A Study of Oil/Water Separation in Corrugated Plate Separators

Abstract

Simplified trajectory calculations and small scale experiments suggest that the mechanisms of oil separation in corrugated plates are similar to those of other plate separators and that the radius of curvature is not an important design parameter. Bouyancy force and flow fields control oil drop rise, while drop-interface coalescence should be important when plates are completely oil covered. Results suggest that interdrop coalescence, due to the periodically constricted and expanding flow, is not an important mechanism. Large scale (3–6 gpm) tests show that with light influent oil, corrugated plate separators perform better than simpler baffled vessels. With viscous, low interfacial tension oils, a simpler baffled separator performs better than the corrugated stack separator. This is probably due to viscous oil blockage in the plates and formation of a “foamy” oil-water mixture of high specific gravity.