Temperature

The viscosity of the water falls as the temperature rises. This allows oil droplets to move more easily through the water phase, thereby producing better separation.

Therefore increased temperature improves separation efficiency for most oily water separators. For some separators, like air floatation devices (DAF, CAF IGF), higher temperatures can reduce separation efficiency and hotter fluids may need to be cooled.

The Ultraspin separator can be supplied to operate within the temperature range 0 to 120 oC (32 to 248 oF); at higher temperatures special materials may be required.

Droplet Size

Oily water separation efficiency for all separator types is highest with large oil droplets. Very small droplets are more difficult to separate. The nature of the process or application determines the size of the oil droplets and the client or system designer can do little to promote larger oil droplets. In some cases however good process design can maximise droplet size being fed to the oily water separator. Ultraspin has many years experience in this field and can make recommendations to reduce the chances of producing small oil droplets. Oil droplet size is such a very important factor in separator performance. See the later Tutorial for more important information on this subject.

Density Difference

The efficiency of separating oil from oil/water mixtures is dependant on the difference in density between the containment and the water. The separation efficiency increases as the difference in density increases.

Typical densities

Inlet Concentration

For a constant droplet size distribution, increasing inlet oil concentration will not change the separation efficiency. However, in practice it is found that the droplet size increases with inlet oil concentration and hence the efficiency also increases.