OIL AND WATER SEPARATION SYSTEM

摘要

An oil-water separation system wherein an emulsion layer (31) comprised of oil and water components in the form of a dispersed phase of droplets of a relatively small size in a liquid continuous phase is formed at the interface of an oil and water layer in a separation vessel (11). A stream of the emulsion layer (31) is taken from the vessel (11) into an oil-water hydrocyclone separator (41) which outlets an underflow stream (47) wherein in the stream a substantial portion of the dispersed droplets are coalesced so that when the coalesced droplets are returned with the underflow stream to the emulsion layer (31) in the separator vessel, such coalesced droplets are separated by gravity or the like into the layered components for removal from the separation system.