How To Separate Water And Oil By Centrifugation?

Water-oil separation is the basis of the strongest environmental challenges; It is a separation of partially miscible liquids. Water and oil, for example, never mix; but they do form a tough emulsion to separate from traditional methods. You will ask yourself, then, what advantages does this method have over others? And how to separate water and oil by centrifugation?

As you probably know, this type of situation occurs very frequently in the treatment of residual effluents from the oil industry, where we can have small amounts of oil polluting the water; and the opposite also, little drops of water emulsified in hydrocarbons, as happens for example with Biodiesel. In this type of industrial situation, horizontal centrifuges are used – which have the axis of rotation parallel to the floor– that achieve about 3000 x g. Thanks to this equipment, some oil and water separator companies manage to separate the water from the oil.

How To Separate Water And Oil By Centrifugation In The Case Of Emulsified Mixtures?

However, when the two fluids are in an emulsified state; It is much more challenging to separate these two components. In that case, industries require the use of ultracentrifuges to be able to separate these two components; that is, greater force is needed to separate them. In this complicated case, ultracentrifuges are characterized by having a design of disks arranged in a conical shape, which rotates concerning a usually vertical axis at high speeds and in countercurrent; To achieve separation.

There are also more complex cases for which what are known as 3d centrifuges have been designed; This type of equipment is even more efficient since, in a single step, it allows you to separate, at the same time, oil from water and sediments.

This type of separation method has many advantages over others. The main one is that it avoids the use of chemicals, which have been shown to sometimes pollute the environment much more than the same mixture of water and oil. In this case, centrifuges offer a totally mechanical and environmentally friendly alternative.