OIL/WATER SEPARATION PROCESS

摘要

A relatively simple apparatus includes an elongated horizontal casing (23) divided by a transversely extending partition (26) into an inlet (28), heating chamber (24) and a coalescing chamber (25), a pair of elongated, tubular heaters (44) extending into the heating chamber for heating the oil and water in such chamber to facilitate separation of the oil and the water, an inlet trough (34) at the inlet end of the casing with a downcomer tube (40) attached thereto for introducing an oil water emulsion into the casing, whereby a water stream (47) is established at the bottom of the casing with an oil stream (48) thereabove in the heating chamber and a gas stream (39) at the top of the casing, a weir (88) attached to the partition (26) for receiving oil separating from the water in the heating chamber, distributors extending from the bottom of the partition into the coalescing chamber (25) for receiving oil overflowing the weir (88) and distributing the oil in the coalescing chamber near the bottom thereof, an elongated, horizontal coalescing bed (106) completely spanning the coalescing chamber, whereby the entire oil stream passes through the bed, the bed being completely filled with spheres for promoting separation of residual water from the oil stream, a water outlet (122) at the outlet end of the casing remote from the inlet end, an oil outlet (121) in such outlet end, and a gas outlet (125) in the top of the casing proximate the outlet end. The water stream discharged from the coalescing chamber is fed directly to a hydrocyclone for the separation of residual oil from the water stream.