε ) ih (4)
usually includes a phase change process inside the vortex tube. Owing
where iin , ic , ih are the enthalpies per kilogram for the gas flow of inlet,
to the complexity of the multiphase and multicomponent, high swirling
cold exit, and hot exit, respectively. ε is the cold mass fraction. When
process, the experimental investigations are often carried out to derive
ε = 1.0 , corresponding to the condition in which the hot end is closed,
the separation performance and verify the different designs, a quanti-
Eq. (4) becomes
tative summary is hard to achieve, and thus we will omit the relative
discussion of the efficiency and working fluids here. iin = εic (5)
Linderstrom-Lang [71] extensively investigated the separation
ability of the RHVT as a gas mixture separator, and he used three gas or, in terms of temperature drop:
mixtures (O2-N2, O2-CO2, and O2-He) as experimental working fluids.
He originally assumed that the centrifugal force could separate gas
mixture with different densities, but the results showed that the se-
paration performance was fairly weak (< 0.01%), which could be as-
cribed to the relatively small density difference. However, when gas
and liquid droplets presented in a swirl flow at the same time, the ga-
s–liquid mixture separation efficiency could make a difference owing to
the significant density difference between gas and liquid.
If there are condensable components in the gas mixture, the local
cooling effect inside the vortex tube can liquefy those easily con-
densable components, and then the phase change process takes place
and forms the gas–liquid mixture. It should be noted that with the same
pressure drop, a vortex tube generates a larger temperature drop in the
cold end compared to that in the throttling valve by the Joule–Thomson
effect. For example, the isenthalpic temperature drop associated with
expansion from 0.3 to 0.1 MPa at room temperature for air is only
0.2 °C, whereas a temperature drop of 27 °C can be achieved under
these conditions when using a vortex tube [72]. When the droplets
condense in the cold end, the mixture of gas and liquid spins at high
tangential velocity along the vortex tube together and forms a forced
vortex in the core side. Within the forced vortex, centrifugal forces in
excess of 100000 g exist，which is orders of magnitude larger than
most separation devices and results in even very small particles (except Fig. 8. Schematic of a controlled 3VT: 1. body, 2. regulating wedge, 3. inlet nozzle, 4.
for some micron-scale droplets, which are suspended in the gas flow diaphragm, 5. vortex chamber (hot flow tube), 6. condensate tank, 7. cold flow outlet
owing to the vortex wobbling [65]) being thrown to the tube wall for (sleeve), 8. actuating mechanism, 9. cone baffle, 10. actuator-connecting rod, 11. hot flow
outlet, and 12. condensate outlet. [27].
recovery. When the liquid film forms at the tube wall, a conventional

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B. Zhang, X. Guo Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 89 (2018) 135–150

ΔTc = ΔTthr

where ΔTc is the cold exit temperature drop between the temperature of
the inlet and cold exit and ΔTthr is the temperature drop during the
isenthalpic expansion in a conventional throttling valve for the same
pressure drop. This equation implies that even a poorly operating
vortex tube should always be able to match the performance of a
Joule–Thomson system.
When the condensation of the components (water vapor or hydro-
carbons) takes place in the 3VT, Eq. (4) transforms to Fig. 9. Instantaneous streamlines for the vortex tube in r–x plane at 0.4 s (upper), time
averaged streamlines for the vortex tube in r–x plane. Time averaging was performed
iin = εic + (1 − ε ) ih − δicond (6) between 0.4 and 0.8 s (bottom). [22].

where δicond is the adiabatic enthalpy increment in the stratified flows

owing to the condensation heat. diffusion effect on the gas separation, and for the helium species, the
Another parameter to evaluate the performance of vortex tube when equation was written as
compared to the Joule–Thomson system is the excess refrigeration rate
λ owing to the Ranque effect, given by ∂ (ρYH e)
+ ∇⋅(ρuYH e) = ∇⋅(ρDHe − N2 YH e) + ∇⋅(ρDT ∇ (ln T ))
∂t (8)
ΔTc − ΔTthr
λ=
ΔTthr (7) where ρ is the gas density of helium, YHe the mass fraction of helium,
DHe − N2 the binary diffusion coefficient, and DT the coefficient of
thermal diffusivity. The first term on the right-hand side represents
2.4. RHVT as a mass separation device
Fickian diffusion and the second term the Soret diffusion. They took the
Soret diffusion as the main factor to effect gas separation. A small
In this section, the application of 3VTs as mass separation devices is
amount of mass separation was observed in their numerical simulation.
introduced and discussed thoroughly.
They detected large values of eddy heat flux and Reynold's stresses in
the inner core flow and recorded the fluctuating velocities with the
2.4.1. RHVT as a gas–gas mixture separator
transient calculation in Fig. 9, but the mass transfer phenomenon was
In the chemical industry and the oil and gas industry, gas processing
not significant compared to the energy separation in vortex tubes. Si-
is usually related to the gas–gas mixture separation of different com-
milar observations and results were confirmed by Zhang et al. [29].
ponents, during which there is no phase change process. The in-
Although the swirling flow field presented a violent oscillation in ra-
vestigation of the RHVT as a gas mixture separator are summarized in
dical directions in the simulation results, the mass transfer was wea-
Table 3.
kened between different layers.
The investigation of the possibility of the RHVT as a gas mixture
Mohammadi and Farhadi [78] studied the gas mixture separation
separator could be traced back to the experiment of Linderstorm-Lang
for two hydrocarbon mixtures, experimentally and numerically. The
[71] in 1964, when he used three different gas mixtures: oxygen–ni-
liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) components were 2.91% methane, 5%
trogen, oxygen–carbon dioxide, and oxygen–helium to study the gas
ethane, 40.29% propane, 7% propane, and 44.80% C4 +, in mole frac-
separation efficiency of the RHVT. When the high-pressure gas mixture
tion. The separation results are shown in Table 3, but the largest re-
was injected into the RHVT, the concentration change at the outlet of
covery efficiency of C4 + obtained was 87%, still lower than the expected
different species was discernible but minute. He considered the cen-
process target of 99.3%. In order to make a comparison with a dis-
trifugal force in the intense swirling gas flow is the main factor leading
tillation column, they proposed a cascaded seven-VT system, as shown
to gas stratification, owing to the difference in density in the mixture.
in Fig. 10. The C4 + molar recovery efficiencies of each stage for both the
Several experimental verifications followed, and although the energy
cascaded VTs and distillation column are presented in Fig. 10. The ef-
separation was still effective, the gas separation was not significant.
ficiencies decreased with increasing stage number, and the efficiency of
Kulkami [77] blamed those to the measurement errors in experiments
the VT in series was always higher than that of the distillation tower.
and suggested adopting cascaded RHVTs to increase the separation
They also calculated the capital operating costs of both separators,
efficiency.
which showed that the seven-cascaded VTs could save nearly 700
Farouk et al. [22] performed an investigation by large eddy simu-
thousand dollars per year compared to a six-stage distillation column.
lation technology with a nitrogen and helium mixture as working fluids.
They established a species conservation equation to evaluate the

Table 3
Investigation of the RHVT as a gas mixture separator.

No. Year Ref. Components of gas mixture (s) Method Remarks

1 1964 Linderstrøm-Lang O2-N2, O2-CO2 and O2-He Experiment Very small amount of gas separation, and no direct relationship between energy
[71] and gas separation.
2 1966 Linderstrøm-Lang O2-N2, O2-CO2 and O2-He Experiment The short VT produces a lower temperature separation and higher species
[75] separation.
3 1977 Marshall [76] He-air-N2-Ar Experiment Confirmed the effect of the gas separation reported by Linderstrom-Lang.
4 2002 Kulkarni [77] CH4-N2 Experiment Partial gas separation, and the measurement errors and using one-stage VT
results in the low separation efficiency.
5 2009 Farouk [22] N2-He Large eddy simulation Soret diffusion is considered to be the governing mechanism for gas separation.
Even though a large temperature separation was observed, only very minimal
gas separation occurred owing to diffusion effects.
6 2014 Mohammadi [78] LPG and LPG–N2 (with LPG Experiment and Cold fraction = 0.76 has the highest gas separation for both mixtures
mole fraction of 22%) Numerical simulation (approximately 78% for C4+ in LPG and 87% for LPG in LPG–N2 mixture); using
cascaded VTs can achieve higher efficiency and lower cost than that of
distillation column.

143
B. Zhang, X. Guo
Fig. 10. Optimized cascaded VTs (upper). Comparison of LPG recovery efficiency in a distillation column and cascaded VTs versus stage number (bottom). [78].
2.4.2. RHVT as gas–liquid mixture separator
2.4.2.1. Air separation at low temperature. In this section, typical
applications for air separation at low temperature when the RHVT
served as a gas–liquid mixture separator are presented, in which the
flow process involves phase change.
In space exploration with liquid hydrogen as the delivering fuel and
Liquid OXygen (LOX) as the oxidizer, the required mass ratio of liquid
oxygen to liquid hydrogen is 5:1 for a liquid rocket engine. In order to
overcome the gravitational force of the Earth, an enormous thrust is
generated to accelerate the vehicle to orbit. If a significant elimination
in launcher gross takeoff weight could be possible, a spacecraft capable
of airplane-like safety, reliability, and (horizontal takeoff and landing)
operation would be greatly enhanced [79]. The reduction of LOX on
launch is the most straightforward method to realize the light weight of
spacecraft [80]. Another possible way to guarantee sufficient oxidizer is
the strategy of in-flight oxygen collection through collecting air during
the atmospheric phase of the launch. With the help of rocket-air-
breathing propulsion technology with air collection and enrichment
systems, little or no oxidizer needs to be carried in launcher at takeoff.
Then, the launcher gross weight and the cost for takeoff can be reduced
to a significant degree [81].
The idea of collecting atmospheric oxygen for the oxidizer supply
during the flight of a spacecraft was originated in the late 1960s, during
which period the cold war and arms race was underway between the
United States of America and the former Soviet Union [82]. However,
failing to effectively predict the payload fraction value during flight
stranded the plan, until the experiment was successively conducted by
Russian researchers in which they used a vortex tube to separate air.
The results showed that a very high oxygen purity up to 98.7% at
30–42% separation efficiencies can be realized [83]. Since then, many
performance assessments have been performed to investigate the air
collection and enrichment systems [84–86]. Many more related projects
and experiments were conducted (such as FESTIP I & II funded by the
European Space Agency [87]).
Since 1998, NASA Langley Research Center (NASA-LaRC) has set an
initial target efficiency value of in-flight liquid oxygen collection or air
separation with a single-stage RHVT system as 90% oxygen purity with
50% oxygen recovery [88]. MSE Technology Applications, Inc. (MSE)
conducted a series of experimental investigations on the characteriza-
tion of the vortex tube as an air separator. When atmospheric air was
collected during the flight, it would be pre-compressed and pre-cooled
to the boiling temperature of oxygen, and then tangentially injected
into the RHVT(s), where the Ranque effect took place, and the liquefied
oxygen (as is well known, the boiling temperature of oxygen is higher
144
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 89 (2018) 135–150
than that of nitrogen) separated from the gas flow. The liquid oxygen
was transported to the tube wall owing to the centrifugal force and
formed a liquid film exhausted from the hot exit, while the nitrogen was
maintained in the vapor state and flowed toward the cold exit. After the
gas–liquid separation in the RHVT, the LOX-enriched stream would mix
with the LOX from the tank and be piped to mix with liquid hydrogen
and burned in the combustion chamber. Meanwhile, the other stream
(the cooling nitrogen vapor) could be used as a coolant for the com-
bustion chamber wall. Lee et al. [89] stated that the LOX collection with
vortex tube(s) system could significantly lower the mass of on-board
LOX, the mass and volume of the LOX tank, and the amount of liquid
hydrogen used as a combusting chamber wall coolant. In order to
guarantee the thrust for the liquid propellant rocket, a good combustion
of liquid hydrogen was required, and the allowed minimum oxygen
concentration in the enriched stream was 90%. That was why NASA set
the target; in order to obtain a considerable rate of return, at least 50%
recovery was necessary.
The investigations that have been performed regarding in-flight air
separation with vortex tubes are listed in Table 4, and the main results
are summarized. Decreasing the oxygen purity at the cold exit yielded a
higher recovery, and adoption of multistage vortex tubes obtained both
high purity and increased recovery efficiency. After a series of experi-
mental studies, the research group of MSE proposed a Liquid Air Col-
lection Engine (LACE) with a vortex tubes system, as shown in Fig. 11.
The system was designed to meet the requirements and demonstrated a
separation capability of beyond 95% LOX purity at yields up to 50%.
However, some researchers [80] pointed out that even though the
system with vortex tubes seemed more compact than other in-flight air
separators, such as rotary distillation separator (RDS), a conspicuous
pressure was required to drive the multistage vortex tubes, and pressure
drop of 6 bar was needed per stage. Moreover, a lack of mature design
method and quantitative theoretical model for the RHVT restricted the
prediction of its performance and practical application. In addition to
experiment works on the air separation, Dutta et al. [95,96] adopted
numerical calculations to study the thermodynamic and transport
properties of air inside a vortex tube. The real gas model was used and
compared with the ideal-gas model and experimental results, and it was
found that the flow field and energy separation performance are dif-
ferent when the inlet air temperature is 115 K. Owing to the larger
density at cryogenic temperatures, both the magnitude of energy se-
paration and velocity components are smaller than the case of atmo-
spheric temperature, and they suggested that Soret diffusion is the
dominating factor driving the mass transfer inside a vortex tube.
A vortex tube and rotary distillation separator are always the
B. Zhang, X. Guo Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 89 (2018) 135–150

Table 4
Investigation of in-flight air separation with vortex tube.

No. Year Ref. Method Main results

1 1980 Suslov [83] Experiment Oxygen purity up to 98.7% at 30–42% separation efficiencies
2 1998–2003 Balepin and Lee [88–91] Experiment The research group proposed a Liquid Air Collection Engine (LACE) with vortex tube system through a
series of experimental studies.
3 2000 Jacob [92] Experiment Inlet air temperature of approximately 215 K was required to initiate phase separation and the highest
purity level was reached when it reached a temperature of approximately 95 K.
4 2004 Crocker [93] Experiment Peak oxygen purities of 97% have been achieved at low yields, as well as purities up to 80% at yields up to
25% and purities up to 60% at yields up to 40%.
5 2008 Jacob [94] Experiment LOX purity of 96% and separation efficiency of ~73.5% have been achieved for second-stage vortex tube.
6 2011 Dutta [95] Numerical The magnitudes of both the energy separation and the species separation at cryogenic temperature were
simulation found to be smaller than those at normal atmospheric temperature.
7 2013 Dutta [96] Numerical Magnitude of velocity components in the cryogenic VT is found to be significantly smaller compared to that
simulation at normal atmospheric temperature owing to higher density of air at cryogenic temperature.

Fig. 11. LACE system with vortex tubes. [89].
primary choice of air separator as the key component for air collection
and enrichment system [97], and this technology was put into NASA's
technology roadmap in 2015 [98]. According to open articles and re-
ports, although the research of the system is still at the stage of ground-
experimentation, Bizzarri et al. once built a development roadmap on
the system; if one ton per second of high purity LOX can be obtained
during spacecraft flight in the later decades, then a single-stage-to-orbit
spacecraft could be realized, which would result in huge cost savings in
space exploration [99].
2.4.2.2. Applications in trans-critical CO2 refrigeration systems. In
conventional vapor compression refrigeration cycles, an expansion
process is necessary and generally realized by the throttling valve.
The liquid working fluid from the condenser enters the throttling valve,
undergoing isenthalpic expansion and forming a gas–liquid mixture
with low pressure at the outlet, and in the isenthalpic process, there are
significant irreversible energy losses. When the valve is replaced by a
vortex tube to recover the isentropic losses in the valve, the energy
separation of the liquid working fluid will be a great problem, as we
discussed above. Even if the gas–liquid mixture forms inside the vortex,
the separation efficiency is still uncertain.
In order to avoid such a problem, Maurer proposed a trans-critical
refrigeration cycle with vortex tube, as shown in Fig. 12, which had
been granted a German patent in 1999 [100]. When the high-pressure
gas is exhausted from the compressor, it enters a gas cooler instead of a
condenser (from state 2–3), and then the cooled gas is injected into a
three-flow vortex tube. Inside the vortex tube, the gas goes through a
pressure drop from the gas cooler pressure to the evaporator pressure
and is divided into three parts: the saturated liquid (state 4) is collected
in the liquid receiver (assume 100% gas–liquid separation efficiency),
the other superheated vapor is collected at the hot exit (state H) and the
saturated cold gas (state C) flows out from the cold exit owing to the
Ranque effect. The saturated liquid and vapor mixes at state 6 and
enters into the evaporator to absorb the outer heat. The superheated gas
is cooled in the desuperheater to state 5 and mixes with the vapor from
the evaporator to state 7 before entering the compressor. The advantage
of the refrigeration system with vortex tube is obvious, that is, to sig-
nificantly reduce the heat released to the ambient.
The cycle applied to trans-critical CO2 refrigeration systems has
been further studied and improved (such as using other working fluid or
two stages) as shown in Table 5, in which the working fluid, study
method, cycle type, and COP growth rate are compared to the con-
ventional trans-critical CO2 refrigeration cycle with a throttling valve.
Based on Maurer's trans-critical refrigeration system, Xie et al.
[103–105] proposed a CO2 trans-critical two-stage compression re-
frigeration cycle with a vortex tube as the expansion device and the
corresponding heat pump system. A high-pressure compressor and a
low-pressure compressor were set on either end of an intercooler,
thereby achieving a lower evaporating temperature, and they obtained
2.4–16.3% improvement for the refrigeration cycle and 5.8–13.9%
improvement for the heat pump cycle compared to the conventional
throttling valve cycle. Apart from adopting CO2 as refrigerant, different
natural refrigerants, such as ammonia, propane, and isobutene have
been tested [107]. The results of the thermodynamic analyses showed
that different working fluids affected the cycle performance to different
degrees: propane yields a maximum COP improvement of 7.4% and
isobutane yields a maximum COP improvement of 6.4%, whereas for
ammonia, the improvement is feeble. Moreover, Dubey et al. [108]
used a working pair of carbon dioxide–propylene as working fluid,
which could increase the COP by 5.9%. Based on Maurer's trans-critical
refrigeration system with a vortex tube replacing an expansion valve,
they designed a cascade system in which a cascade heat exchanger was
used instead of the evaporator in Maurer's system; a conventional re-
frigeration system with a low-temperature compressor and expansion
device was combined with the high-temperature cycle. In this manner,
the cascade system can realize the functions of both the refrigeration
system and heat pump cycle to produce heating and cooling together.
According to the past experimental study, when phase change
process of gas condensed to liquid occurred in the vortex tube, the
energy separation would be weakened or even eliminated unless the
liquid content was not very high. The lack of data to design the ga-
s–liquid vortex tube separator with a good separation performance is
another dilemma to overcome.
2.4.2.3. Applications in petroleum and natural gas plant. A typical natural
gas processing plant is shown in Fig. 13 [109]. Gas dehydration and
dew point control combined with liquid hydrocarbon recovery are
important processes in the gas industries. Some novel technologies with
vortex tubes have been adopted in these fields, where VTs operated as
gas–liquid mass separators. The mechanism of flow field formation and
gas–liquid separation was similar to the three processes.

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B. Zhang, X. Guo Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 89 (2018) 135–150

Fig. 12. Cycle layout of vortex tube trans-critical refrigeration system proposed by Maurer (left). p–h diagram for the circulation (right). [101].

2.4.2.3.1. Gas dehydration. Glycol absorption, polymer membranes, The mixing ratio MR (in kg H2O per kg N2) is related to water vapor
composite membranes, molecular sieves and isenthalpic gas cooling are mole fraction Γ and the molar masses of nitrogen and water by
the conventional methods adopted in gas dehydration, and triethylene
Γ MH2 O
glycol (TEG) is the most commonly used way to dehydrate gas owing to MR =
1 − Γ MN2 (10)
its high hygroscopicity and low solubility. However, the high
investment cost and demanding operation of TEG consumes a large where
amount of energy among the flooring works of gas processes.
p H2 O psat (T )
Filtan Company [38] proposed a strategy with vortex tubes to re- Γ= = RH
duce the concentration and flow rate of TEG, and they conducted a test p p H2 O (11)
of gas dehydration using RHVT at a cavern storage unit. The results
The enrichment of water vapor in the hot exit is defined as
showed a positive effect, and they considered that the good contacting
characteristics of TEG and the low contact temperatures obtained inside MRh
ηv = ⎜⎛ − 1⎟⎞ × 100%
the VT were the main reasons. MRpl (12)
⎝ ⎠
Liew's experimental (Fig. 14) and numerical study of the li-
quid–vapor two-phase flow and phase change process in RHVT pro- After over 6 h of operation, as shown in Fig. 15, the largest se-
vided valuable contributions to understanding and applications of paration of water vapor occurs at ε = 0.65, and the corresponding water
RHVT in the gas dehydration areas [65]. The dynamics of liquid dro- vapor enrichment in the hot exit is 37%.
plets was experimentally investigated with a phase Doppler particle 2.4.2.3.2. Dew point control combined with hydrocarbon
analyzer, and the relationship between the performance of the RHVT recovery. When natural gas is exploited from a gas field, in order to
and the behavior of the droplets, together with the strategy of how to meet the gas quality requirements of the transporting pipeline and to
derive the best performance under such conditions by varying the prevent free water to form the hydrate and block or corrode the pipe,
structures, were presented. The experiment was performed under op- the dew point control to lower the contents of water and hydrocarbon is
erating conditions of plenum pressure range of 5.0–5.3 bar, the tem- necessary before the gas enters the pipeline. After gas dehydration, the
perature varied between 28 and 32 °C, relative humidity (RH) was in TEG method is satisfactory for the water dew point, but the
the range of 0.7–0.9, and mass flow of nitrogen was 70 g/s. In the hu- hydrocarbon dew point changes during the life of the gas well.
midity studies, the RH, mixing ratio, and enrichment are important Therefore, removing hydrocarbons is necessary to ensure the
parameters to evaluate the water state. The RH is defined as the ratio of downstream gas quality.
the partial pressure and the saturation pressure of water vapor: The common methods for dew point control include mechanical
refrigeration, Joule–Thomson isenthalpic expansion, turbo-expansion,
p H2 O lean oil absorption, solid bed adsorption, membrane separation, and
RH ≡
psat (T ) (9) supersonic centrifugal separation. However, high energy consumption,
initial investment, and operating costs are required for all these

Table 5
Studies on the trans-critical CO2 refrigeration systems with vortex tube.

NO. Year Ref. Working fluid (s) Method Cycle type The COP growth rate

1 2000 Li [102] CO2 Thermodynamic analysis Trans-critical CO2 refrigeration 37% for 100% gas–liquid separation inside
cycle vortex tube, and 20% for 50% separation
2 2011 Xie [103] CO2 Thermodynamic analysis Two stage trans-critical CO2 2.4–16.3%
refrigeration cycle
3 2012 Liu [104] CO2 Thermodynamic analysis Trans-critical CO2 heat pump cycle 5.8–13.9%
4 2012 Liu [105] CO2 Thermodynamic analysis Two stage trans-critical CO2 2.4–16.3%
refrigeration cycle
5 2009, Sarkar [22,106,107] Propane, isobutene Thermodynamic analysis based the cycle of Maurer 7.4% for propane and 6.4% for isobutene
2013
6 2016 Dubey [108] Mixture of CO2 and Thermodynamic analysis Trans-critical CO2-propylene 5.90%
propylene cascade refrigeration systems

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B. Zhang, X. Guo
Fig. 13. Block diagram for a typical natural gas processing plant. [109].
Fig. 14. RHVT with the film separators and transparent measurement form Liew's ex-
periment studies. [65].
treatment processes.
A system with a vortex tube as dew point facility proposed by
FILTAN Company [38] is shown in Fig. 16. After the gas dehydration
process, the gas enters a gas–gas heat exchanger in order to prevent
forming ice blockage inside the VT, and then it is injected into the
Fig. 15. (a) Mixing ratios in the plenum and hot exit (b) enrichment of water vapor in the hot exit at 70 g/s, RH = 0.7–0.9, and Tpl = 29–32 °C. [65].
147
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 89 (2018) 135–150
three-flow vortex tube. The hot stream, cold stream, and liquid con-
densate are separated inside the VT. Moreover, they installed a second-
stage and high-efficiency separator downstream of the VT to evaluate
the separation efficiency of the VT.
After two years of continuous operation, the test results indicate
that the vortex tube separation system could operate in a stable mode
and was adjustable to the fluctuations of the inlet pressure and tem-
perature. Hydrocarbon is the main separating outcome combined with a
small amount of water and glycols. Even under certain extreme con-
ditions, such as turndown or significantly deviating the design opera-
tion of inlet conditions, the hydrocarbon separation could be weakened
to a certain degree but remained effective with the vortex tube.
Similar to process of the natural gas, Zhidkov et al. [27] investigated
the ability of dew point control and hydrocarbon recovery with the
vortex tube in a petroleum gas plant. A series of experimental testes
have been performed in a commercial gas treatment plant (GTP) in the
Komsomol'sk field during the period 2011–2012, to compare the effi-
ciencies of hydrocarbon recovery between the vortex tube and throt-
tling valve, as shown in Fig. 17.
In the gas processing plant, crude petroleum gas is first delivered to
the crude gas compressor (CGC) to be compressed and enters to the
recuperative heat exchangers H1 and H2 to be cooled down; the con-
densate is then pre-separated in the separator S1. The high-pressure gas
at low temperature is sent to the two three-flow vortex tubes 3VT1/1
and 3VT1/2 (volume flow rate 70–90%) and throttling unit TC
(10–30%) at the same time. The three streams, cold gas, hot gas, and
B. Zhang, X. Guo Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 89 (2018) 135–150

Fig. 16. Dew point system with vortex tube proposed by FILTAN Company. [38,110].

condensate, are separated in the two 3VTs, and the condensate is de- Table 6
livered to the storage tank ST1. After a period of operation, the main Operating conditions and results of the GTP with 3-flow vortex tube from Zhidkov et al.
data from the test sensor point are shown in Table 6. [27].

It is clear that a considerable condensate has been removed by the Point Process flow Parameters
system to obtain a good energy separation performance with
ΔTc = 31 °C and ΔTh = 25 °C. Comparing the temperatures of the cold in the Fig P (ATMG) T (°C) Others
flows of the 3VTs and the throttle outlet, the excess refrigeration ratio,
1 Inlet of the crude gas 54 25 Vin = 129,877 Nm3/h
λ , was increased by 35% owing to the 7 °C difference, which was a into H1
significant enhancement in the low-temperature separation in the gas 3 Inlet into the 54 1
process. Moreover, the temperature of the mixed flow in 3VT1/2 could expanders
be lowered to − 26 °C, whereas the water dew point in the processed 7 Cold flow 18.3 −30 ε = 0.93, ΔTh = 25 °C
8 Hot flow 25.6 26 ΔTh = 25 °C
gas compressor would be at a level of − 20 °C in the winter period,
9 Mixed flow 18.3 −26 ΔTmix = 27 °C
resulting a better performance of dew point control than that of the 10 Gas at the throttle 18.2 −19 ΔTthr = 20 °C
throttling valve. outlet
13 Outlet of the processed 18.1 13 Vout = 113595 Nm3/h
gas from H1
3. Conclusions and recommendations

In this paper, the working fluids used in Ranque–Hilsch vortex tubes
(RHVTs) were reviewed according to the existing literature from their
invention to date.
First, the energy separation performance of the gas properties and
phase change of working fluids were compared and analyzed. It was
found that multiple parameters, including molecular weight, thermal
conductivity, specific heat capacity, and thermal diffusivity of pure gas
fluid, can have a combined effect on the performance. Helium has the
best performance, owing to its remarkably low molecular weight and
high thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity, among all the gases
adopted. The performances for the remaining pure gas (N2, air, O2, CO2,
and Ar) working fluids were difficult to differentiate owing to their
relatively similar gas properties and the possible effects of various op-
eration conditions and geometry constructions adopted in the different
experiments and numerical simulations. The phase change that took
place during the swirling flow process inside a vortex tube was mainly

Fig. 17. Schematic flow of processing the associated petroleum

gas in the Komsomol'sk field: CGC crude gas compressor, PGC
processed gas compressor; GTP equipment: H1 gas–gas heat ex-
changer (two pieces), H2 gas–liquid heat exchanger (two pieces),
3SVT1/1 and 3VT1/2 three-flow vortex tubes with the tube dia-
meter of 200 mm; S1 and S2 gas separators (two pieces each), ST1
storage tank, TC throttle cock (two pieces), GMS gas metering
station, and C1 and C2 flow ratio controllers. [27].

148
B. Zhang, X. Guo
liquidation owing to the cooling effect, and it was found that the state
of the working fluid at the inlet could be dry gas or gas–liquid mixture
for both single- or multi-component substances. The appearance of
condensate leading to a deterioration or even vanishing of the energy
separation performance was proven by a variety of experiments.
However, a small content of the emerging liquids can also maintain an
effective performance. Moreover, in most of the experiments involving
phase change, the liquid droplets were not separated from the gas flow
in time. However, in a three-flow vortex tube construction with an
additional condensate outlet, after the liquid droplets were thrown into
the tube wall owing to the centrifugal force, the forming liquid film was
immediately discharged to the condensate outlet along the tube wall.
Experimental results showed that the energy separation performance
involved phase change could still match the level of that with a dry gas
as a working fluid.
As an energy separation device, the common applications for the
vortex tube as an instant heater or cooler were briefly described. The
energy separation also has advantages in thermodynamic systems, and
systems proposed by researchers for city gas stations, refrigeration,
seawater desalination, and diesel exhaust gas recirculation systems
were reviewed. Considering the simultaneous exhaustion of cold and
hot gases, when vortex tubes are applied to thermodynamic systems,
the other stream should be properly handled if only a heating/cooling
effect is needed; otherwise, finding a solution to take advantage of it is a
better choice. There are reasons to believe that RHVT can have a bigger
market in various thermodynamic systems in the future in addition to it
being used as a simple instant heater or cooler.
The large order of centrifugal force being generated by the strong
swirling flow owing to the tangential injection of compressed gas also
presents the ability of a vortex tube as a mass separator. When the inlet
fluid is a gas mixture, the possibility for a vortex tube to function as a
gas–gas separator has been the subject of several research projects.
However, the separation of different components is not significant be-
cause the differences in density between different gases at the same
operating conditions are relatively small; for a multi-stage vortex tube
unit, its compact size, low cost, and no maintenance still save a con-
siderable capital cost compared to other separators.
For a vortex tube as a gas–liquid mixture separator, the separation
efficiency can make a difference owing to the large density difference
between gas and liquid. The additional cooling owing to the Ranque
effect can remove more condensate than a conventional
Joule–Thompson system, and the centrifugal force is orders of magni-
tude higher than other separators with swirl flow, allowing it to have a
better separation performance in separating very small liquid particles
in the gas–liquid mixture flow. These two advantages in addition to the
applications for in-flight air separation, trans-critical CO2 refrigeration
systems, and petroleum and natural gas plants in the last 20 years de-
monstrated the ability of the vortex tube to be used as a gas–liquid
mixture separator. Further research on the heat and mass transfer
processes and mechanism and corresponding design and optimizing
methods for the vortex tube as a gas–liquid mixture separator is re-
quired. A phase Doppler particle analyzer had proved to be an effective
tool to study the gas–liquid swirling fluid field; more information on the
motion of gas and liquid (such as the wobbling of the vortex) and
coupling relationship between temperature field and the fluid field in-
volved in phase change must be the subject of further investigation. An
increasingly sophisticated design and optimizing method can then be
approached with these efforts.
When using a vortex tube, the availability of pressure is the fore-
most consideration. A simple construction, compact size, low cost, no
maintenance, quick start-up, and no harm to the environment are ad-
vantages of the vortex tube; however, the enhancement of both the
energy and mass separation efficiencies attract more attention for en-
ergy-saving strategies.
149
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 89 (2018) 135–150
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