Separation of mineral oil droplets using polypropylene fibre bed coalescence

Abstract

This paper investigates the separation possibilities of model emulsion oil-in-water using polypropylene fibre bed coalescence. Experiments were carried out over a wide range of physicochemical characteristics of mineral oils, bed permeability and operating fluid velocities. The aim of this study was to analyze the influence of the dispersed oil phase nature and of the bed geometry on the separation efficiency. From the obtained results, it can be concluded that polypropylene fibers in the broadest studied range of bed permeabilities and fluid velocities, effectively separate oil that is highly polar. On the contrary, for the other two investigated oils at low values of bed permeability a region was detected in which the coalescer is incapable to operate. It has to be emphasized that the polypropylene fibres efficiently separate all three investigated oils at the highest studied bed permeability.

Application of waste polypropylene bags as filter media in coalescers for oily water treatment

“…Therefore, the scope of this paper is to investigate possibility of application waste polypropylene bags used for packing vegetables, PPDJ, as filter media in bed coalescers for oily water treatment. The obtained results for application of PPDJ are compared to previously published results [23], realized by applying waste polypropylene from carpet production (PP) as a filter bed material.…”

“…Separation of mineral oil from water was performed on a pilot plant bed coalescer with the capacity of 100 L h -1 in the steady-state regime, designed as described in detail in the previous paper [23]. Each experiment was repeated at least two times using fresh bed material for the same bulk density.…”

“…The authors showed that the separation efficiency of a polypropylene fiber bed was in the range of separation efficiencies realized with other investigated materials [16]. Possibilities of applying different forms of polypropylene as a filter material are still being in the focus of many researches [17][18][19][20][21][22][23].…”

The effect of viscosity of dispersed phase on coalescent filtration

“…Aparatura na kojoj su realizovana ispitivanja detaljno je opisana u prethodnim radovima [5][6][7][8][9][10][11].…”

Prediction of oily water separation efficiency by fiber beds using a new filter media property

“…Therefore, better understanding of attachment mechanisms affecting the droplet substantially helps in the selection of more efficient filter media for a wide range of industrial applications. Adhesion is difficult to quantify at a fundamental level [15][16][17][18]. Hydration forces, hydrophobic interactions, macromolecular bridging, surface roughness, electrical double-layer and van der Waals forces all have possible influences on adhesion [19][20][21].…”