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Centrifugal Oil and Water Separators
[edit]How It Works
[edit]A mix of oil and water is pumped thoroughly into cone shaped separating apparatus at an angle, which creates a spinning vortex. The filtration comes through the vortex as the less dense liquid will stay in the middle part of the vortex and the less dense liquid will get shot out to the outside ring of the vortex. The heavier water liquid sits on the outside and the lighter oil will stay out in the middle of the vortex. Now that the oil is separate from the water they have to leave the separator separately. The oil is going to be removed through an orifice at the suction end and the water is going to be discharged at the outlet end.
Comparison to Other Types of Separators
[edit]There are other types of separators that use gravitational forces to separate mixtures, but these other types of forces are not as strong as the centrifugal force in the centrifugal separator. Other types of separators are coalescing plate pack separators and petrol interceptor separators. Coalescing plate pack separators work in a much different then the centrifugal separators. With the plate packs, water is fed into the separator through gravity through the inlet pipe, then the mixture is spread evenly through the separation chamber where the coalescing plate packs are. In the plate packs the oil will rise because of their buoyancy and coalesce on the underside of the plates and from globes of oil that rise to the surface.[1] From there the waste oil globes go into the clean water chamber and get discharged through the lower portion of the separator. With the interceptors the dirty water mixture enters the first tank of the interceptor where that tanks builds up hydrocarbons and other hazardous material in a layer. Then comes the second and third tanks of the interceptor that are all connected through pipes called “dip pipes” which don’t allow the hydrocarbons and other contaminates to pass through. The same process that happened in the first tank will happen in the second and third tanks just with less and less contaminates. In a centrifugal oil and water separator the force of gravity is on-thousand time greater that of the coalescing plate pack separator or the petrol interceptor, so the separation is that much greater. Not only is the force of separation greater but there in less working parts so maintenance is much easier and cheaper.[2] More advantages of the centrifugal oil and water separator is the compact size of the equipment, so you are not going to have to clear a big area to install this separator in your facility or on your vessel. These separator are very versatile, so you are going to be able fix them easily and you will be able to find parts for them easily while being able to move them or relocate them without have to much work to do. Centrifugal separators are easy to use, low of costs, and have high performance ratings.[3]
Disadvantages
[edit]Although the centrifugal oil and water separator is a very commonly used separator compared to other types because of all their advantages, they do have their disadvantages. One known disadvantage of these separators is that they tend to have low powered suction. For example, when the pump end is dry and the impeller is rotating at high speeds, it is simply not powerful enough to lift the oily water mixture into separator. For this reason, when using these separators you must always prime them before use.[4]
Design and Features
[edit]Materials and Metals used
[edit]The bowl of the separator in made up of stainless steal, brass, and bronze. The structural parts are usual where the stainless steel is and the parts on the inside that come into contact with mixtures are either made of bronze or brass depending on the mixture going through the centrifugal separator. The housing and gearbox of the separator is made of aluminum or stainless steal and cast iron. The gearbox in particular is cast iron with stainless steal coating it.[5]
Transmission
[edit]The vortex of the separators is generated through a power source and the power source in use for the centrifugal separator in an electrical motor and the pieces of its transmission include a clutch and worm gear, a flexible coupling worm gear, and a set of pulleys and flat belt.[6]
Suction and Discharging of the Liquids
[edit]The suction process of the separator takes place as stationary feed pipe suctions the mixture liquid into the cone shaped pip that feed into the vortex. After the filtration of the liquids occur the unwanted contaminates are discharged either through an overflow or through one or maybe two centripetal pumps.[7]
