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Water in Oil Emulsions: A New System for Assembling Water-soluble Chlorophyll-binding Proteins with Hydrophobic Pigments
Published on: March 21, 2016
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Electrokinetically assisted oil-water phase separation in oily sludge with implementing novel controller system.
Arash Fellah Jahromi1, Maria Elektorowicz1
1Department of Building Civil and Environmental Engineering, Concordia University, 1455 De Maisonneuve Blvd. W., Montreal, Quebec, H3G 1M8, Canada.
Journal of Hazardous Materials
|July 18, 2018
Summary
This study introduces a novel controller for electrokinetic (EK) systems to improve oily sludge treatment. The controller enhances oil-water separation, reduces energy consumption, and increases oil recovery from petroleum industry waste.
Area of Science:
- Petroleum Engineering
- Environmental Science
- Chemical Engineering
Background:
- Petroleum industry operations generate substantial oily sludge daily.
- Disposal of oily sludge is costly due to required pre-treatments and regulatory compliance.
- Conventional methods like centrifugation struggle with water-in-oil emulsions, increasing processing costs.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate an electrokinetically (EK) assisted method for enhanced oil-water phase separation in oily sludge.
- To develop and implement a novel controller for an EK system to optimize demulsification and reduce energy consumption.
- To evaluate the effectiveness of the controller in improving oil recovery and sludge volume reduction.
Main Methods:
- Implementation of a novel controller based on Percolation Theory into a linear horizontal EK system.
- Application of electrical fields for sludge demulsification and phase separation.
- Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) to assess the quality of separated liquids.
- Determination of reaction rate with respect to temperature to detect water content in oil.
Main Results:
- The EK system with the novel controller demonstrated enhanced sludge demulsification and improved quality of separated oil and water fractions.
- A significant decrease in energy consumption was observed with the controller, alongside increased exposure time to the electrical field.
- TGA analysis confirmed superior liquid quality from the EK method with the controller compared to conventional centrifugation or EK without the controller.
- The developed method effectively assessed water presence in oil using temperature-dependent reaction rates.
Conclusions:
- The novel controller significantly advances electrokinetic oil-water phase separation technology for petroleum sludge.
- The method offers improved oil recovery and substantial sludge volume reduction, addressing key industry challenges.
- This approach presents a more cost-effective and efficient solution for treating oily sludge compared to conventional methods.
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