Apparatus and method for separating an oil-water emulsion.

摘要

An oil and water emulsion treating apparatus is disclosed which comprises a vessel (18) having an emulsion inlet (20) adjacent to the top of said vessel, a water outlet (32) at the bottom of said vessel and a treated oil outlet (36) at the top of said vessel. The apparatus also comprises a heater having a combustion chamber (40) external to said vessel and an array of heat pipes (38) contained in part within said combustion chamber (40) and extending into the said vessel (18) and into the emulsion to break the emulsion into free water and treated oil. The said heat pipes (38) are mutually parallel and form an acute angle with the horizontal as a plane of reference.