Patent ID: 7833298

Claim:
A system for separating a mixture of at least one gas and at least one liquid into a heavy fraction mainly containing liquid and a light fraction mainly containing gas, the system comprising: a separation vessel having a vessel inlet for the supply of the mixture to be separated, an upper vessel outlet for the discharge of the light fraction and a lower vessel outlet for the discharge of the heavy fraction; at least one inlet device for pretreatment of the incoming mixture, the inlet device, in use, being mounted in the separation vessel and connected to the vessel inlet, the inlet device comprising: a casing having a liquid outlet for the discharge of a first mixture part mainly containing liquid to a lower compartment of the separation vessel; a flow body arranged substantially concentrically in the casing; and a discharge channel extending from a gas inlet through the flow body to a gas outlet for the discharge of a second mixture part mainly containing gas to an upper compartment of the separation vessel; rotation means for setting the mixture entering the inlet device into rotating movement, the rotation means being operative so as to cause a relatively heavy mixture part to be flung towards a wall of the casing and a relatively light mixture part to flow in a region close to the flow body; a first demister element arranged at a position below the liquid outlet for separating liquid from the gas in the first mixture part flowing from the liquid outlet; and a momentum breaker arranged below the liquid outlet of the casing so as to at least partially absorb the momentum of the first mixture part, the first demister element being positioned upstream of the momentum breaker.