Introduction to Separation of Oil and Water

In Introduction to Separation of Oil and Water, you'll learn ...

• Types of separations: Water from Oil where flow is mostly Oil, Oil from Water where flow is mostly Water, Emulsions, Non-Hydrocarbon oils
• Introduction to Theory: Droplets and droplet movement, Stokes's law, Dissolved vs Non-Dissolved Oil
• Water from Oil Separators: Two and three phase separators, Electrostatic Desalters and Treaters, Coalescing cartridge separators, Absorbent separators

Overview

Credit: 4 PDH

Length: 31 pages

In refineries, chemical plants, electric power plants and many other industrial facilities the separation of various oil and water mixtures can cause problems. These problems are often the result of imperfect understanding of the nature of the mixtures and how to take advantage of their properties to accomplish the required separations.

In addition, many states and cities require treatment of stormwater from parking lots and other facilities where cars and trucks may be present. This treatment ensures the oil and fuel that may have leaked from the vehicles does not enter the rivers, streams and lakes.

This course gives an overview of many of the industrial and also stormwater processing situations that may arise and also some of the means for solving the problems with pros and cons of many possible designs as well as some suggestions on determining the nature and extent of the problems and possible solutions. For purposes of this discussion, oil means hydrocarbons except where specifically noted otherwise.