Comparison of Plate Separator, Centrifuge and Hydrocyclone

Abstract

Abstract Frequently oil is produced while, simultaneously, large amounts of water are produced as well. Under these circumstances it is important to have compact and efficient deoiling equipment at one's disposal. After some remarks on other de-oiling methods, the attention in this paper is focused on three separation techniques: plate separation, centrifugation and the use of hydrocyclones. The working principles are described and subsequently typical data on separation efficiency, geometry of the separator section, separator volume and critical oil-droplet diameter are derived or given. Analysis of these data shows, that the ranking with respect to performance of the three separator types is: centrifuge, hydrocyclone, plate separator. In the last section of the paper attention is given to some recent developments concerning centrifugation and the use of hydrocyclones.