Give reason why each of the following condition can result in oil being discharged with water from a

static oil water separator:

1. High oil density
2. Low mixture temperature
3. High pump rate
4. Oil water interface below test cock.

High oil density

The speed of static separation relies on the difference in density, the density of water being higher
than oil. If we ignore skin friction then the resultant up thrust is the difference in weight of the oil
droplet and water of the same volume. Therefore oil with higher density will have lower resultant up
thrust and will not separate as readily and may result in oil being discharged with water. Heating up
the mixture can improve the situation. And that’s why the heating coils are provided in the
separator

Low mixture temperature

As explained in the previous paragraph, the speed of the static separation relies on the difference
of density. This difference increases with difference in density which can be further enhanced by
heat. This is because the density of oil reduces more than that of water for a same temperature
rise. In other words low mixture temperature will have oil and water with too low density differential.
This means that the separation will be in effective and may result in oil being discharged with
water.

Density

High pumping rate:

Effective static separation relies to a grate extent to merger of fine oil droplets into larger droplets.
Although combined volume remains unchanged, there is a drastic change in reduction in surface
area compared to the total surface area of the small droplets. This equates in a reduction in skin
friction which will allow the larger droplets to rise and separates from the water at a grater speed
than the smaller ones.
Therefore, pumping rate can’t be increased beyond high since it will deny the above sufficient
dwelling time for the separation to take place effectively and may result in oil being discharged with
water.

Created by
Sabbir Samdani
Oil water interface below test cock:
The oily water separator works on the principle of gravity separation whereby oil will rise and
occupy the top whilst water will push its way through the outlet at the bottom. Oil which
accumulates at the top will be drained into the sludge tank via a solenoid operated valve. This is
made possible by capacitance probe which senses the level and activates the draining cycle.
Failure of the probe to initiate the above will lead to drop in oil level which will deteriorate the
separation process. Test cocks located just below the probes will enable such abnormalities to be
detected and rectified. Failure to perform regularly checks will allow the process to further
deteriorate and may result in oil being discharged with water.

Created by
Sabbir Samdani